West Seattle, Washington

11 Wednesday

37℉

UPDATE: $5 million bail for suspect in Duwamish Head suitcase-bodies murder case

August 20, 2020 12:56 pm
|      71 COMMENTS
 |   Crime | West Seattle news

(WSB photo, June 19th)

12:56 PM: Two months after the discovery of two murder victims in a suitcase at Duwamish Head, police have just announced an arrest:

A 62-year-old man is in custody for the murder of two people after their remains were located in West Seattle in June. On Wednesday afternoon, detectives arrested the suspect at a residence in Burien. He was interviewed and then booked into the King County Jail.

The victims were 35-year-old Jessica Lewis and 27-year-old Austin Wenner, both from south King County, both shot to death. More info to come …

1:22 PM: The suspect remains in jail. He has not yet been charged so we are not publishing his name. We haven’t found a felony record for him yet in state files, but case documents from a 2016 misdemeanor domestic-violence-assault arrest in Burien describe him as “a convicted felon.” He’s due for a probable-cause/bail hearing this afternoon and we should have more information after that.

5:10 PM: Still awaiting more details, but the jail register shows the suspect’s bail is now set at $5 million.

7:23 PM: The probable-cause document from the bail hearing says the suspect had rented a room at his south Burien home to the victims but had been fighting with them and wanted them to leave. Neighbors told police that on June 9th, they heard gunfire coming from the house, and heard a male voice yelling “Please don’t do this, just let me leave.” Burien Police went to the house but no one answered the door. When Seattle Police served a warrant there yesterday, the document says, they found bullet holes, bullet strikes, spent rounds, and blood in one of the rooms. The rounds were 9mm, same as a gun they found in the suspect’s car at the time of his arrest. He told detectives the victims had been staying with him and acknowledged they had been fighting with him and had been unable to pay the $1,500/month rent he was charging, but he did not have an explanation for the evidence of gunfire in the room. One more note: The probable-cause document says, without details, that the suspect has a record for drugs and DUI.

Share This

71 Replies to "UPDATE: $5 million bail for suspect in Duwamish Head suitcase-bodies murder case"

  • Alki Bee August 20, 2020 (1:00 pm)

    Good work, SPD, this is what we pay you for!

    • H August 20, 2020 (4:23 pm)

      Yes! Good work SPD!

    • Duwamesque August 20, 2020 (6:22 pm)

      If the arrest was made in Burien and the suspect booked in County Jail wouldn’t that mean King County Sherriffs made the arrest?

      • WSB August 20, 2020 (7:39 pm)

        Seattle Police were investigating the case and the probable-cause document says they made the arrest.

    • Duffy August 20, 2020 (7:47 pm)

      We pay SPD. Is it necessary to applaud them for simply doing their job?

      • WTF August 20, 2020 (9:07 pm)

        Yes.

      • Hammer in Hand August 20, 2020 (9:17 pm)

        The Dept would humble agree just doing our job. But what is the harm if an at-a-boy for a job well done thank you for your service!!

      • Chuck August 20, 2020 (9:18 pm)

        Could you two BE more disrespectful? The one only wants to back-handed congratulate the cops for their good efforts you deem personally appropriate, the other wants to further diminish their good work because they have the audacity to do such community-beneficial deeds for pay! How about you just say “Thank You Officer” and get on with your day? 

      • HappyCamper August 20, 2020 (9:24 pm)

        Yes, yes we should. Just like when anyone else does a good job a little recognition never hurts. It’s also a good practice to recognize the good in someone or something and not focus only on the bad. Just saying.

      • Anne August 20, 2020 (9:26 pm)

        Yes

      • Frank Drebin August 20, 2020 (9:40 pm)

        I feel sorry for any employees that Duffy ever manages.

      • Addison August 20, 2020 (11:30 pm)

        Duffy
        you come across as a very miserable individual Do you ever have anything positive  or nice to say about anything?i actually feel sad for you to be so negative about everything 

        • Results August 21, 2020 (6:25 am)

          Duffy, you make a very good point. This isn’t recreation league baseball, this is real life. Let’s not forget police offers choose to enter their line of work, no one is forcing them to. While I agree it doesn’t hurt to give someone recognition for extraordinary efforts, this situation simply seems like typical detective work that I, as a tax payer, would expect them to solve. Whether it’s SPD, King County, or Batman solving this case I do not feel they deserve some high praise for doing their job as the majority here is suggesting. I expect them to solve this case, and to be quite frank I think this took too long. The message is simple: do the job we pay you to do.

