KENT, Wash. (TCN) — A 65-year-old man was arrested in Arkansas 44 years after he allegedly sexually assaulted and killed a 30-year-old woman in her condo.
The Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office announced Aug. 20 that Kenneth Kundert was taken into custody in Arkansas in connection with the cold case death of Dorothy “Dottie” Silzel. He will be extradited back to Washington, where he faces a charge of first-degree murder.
Silzel was last seen on the evening of Feb. 23, 1980, leaving the pizza shop where she worked. Her family and friends became concerned after not hearing from her, so they contacted Kent Police to conduct a welfare check at her residence. Police went to her condominium on Feb. 26, 1980, and found her deceased. The medical examiner determined her manner of death was homicide.
According to KCPQ-TV, Silzel had marks on her neck and a robe over her arm. She reportedly sustained blunt force trauma to the head and was strangled to death. Investigators also reportedly found semen on Silzel’s body and robe.
KCPQ reports Silzel’s case went cold, but investigators continued to work on it over the years. In March 2022, a forensic genealogist at Identifiers International used a DNA sample and was able to find some potential matches. A year and a half later, in September 2023, detectives listed Kundert and his brother as the two possible suspects, but the brother was ruled out after he let detectives test him. Kundert, however, would not allow himself to be tested.
On March 22, a Kent Police detective traveled to Arkansas and saw Kundert smoking a cigarette. After Kundert threw it away, the detective collected the cigarettes in the trash and sent it to the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab for testing. One of the butts returned a positive match to the DNA found on Silzel’s body.
Prior to her death, Silzel, the youngest of nine, worked at Boeing in addition to the pizza restaurant.
Silzel’s niece described to KCPQ what it was like learning about Kundert’s arrest, saying, “First it was outrage, then it was overwhelming joy that we get some closure. Hopefully, we can convict this guy of doing what he did. He’s a monster.”