They Were Filming TikTok Vids on the Beach. Then, a Grisly Find

Remains discovered by teens on Seattle's Alki Beach belong to shooting victims
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 9, 2020 11:22 AM CDT
Teens Filming TikTok Vids Find Murder Victims in Suitcases
A portion of Seattle's Alki Beach is pictured in April 2012.   (Wikimedia/Another Believer)

A group of teens were filming TikTok videos on a Seattle beach when they discovered the remains of two murder victims. In a video viewed around the world, the teens are seen stumbling upon a foul-smelling suitcase that had washed ashore on Alki Beach on June 19. A female opens the suitcase with a stick, revealing what looks to be a black trash bag. The group, who described the smell as "overwhelming," then called 911. Seattle Police later confirmed human remains were inside the suitcase and a second bag found in the water, per CNN. The remains have been identified as belonging to Jessica Lewis and Austin Wenner, a couple who dated for eight years, per KIRO. Both had been shot, according to the King County Medical Examiner's Office.

"They were just nice, normal people," Gina Jaschke says of her 35-year-old niece, a mother of four, and her longtime boyfriend, 27. She's started a GoFundMe campaign to raise reward money in the search for the killer or killers. "Nobody deserves what happened to them" and "somebody knows something," she tells KIRO. "I want somebody to pay for what they've done ... because [my family is] just devastated." Seattle Police Detective Mark Jamieson notes the TikTok video wasn't posted until a day after the remains were found. "We're actually glad that the video is out because it helps corroborate some of the information. I can tell you that it's accurate," he tells Oxygen.com. Authorities say Lewis suffered multiple gunshot wounds, while Wenner had one wound to the torso. (More dead bodies stories.)

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