TikTokers Recorded the Moment They Found One of Michael Dudley's Victims — Where Is He Now?
"Austin and Jessica had morals and self-worth and for this, Michael Dudley had to get them out of the way."
Published July 5 2024, 3:20 p.m. ET
Michael Dudley wasn't just a bad roommate. You could say he was one of the worst. His crimes are featured in Season 2 of Netflix's Worst Roommate Ever, and if there were a deeply upsetting prize for this, he would take the cake.
The Washington state landlord took matters into his own hands in June 2020, when he murdered his two tenants. Things took a true-crime turn when their butchered bodies were found by two TikTokers who filmed the discovery. Where is Michael Dudley now? We've got answers.
Where is Michael Dudley now? He's in prison for the rest of his life.
According to KOMO News, in April 2023 Dudley was sentenced to more than 46 years in prison for the murders of 35-year-old Jessica Lewis and 27-year-old Austin Wenner. He is currently serving that time at Washington State Penitentiary. When sentencing Dudley, Judge Aimee Sutton chose the maximum possible amount of time which means the then 65-year-old would have to live to be 111 before tasting freedom again.
Wenner's mother had plenty to say about the man who murdered her son in cold blood, calling him a predator. She also said Dudley "seeks out people in need for his own benefit. He is manipulative, calculated, and deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law without the possibility of parole." Lewis's aunt added, "Austin and Jessica had morals and self-worth and for this, Michael Dudley had to get them out of the way."
What happened to Jessica Lewis and Austin Wenner?
Lewis and Wenner were renting a room from Dudley and had been since December 2019, reported Fox 13 Seattle. By all accounts the happy couple had no issues with their landlord. Suddenly, things changed. Investigators later learned that Dudley and his tenants had gotten into an argument over unpaid rent, when he shot them both on June 9, 2020.
Ten days later, TikTokers were filming a video on Alki Beach when they stumbled upon suitcases they believed had washed up on the rocky shore. Initially, they thought there might be money inside, but the overwhelming stench suggested otherwise. The curious teenagers immediately contacted authorities. That video would eventually get more than 30 million views. Another suitcase was found three days after that in the Duwamish Waterway. They contained human remains.
Dudley was arrested on Aug. 19, 2020, and was charged with two counts of second-degree murder. Although he had a full two months to clean up the scene of the crime, police still found "bullet holes, bullet strikes, and spent rounds and blood in the blue room where Wenner and Lewis stayed," per KOMO News. Before he was sentenced, Dudley only had one thing to say: "This isn’t really about me. It’s about justice for Austin and Jessica."