        • RCS August 21, 2020 (7:34 am)

          Agreed. But I think Duff’s comment was more about passive aggressive loathing for SPD. Nice try Duffy. You can have a seat. 

          • Duffy August 21, 2020 (9:33 am)

            Oh I’m plenty miserable, but it has nothing to do with any of you or the SPD. Let me make sure I understand the ground rules though; SPD catches alleged killer, we send some praise. I’m cool with that. But what about when they don’t do a good job? Are we allowed to criticize? Because so many “pro-cop” folks don’t let you say a single negative word about police, the union, or anyone else involved, which is crap. They are taxpayer funded arm of the government. I expect them to keep our community safe. Doing so should be the norm. Does everyone on here receive praise when you simply do your job at work? Please let me know where I can get one of these participation trophy gigs because I don’t think it is too late for a career change. And thanks for the message board therapy session.

          • Average joe August 23, 2020 (12:15 pm)

            This guy is just a troll pay him only as much mind as you value his opinion and we can all forget he exists as it should be support the SPD they are our community they are our family our neighbors our friends remember this when you see a troll like Duffy here

      • Richard Ross August 21, 2020 (10:27 am)

        Honestly, is it really necessary to act like this? This is childish. Police are human. When they do a good job they should be appreciated. Just like your boss should say “good job” when you do yours. 

        • Um, No! August 21, 2020 (12:12 pm)

          @ Richard Ross   –    Well Said! 

        • HappyCamper August 21, 2020 (2:02 pm)

          I agree. Let’s just be logical here. I think most people on any side of the law enforcement debate agree that we need GOOD cops and sometimes a thank you goes a long way when someone is trying to do the right thing. It’s not that hard to say “nice work!” to someone when they did a good job even if they are “just doing their job”.

      • On this same thought... August 26, 2020 (10:33 am)

        Couldn’t the exact same argument be said about every “tipping” job?

  • CuriousWebs August 20, 2020 (1:12 pm)

    So terrible and my condolences to the families. I remember hearing that the teens who discovered the luggage (seen in their Tik Tok) had found it using an app. Does anyone know how the location of the luggage made its way onto the app? Sorry, I’m not familiar with those kinds of apps so I wasn’t sure if someone had noticed them and uploaded the information onto the app. 

  • WS Resident August 20, 2020 (1:22 pm)

    I pray the families finally receive the closure they deserve and the killer(s) are brought to justice.

    • MercyMoi August 20, 2020 (2:18 pm)

      I hope they can get closure, but it’s tough when the TikTok video of the suitcase discovery is still up.I just saw this on the BBC yesterday (TikTok refuses to remove the video):https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-53785364

      • WSB August 20, 2020 (3:06 pm)

        Yeah, I saw that too. Aside from TikTok being jerks (please note that we never featured the video because it violates OUR standards if not theirs), there was no new info in it (just saying that to save anyone the time). The only family member to speak is the same one who has posted comments on our past coverage.

  • Kersti August 20, 2020 (1:23 pm)

    Interesting age… I bet there’s a lot to this story

    • WSB August 20, 2020 (1:43 pm)

      As added above, this afternoon’s bail hearing SHOULD yield some additional info. I’m still researching, too.

    • Sillygoose August 20, 2020 (3:32 pm)

      I bet I can already guess the story!!! 

    • waikikigirl August 20, 2020 (4:33 pm)

      Just wondering what is interesting about the age, I assume you’re speaking of the suspect?

      Good job to the Police Dept. and Detectives if this is the person that did this!

      • Jeff August 20, 2020 (5:33 pm)

        Not the original poster, but probably just that violent crime is usually a young man’s thing.    Even people with felonious backgrounds often age out of it, more or less. 

    • Alki resident August 20, 2020 (5:48 pm)

      I agree. I was blown away seeing how old he was. 

      • WSB August 20, 2020 (7:42 pm)

        In 2012, a 69-year-old man was found guilty of murder in a West Seattle case.
        https://westseattleblog.com/2014/06/as-it-happens-coverage-sentencing-hearing-for-lovett-chambers/

      • waikikigirl August 21, 2020 (7:06 am)

        Re: age. I thought I read somewhere that these 2 were “homeless” in sorts and I could see this older man befriends them, they trust him  he says they can stay at his place and then things go wrong…to which it did.Very sad and I hope their families get some comfort that he is caught and will get what he deserves.

