In the fourth episode of Worst Roommate Ever season 2, we meet Mike Dudley. Mike seems like a calm person with a dry sense of humor, so preferably a decent roommate. But actually, he has a dark side, much like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. he is involved in drug addiction, theft, possession of weapons, and even murder. His roommates, Austin Wenner and Jessica Lewis didn’t see through this, unfortunately, and that was their biggest mistake. So, what exactly happened to them? What did Mike Dudley do? We will find out about it from this explanation.
Why did Austin and Jessica start living with Mike?
Austin and Jessica met when Austin was 20 years old, and Jessica was a bit older than him. It was love at first sight and since then they have been inseparable. They had similar personalities—kind and funny—and their laughter could lift anyone’s spirit. However, they both struggled with drug addiction. They had been in and out of care multiple times, but for them, it was like them against the world, and they believed they could do anything to get better together. Unfortunately, after a while, they lost all their money to drugs and became homeless. When they saw an ad for a room for rent in Mike Dudley’s house, they decided to move in. It seemed perfect for their budget, and Mike appeared to be a good guy they could get along with. They hoped this new living situation would be a fresh start for them.
What did Mike Dudley do to Shelly?
Shelly was a psychologist and a former roommate of Mike Dudley. From her experience living with him, you could get a sense of what kind of person he was. When Shelly arrived with her two dogs, Ringo and Pepper, Mike seemed like a friendly old guy who loved dogs. He even had a dog of his own that he adored. Mike had his house stocked with food and utilities, always saying things like, “Make yourself at home,” so you wouldn’t think the worst of him, right? He even drove Shelly to work sometimes, so he seemed like an overall friendly guy. The only odd thing was that his house was filled with CCTVs everywhere, and in his basement, there were big computers where he monitored who was coming and going. Shelly had to ask for permission before inviting anyone over, and Mike always wanted to know how long they would stay. It was really suspicious—what was he hiding?
One night, Shelly, her dog, Mike, and his dog went out for a night walk. The next thing they knew, they got a call saying Mike’s dog had been hit and killed. Mike was devastated. To him, his dog was everything. He was so heartbroken that for a whole week, he slept with the dead dog beside him. Shelly, being a psychologist, understood he was having difficulty letting go, but the way he showed it was bizarre. What’s even worse is that instead of burying the dog, he kept it in the freezer. For the month that Shelly stayed with Mike, the dog was still in the freezer. After moving out, Shelly felt relieved because she had started to get scared of Mike. He had deadly weapons in the house, and she feared for her safety and that of her dogs. However, she had to return to town for an emergency and had no one to leave her dogs with. She thought Mike would be the best person to look after them because he loved dogs so much. Mike agreed to help.
One night, Shelly got a call from Mike saying her dogs were missing. The front door was unlocked, and they were gone. Shelly was panicking until Mike assured her he would look for them. He found Ringo, but not Pepper. Shelly was heartbroken because the dogs were like two sons to her. She rushed to get Ringo out of the house. When she arrived, she heard something horrifying from Mike. He, holding a chicken from his coop, looked at Shelly with emotionless, dead eyes and said he killed Pepper. Shelly couldn’t believe it. Mike explained that it was an eye for an eye—Pepper had hurt the chicken’s baby, so he took revenge on the chicken’s behalf. Shelly realized the mistake she had made by leaving her dogs with him. She was terrified for her life because she knew if she screamed or cried, Mike might never let her go. She had to save herself, so she calmly went to another room, called an Uber, and left. After all, his obsessive need for control and seeking revenge on behalf of a chicken revealed a dangerous, unpredictable mind driven by bizarre and violent impulses. Shelly knew this deeply disturbing side of Mike, but she never talked about it to anyone again.
What happened to Austin and Jessica?
Now you can get a sense of what kind of man Mike was. Austin and Jessica didn’t know about this deeply disturbing side of him, but they were aware of his control freak tendencies. Mike knew about their situation—how they were drug addicts with no money—and he exploited that. He made them steal things, including cars, and deliver drugs for him. In exchange, they got to live with him, but that was it. They didn’t know about Mike’s gun collection. Suddenly, he started collecting all these guns, and it scared them. Mike tried to hide this from them, but he noticed that they had seen the guns. Austin and Jessica were terrified and wondered if Mike might use the guns to kill them. They told a friend that if they didn’t hear from them, it would mean Mike had killed them. And that’s exactly what happened. One night, Mike Dudley shot both Austin and Jessica. He then cut their bodies into pieces, packed them in suitcases, and dumped them in the water at Alki Beach.
The aftermath of this case was even more terrifying. Neighbors heard screaming, crying, and gunshots from Mike’s house and called the police. It took the police two follow-up calls to finally check on them. What if they had arrived on time? But the police saw no one at home when they arrived. The most suspicious thing was that when Austin and Jessica’s parents tried to contact them, they couldn’t get through. But Mike picked up the call with a very normal demeanor, saying they had left the house in a hurry without paying rent, and babbling about Austin’s meth use as if nothing had happened. He was disturbingly calm.
Austin’s father went to the house and saw their clothes and belongings scattered everywhere. It was clear they hadn’t just run away without taking their things. The search for them continued, but there were no traces until a woman, who was supposed to be Mike’s next roommate, came to the house to check out the room. She saw a severed hand in a pile of clothes and bullet marks on the walls and drawers. She realized something terrible had happened. Despite her history of drug abuse and prostitution, she bravely went to the police because she feared for her life. This helped the police find Mike Dudley’s trail and arrest him. How did the police know? The bodies, cut into pieces, were found at Alki Beach, and the discovery was made viral on TikTok by teenagers, making everyone aware of the gruesome crime. Thanks to a thorough investigation by the Seattle police, Mike Dudley was sent to prison for life without parole for double homicide and first-degree murder. While Jessica’s body was found, Austin’s remains are still missing to this day. But the good thing is that Mike didn’t get away with his crime, and justice was served.Â
