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44 years after woman murdered in suburban Seattle, DNA on cigarette leads to suspect in Arkansas
New DNA recovered from a cigarette has helped police in Washington state make an arrest in a decades-old cold case, authorties said this week.
Dorothy Marie Silzel was last seen alive on Feb. 23, 1980, in Kent, Washington, the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office said on social media. She was found dead in her condo three days later after a welfare check was requested. Local police found that she had been sexually assaulted and deemed her death to be a homicide via strangulation, according to the Seattle Times.
DNA evidence was collected from the crime scene, CBS affiliate KTHV reported, but it wasn’t until years later that the technology would advance enough to help link that evidence to possible suspects. In March 2022, Kent police began pursuing possible DNA matches and came back with 11 suspects, according to the station. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said on social media that his office’s sexual assault kit initiative funded forensic genetic genealogy testing that “narrowed the list of suspects.”
One of those suspects was Kenneth Kundert, who at the time was living in Van Buren County, Arkansas. He had lived and worked in Seattle in 1987, but no earlier records were available. Police also found that he had a family member who had lived near Silzel at the time of her murder, and he had misdemeanor convictions in King County throughout the 80s and 90s, according to the Seattle Times.
Kundert was already under investigation for assault in Arkansas, and during an interview with him about the crime, Van Buren County detectives tried to get a sample from him, but according to charging documents and police, he put extinguished cigarettes and a water bottle that he drank from in his pocket and declined to give a voluntary sample.
Kent police began conducting surveillance on Kundert while he lived in Arkansas. Eventually, he dropped a cigarette before entering a store. The cigarette was recovered and tested for DNA.
The DNA on the cigarette matched the DNA that was found in Silzel’s condo, police said.
Members of the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office and detectives with the Kent Police Department arrested Kundert on August 20.
Kundert has been charged with first-degree murder, according to KTHV. He is being held on a $3 million bail, the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office said.
Ferguson said on social media that Kundert was expected to be extradited from Arkansas to Washington to face charges.
Tupperware and some of its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the once-iconic food container maker said in a statement late Tuesday.
The company has suffered from dwindling sales following a surprise surge during the COVID-19 pandemic, when legions of people stuck at home tried their hands at cooking, which increased demand for Tupperware’s colorful plastic containers with flexible airtight seals.
A post-pandemic rise in costs of raw materials and shipping, along with higher wages, also hurt Tupperware’s bottom line.
Last year, it warned of “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep operating in light of its poor financial position.
“Over the last several years, the Company’s financial position has been severely impacted by the challenging macroeconomic environment,” president and CEO Laurie Ann Goldman said in a statement announcing the bankruptcy filing.
“As a result, we explored numerous strategic options and determined this is the best path forward,” Goldman said.
The company said it would seek court approval for a sale process for the business to protect its brand and “further advance Tupperware’s transformation into a digital-first, technology-led company.”
The Orlando, Florida-based firm said it would also seek approval to continue operating during the bankruptcy proceedings and would continue to pay its employees and suppliers.
“We plan to continue serving our valued customers with the high-quality products they love and trust throughout this process,” Goldman said.
The firm’s shares were trading at $0.5099 Monday, well down from $2.55 in December last year.
Tupperware said it had implemented a strategic plan to modernize its operations and drive efficiencies to ignite growth following the appointment of a new management team last year.
“The Company has made significant progress and intends to continue this important transformation work.”
In its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Tupperware listed assets of between $500 million and $1 billion and liabilities of between $1 billion and $10 billion.
The filing also said it had between 50,000 and 100,000 creditors.
Tupperware lost popularity with consumers in recent years and an initiative to gain distribution through big-box chain Target failed to reverse its fortunes.
The company’s roots date to 1946, when chemist Earl Tupper “had a spark of inspiration while creating molds at a plastics factory shortly after the Great Depression,” according to Tupperware’s website.
“If he could design an airtight seal for plastic storage containers, like those on a paint can, he could help war-weary families save money on costly food waste.”
Over time, Tupper’s containers became popular that many people referred to any plastic food container as Tupperware. And people even threw “Tupperware parties” in their homes to sell the containers to friends and neighbors.
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