  • ~Hockeywitch~ August 20, 2020 (3:02 pm)

    Glad to hear this. 

  • HS August 20, 2020 (3:50 pm)

    Very happy to read this. I imagine a TON of work went into finding this man. Since it was mentioned in the story, it is so important that we pursue and prosecute domestic violence perpetrators. It is very likely that the personal details from the earlier misdemeanor aided in matching evidence.

    • Frog August 21, 2020 (1:55 am)

      Ton of work?  After they identified the bodies, a clever detective might wonder where the victims lived.  Hey guess what … there was a shots-fired call to that same address !!  I have a theory.  How did it take them two months to figure it out?

      • Agreed August 21, 2020 (11:14 pm)

        I’m baffled here too. If they were living with this guy why did it take the police 2 months to identify him? No disrespect to the police.

  • Plf August 20, 2020 (6:25 pm)

    Thank you SPD, it makes me sick to think of those poor individuals and what is wrong with someone who does this, pure evil and deserves no compassion or mercy no matter what their story is or their life experiences 

  • payattention August 20, 2020 (6:38 pm)

    KING5 news just said this guy was their landlord and it was a dispute over them being evicted that he killed them.

    • WSB August 20, 2020 (7:37 pm)

      I have added details to the story now that I’ve obtained the probable-cause record.

  • Gina Jaschke August 20, 2020 (8:01 pm)

    I absolutely thank the Police. In the midst of the Chief resigning, due to lack of support by their own city council, from the protests to the defunding of thier budget, they never wavered from their promise of helping us find who did this. For every bad police story there are 100 more good ones and my family is blessed to be one of those good ones. there’s a reason why we have police in our neighborhoods. Everyone says to put the power back to the people well I hate to tell you there’s lots of bad people out there in the world. So there’s a reason why we have the police. God bless them as their job is not over with and I’m so thankful again of their expertise and professionalism. I hope other departments continue to work with one another when there’s not enough resources to go around to help everyone else who’s still a victim of violent crime looking for justice. 

    • WestSEA resident August 22, 2020 (7:38 am)

      Thank you! I, too, appreciate the important work done by the police. 

  • Jesse August 20, 2020 (8:32 pm)

    I used to live in the house this happened in! My grandmother sold the house to the suspect about 8 or 9 years ago. I hear the FBI is digging up the yard looking for more bodies.

    • WSB August 20, 2020 (8:58 pm)

      The suspect bought the property in 2008, according to assessor records. We actually drove by this evening just wondering if police were there searching, but the house is not visible from the road. Massive lot, records say.

      • jissy August 20, 2020 (10:17 pm)

        Pretty sure I drove by this house today — Burien police car blocking the driveway (that has very thick laurel edges that come up on either side of it) & looked like Medical examiner’s truck etc… in the yard.  Lots of cars and activity on the street, obvious something was up.

        • WSB August 21, 2020 (12:00 am)

          Yeah, I just realized we drove the wrong street. Had the right address, wrong street. Haven’t ventured out of WS much since the pandemic hit.

  • payattention August 20, 2020 (8:34 pm)

    Speaking of age. Rolf Neslund, the pilot of the ship that hit the low bridge was killed by his wife. Both were in their 80’s

  • newnative August 20, 2020 (8:35 pm)

    So the police responded to a gunfire call and decided there was nothing worth investigating because no one answered the door?  

    • WSB August 20, 2020 (8:54 pm)

      This is a very short account so I have no idea of all the details. The exact line in the probable-cause document was (after saying what neighbors heard and that they had called 911) “Burien Police responded but got no response when they went to the residence.”

    • J August 21, 2020 (12:54 am)

      That’s what caught my eye too. Neighbors hear someone begging to leave and then gunshots. Burien police just knocked and  left when no one answered? 

      • newnative August 21, 2020 (8:41 am)

        It reinforces what a friend of mine told me about her experiences with assaults and asking for help in Burien. Burien police would never do anything. She had to get help from Kent a few times. 

  • 1994 August 20, 2020 (8:37 pm)

    Very sad situation to take 2 lives, causing grief for 2 families.

