SEATTLE — Gina Jaschke says her family can hardly bear the thought of what happened to her loving niece, 35-year-old Jessica Lewis, who was a mother of four, and her longtime 27-year-old boyfriend, Austin Wenner, whom everyone knew as Cash.
The remains of both Lewis and Wenner were found when teens discovered a packed suitcase washed up on the rocky shores of Alki Beach on June 19, and called 911. The teens were in the process of creating a video for TikTok, which has been viewed around the world.
The King County Medical Examiner determined that both Lewis and Wenner had been shot days before their remains were found.
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"She was like the most caring person," said Jaschke about her niece, who she said showed her "big heart" while working with developmentally disabled adults, along with her mother.
She described what a fun-loving, affectionate couple she and Cash were for eight years. "They were just nice normal people," she said. "Nobody deserves what happened to them."
FBI profilers told KIRO-7 whoever put the remains in bags could have been attempting 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!"
Gina started a GoFundMe page to raise reward money to find the killers.
"What I can do is keep this alive in everybody's mind," she said. "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."
Jaschke said the families--and four children-- left behind deserve answers and justice.
“I want somebody to pay for what they’ve done,” she said, “And if it brings any kind of solace to my family, I’ll do it. Because they’re just devastated.”
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