Washington teen girls filming TIkTok clip find missing couple's bodies stuffed in suitcases washed up on beach
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON: Remains of a Washington couple who went missing last month was found stuffed in suitcases that had washed ashore by a pair of teenage girls who were filming a video for TikTok. The gruesome discovery was made on June 19, when deputies from the Seattle Police Department and Seattle Fire Department were called to a location near the water in the 1100 Block of Alki Avenue SW on reports of a suspicious suitcase that had washed up to the beach.
Two bodies had been put into garbage bags that had been stuffed into the suitcases, which were found by teenagers who were filming along the rocky shores of Duwamish Head in West Seattle, reported People. In the footage, which has now been viewed millions of times across the world, one of the girls can be seen using a stick to open one of the bags and finding it packed with black garbage bags.
"Something traumatic happened that changed my life checkkkk," the uploader, 'Ugh Henry,' wrote. In the video, another caption explained, "Randonaut sent us to this part of the beach… and we found this black suitcase. We were joking that maybe the suitcase would have money. As SOON as she opened it, the smell was overwhelming."
Seattle Police, working closely with the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, subsequently identified the bodies as 35-year-old Jessica Lewis, a mother-of-four, and her 27-year-old boyfriend of eight years Austin 'Cash' Henner. They said the couple was killed on June 16, adding that Lewis was shot several times while Henner died from a single gunshot wound.
Lewis' aunt, Gina Jaschke, is now calling for answers. She described her niece as the "most caring person" who showed her "big heart" while working with developmentally disabled adults alongside her mother.
She said Lewis and Henner were a loving and affectionate couple and that she can't fathom who would have wanted to hurt them. "They were just nice normal people," she insisted. "Nobody deserves what happened to them."
Jaschke has set up a GoFundMe page to raise $10,000 that she said she wants to offer as reward money to anyone with information about who was responsible for her niece's and her boyfriend's death.
"What I can do is keep this alive in everybody's mind," she told KIRO7. "Somebody knows something. Somebody saw something, they might be scared to say anything. You know what? The smart one of the bunch is going to go and turn themselves in. Because no jury is going to have any sympathy for any of them."
"I want somebody to pay for what they’ve done. And if it brings any kind of solace to my family, I’ll do it. Because they’re just devastated."
Seattle Police said that their investigation remains active but have not divulged a possible motive for the killings. FBI profilers said that whoever had put their bodies into a suitcase could have been trying to make a statement. "If they're trying to send a message, what are they saying? That they're animals? That's the only message that you've gotten out to anybody!" they said.
Anyone with information about the case is advised to call the Seattle Police Tip Line at 206-233-5000.