Curiosity is the nature of teens.
People at that age group tend to have a bit of drama, which is closely tied to hormonal changes and the onset of puberty, as well as other changes in the body.
Not only that the changes contribute to heightened emotions, but also a quest for self-discovery, brain development in decision-making, risk-taking, and impulse control, social influences among peers of the same age, and the attempt to seek independence.
Teens are still developing their personalities, interests, and passions.
This is why teens, which are on the brink of adulthood, see the world as their canvas for their curiosity.
This is they tend to explore a lot more than other age groups, which in turn can lead to discoveries of the uncertainties.
Whether it's trying out new hobbies, making new friends, or pondering over future aspirations, teens are on a journey of self-discovery.
And to those people, Randonautica is one of the apps that make use of this teenagers' curiosity.
The app, which was launched on February 2020, randomly generates coordinates that enable the user to explore their local area and report on their findings. According to its creators, the app is "an attractor of strange things," letting one choose specific coordinates based on a certain theme.
Born during COVID-19, the app exploded in popularity among young people during lockdowns as a fun new way to explore their neighborhood.
While Randonautica generates random locations for users to explore, sometimes, the app seemingly coincidentally, show coordinates of disturbing things, with the majority of reports were revealed on TikTok and Reddit, as well as Telegram.
The most trending controversy, is when a group of teens, who were just having fun, headed to a beach in Duwamish Head, Puget Sound, West Seattle.
The teens who were Raudonauting, found a mysterious black suitcase.
Egged on by the group, one girl opened the top of the suitcase, and lifted it from a distance using a wooden stick.
Inside, she saw a black plastic bag filled with something.
The group who had been filming their explorations to a video on TikTok, a social media platform, was still laughing, as they thought they would find money or some treasure.
Fueled by curiosity, the group opened the plastic bag and to their horror, found human remains inside it.
"Wait, open it. It stinks y'all!" one said.
As they poked open the suitcase with a stick, the smell became more intense.
"As soon as she opened it, the smell was overwhelming," read one of the video captions.
They then called the police, the video shows.
In the next clip, police and fire trucks were already surrounding the beach.
Besides the black suitcase, there was another suitcase, floating in the ocean nearby, which also contained human remains.
The Seattle police later confirmed the contents inside the suitcase were indeed human remains, and that they were gruesomely mutilated.
After medical examiners inspected the body parts, according to reports, the remains belonged to 27-year-old Austin Wenner and 35-year-old Jessica Lewis.
Both died on June 16 from multiple gunshot wounds.
Lewis, a mother of four, had been shot several times, said the police. Wenner on the other hand, died of a single gunshot wound.
Randonautica said that it was “shocked at the very unfortunate coincidence."
"Our first reaction was to reach out to the teenagers to make sure they were doing alright. We sent a message letting them know the intention of Randonautica is not to find something disturbing like this," it said.
The app's creator Joshua Lengfelder said he never expected anyone to find dead bodies, especially when they are in such horrific condition.
"When you’re sending millions of people to random locations and searching the hidden corners of reality, you’re bound to find some pretty shocking stuff sometimes," said Lengfelder.
Seattle police, who said that they are opening an homicide investigation, later arrested and charged Michael Lee Dudley, in connection to the murder, in August 2020.
According to a website post by Seattle.gov, the 62-year-old man was arrested the suspect at a residence in Burien.
According to court documents In June 2020, Dudley was in an argument over unpaid rent with both Lewis and Wenner, 27, both of whom were romantically linked.
It's said that Lewis and Wenner, which were tenants, had trouble paying the $1,500 monthly rent to Dudley, their landlord.
That argument ended with them being shot by Dudley.
According to neighbors, they heard gunfire and heard a man's voice yelling, "Please don’t do this, just let me leave."
In March 2021 Dudley was denied bail and other people are under suspicion of aiding Dudley in the dismemberment and disposal of the bodies, but no one else has been charged.
After an investigation was launched, a search of Dudley's home and the room the couple shared, revealed bullet holes, spent cartridges and blood.
According to court documents it was obvious the room had been cleaned.
The police also found that Dudley’s cellphone logs showed that it had pinged off a tower near Alki Beach on June 18, something It had never done in the three months prior according to the investigation.
The investigation also revealed that the cellphones of both Lewis and Wenner were turned off just after 7 p.m. on the night they were murdered.
In December 2023, Dudley was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, and was sentenced to more than 40 years in prison, specifically 560 months, meaning that he should spend the remaining of his life behind bars.
Judge Aimee Sutton issued the sentence in a hearing in King County Superior Court.
