The TikTok suitcase murders

Over 30 million people watched the discovery of two dead bodies on a Seattle beach as police hunted down the killer

- GAIL SHORTLAND 

It was a bright sunny day at Alki Beach, in Seattle, Washington - three years ago this week - and three teenagers were exploring. They were using the online trend of "randonauting". Through a variety of apps and websites, explorers randomly generate coordinates in their local area and then discover what's there, sharing their findings on social media.

Those who take part call themselves randonauts and they can set "intentions" before generating the location, in the hope that they will be led to a place that matches what they're looking for. Others simply use it to create a sense of adventure in a scavenger-style hunt.

It was 19 June 2020, and the teens were directed to a rocky part of the beach where they found a black suitcase that had been washed up from the sea and wedged onto some stones. They thought there might be something valuable inside, like money, and as part of their randonauting adventure they started to film a video for TikTok.

The video showed one of the girls edging towards the suitcase. Suddenly she was hit by the stench of death. She used a long stick to open the suitcase and discovered that whatever was inside was wrapped in black rubbish bags. The smell of rotting flesh was overwhelming.

The group called 911. Emergency services arrived just in time before the suitcase was swept back out to sea. They confirmed it contained human remains and they also found a second bag nearby with body parts inside. A fun day out turned into a murder inquiry.

Meanwhile, the teens' Tik Tok video started to go viral across Seattle and then spread like wildfire across the entire country. It was watched over 30 million times.

While there was no actual footage of the human remains, so as not to violate the TikTok terms of service, it was clear from the caption that it was very likely to be a body wrapped inside the plastic. The more the gruesome video was watched, the higher profile the case became.