  • Cs August 21, 2020 (3:25 am)

    I’m so happy they caught this monster. I’m sure they put in lots of hours and spent many sleepless nights to find this piece of sh#$. Cash and Jessica were friends of mine. They were good people and they are missed by so many. They were trying to get their lives back on track so they could be better parents to their children and this scum bag robbed the children of ever having that at all.They will forever have this ugly memory and image of their parents remaines being found in suitcases. That goes for both of their family’s. They have to live the rest of their lives not only with out their loved ones but with those awful images of them washed up on the shore in suitcases. That man deserves to be behind bars for the rest of his life. He should never get the chance to see the sun or the moon again and only to see the bars that hold him in his cell. He is an evil person, and over them not having the money for rent. Hope he rots in jail. My condolences to the family’s may you find a little comfort in this killers arrest 

    • SJ August 21, 2020 (10:56 am)

      Very sorry for your loss CS, as well as everyone affected. Such a horrible story, even just following it as an outsider. I hope this development helps with your healing process. No one deserved this.

  • Martin August 21, 2020 (8:39 am)

    All of you wanting to congratulate the police… The magical strategy of not opening the door directly after shooting two people sure stymied them completely.  Seems like maybe they dropped the ball a little.

    • Neighbor August 21, 2020 (10:51 am)

      I believe the congratulations were for the SPD, who investigated and solved a murder case. The dropped ball you refer to (with which I agree) was the inaction of a different city’s police department.

      • Gina Jaschke August 21, 2020 (11:30 pm)

        Exactly, well said. 

    • Um, No! August 21, 2020 (12:16 pm)

      @ Martin – Thankfully,  we will have social workers handling these calls in the future.    I’m joking of course.   Or maybe I’m not?

      • WSB August 21, 2020 (1:06 pm)

        Even as a joke, it’s not funny. The police-reform proposals, whatever you think of them, do NOT propose sending “social workers” to violent crimes or potential violent crimes. It’s become too common a misstatement to just let it go by any more.

    • HappyCamper August 21, 2020 (2:07 pm)

      Gotta know all of the details. Pretty sure the police can’t just go breaking down doors to private residences based on a phone call. Who knows what all happened with that but there could be a lot of legitimate reasons policy wise that they didn’t just go in guns blazing. Maybe not; I’m just saying it’s easy to Monday morning QB this stuff and just as easy to QB it wrong.

      • waikikigirl August 22, 2020 (7:17 am)

        Agree as Happy Camper said!And can we all remember 2 people lost their lives here and there are 2 families grieving of the loss of their loved ones, and this is not about  likes or dislikes you have of the Police Department.

  • A-Red August 21, 2020 (9:58 am)

    Curious if this circles back to the midnight boater in distress who didn’t want any help, reported a few days before the bodies were found…

    • WSB August 21, 2020 (10:09 am)

      Still don’t know – there’s no incident # from that to try to compare. The p/c here is relatively brief but we should get more case info if/when charges are filed.

  • J. Dickerson August 21, 2020 (10:30 am)

    Shots fired, calls for help heard from apartment – keystone cops arrive, knock, don’t get an answer, and leave. These are your tax dollars at work, people. Do you think you’re getting your money’s worth? 

  • CAM August 21, 2020 (12:17 pm)

    This isn’t the most important detail but it’s bugging me. Does anyone else think it’s unrealistic that this guy was charging $1,500 a month for a single room in Burien? 

    • CRM August 21, 2020 (1:53 pm)

      Yes, sadly that went through my mind as well. Condolences to the families.  No one should lose their loved ones in such an awful manner.  Job well done SPD.  Any of you arm chair Columbo’s ever consider that unless a person confesses or is standing over the body with a literal smoking gun, the detectives must build a solid case so the charges stick, and that can take time. Unless, of course, it’s TV and those cases get wrapped up in a nice neat hour. 

    • newnative August 21, 2020 (2:38 pm)

      Completely plausible in this day and age.  

      • CAM August 21, 2020 (4:09 pm)

        I’m not sure rents have spiked that quickly. When I bought my place I was paying just over $1,800 a month for a one bedroom in a prime location and that was only 3 years ago. If they were paying that for a private place in Burien maybe it would be realistic but not for a single room. 

        • Penelope Pitstop August 21, 2020 (7:04 pm)

          Maybe he was charging $1,500 because of the double occupancy, maybe that included utilities etc.

    • chemist August 21, 2020 (6:41 pm)

      If you have a poor credit score and aren’t likely to pass screening criteria, options get limited real quick and risk-adjusted.  Even legit apartments would be unlikely to take someone in on month-to-month arrangements without charging a lot more.  I remember some of the billboards along Aurora N with “monthly rates” years ago seeming to be expensive compared to a legitimate studio rentals and that may have been the other option.

Sorry, comment time is over.