Michael Lee Dudley 64 was found guilty of four counts of second-degree murder on Thursday.
Michael Lee Dudley killed Jessica Lewis, 35, and Austin Wenner, 27.
The couple who had been renting a room from Dudley in his Burien home were said by prosecutors to have gotten in an argument over unpaid rent. The prosecutors maintained that Dudley shot them and then dismembered their bodies.
Responding to a Tik Tok challenge 10 days later, two girls happened upon two suitcases that contained the remains of Wenner and Lewis.
The aunt of Lewis, Gina Jaschke said, "It had been a rollercoaster ride for 2 1/2 years. We are relieved and thankful that a jury of his peers were able to sit back and put the peices of his diabolical puzzle together. That in the end they used their common sense and the evidence to find him guilty on all charges. Our families will never fill the empty void without them that our hearts will always have, but at least now we can truly start the healing process..that seeing her children we get a glimpse of Jessica and are reminded always of how beautiful she was as a person inside and out."
Sentencing is set for March 10.
Westside Seattle news partner Fox 13 News provided an overview of the case:
The state put on a strong case, despite having no eyewitnesses or science that directly linked Dudley to the crime. Instead, prosecutors relied on a cascade of evidence that points towards Dudley’s involvement—the attorney listing off more than 20 facts that would have to be a coincidence if Dudley were innocent.
Investigators point toward a neighbor who reported gunshots, and a man pleading for his life on June 9, 2020. Burien Police went to the home, but no one was there; Dudley couldn’t explain why he wouldn’t have answered the door that night in a subsequent police interview.
The state used cell phone data to show that the night of the reported shooting, Jessica’s phone stopped sending texts. Dudley, who claimed to be friendly, never reached out again—they similarly used data to show that he was near the vicinity of Alki Beach the day before the grisly discovery of a suitcase with human remains inside.
More evidence was later found along the Duwamish River. It was determined that Lewis was shot at least twice, and that Wenne was shot at least once before their bodies were mutilated and stuffed into bags and suitcases, before being dumped in Puget Sound.
A woman who stayed with Dudley claimed to have seen a bloody hand sticking out of a pile of laundry inside Dudley’s home, though defense attorneys argued she was known to lie and explained a long history of crime.
Dudley sat throughout the closing argument with little movement. His attorneys claimed the man—aged 62 at the time of the murders—wouldn’t have been able to pull off the crime.
They also claimed that detectives failed to prove anything, insinuating that detectives performed shoddy work due to media attention.
The crime was high-profile due to the grisly nature of the crimes, and because of how the bodies were discovered. An individual posted video of the discovery on TikTok, causing the video to spread throughout Seattle and the country like wildfire.
Jurors were shown segments of the initial police interview where Dudley seemed confused when questioned about the discovery of bullets inside his home; he admitted to accidentally discharging a gun inside his home, but denied he’d ever fired the weapon in the room where bullet holes had been repaired and painted over shortly before investigators searched his home.
