A Boeing worker was raped and murdered 44 years ago. Thanks to DNA her family is finally getting ‘some closure’

Kenneth Duane Kundert, 65, arrested for the 1980 slaying of 30-year-old Dorothy Marie Silzel of Kent, Washington

Kenneth Duane Kundert, 65, is being held on a $3 million bail in Van Buren County Jail (Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office)

An Arkansas man has been arrested for the rape and murder of a Boeing worker who was killed more than four decades ago.

New DNA collected from a cigarette helped police in Washington state arrest Kenneth Duane Kundert, 65, for the 1980 slaying of 30-year-old Dorothy Marie Silzel of Kent, Washington.

While some DNA evidence had been recovered from the crime scene decades earlier, according to CBS affiliate KTHV, the technology was not advanced enough to help link that evidence to possible suspects at the time.

Silzel was last seen alive on February 23, 1980, in Kent, Washington, the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office said on social media following the arrest of Kundert last week.

Her family and friends, who called her Dottie, said she worked two jobs – as an instructor at Boeing Aircraft Company during the day, and some nights at Gaetano’s Pizza.

On the night Silzel went missing, she left Gaetano’s between 10pm and 11.15pm after her shift ended, but was never seen again.

Three days later, when Silzel failed to show up for work at Boeing, a family friend and a Kent police officer conducted a welfare check at her condo, which was just three blocks from the pizza joint.

They found Silzel’s nude body on the second floor in a room that appeared to be used for sewing, FOX13 reported. A robe was wrapped around her arm. She had marks on her neck that appeared consistent with bruising.

An autopsy determined Silzel had suffered a blunt impact to her head and died from strangulation.

For years, the case saw little movement as it shuffled from one detective to the next – until 11 years ago when it landed on the desk of Detective Tim Ford, who followed up on tips and leads as he often met with her family members.

In March 2022, police began pursuing possible DNA matches and with the help of Senior Forensic Genealogist Misty Gillis at Identifinders International, they located ancestry matches for 11 potential suspects.

Over a year later, in September 2023, detectives had narrowed the suspect list down to Kenneth Kundert and his brother, who was later excluded after he voluntarily provided a DNA sample, FOX13 reported.

However, Kundert refused to allow his DNA to be tested. But detectives took note of his smoking and how he would stash the cigarette butt in his pocket instead of throwing it away.

While conducting surveillance of Kundert in March 2024, investigators collected cigarettes from the trash bin after seeing him discard one and were able to obtain a DNA profile.

Detectives with the Kent Police Department and Van Buren County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Kundert on Tuesday at his home near Clinton, Arkansas.

He has a criminal history that includes multiple misdemeanor offenses in four states.

“To killers who think they got away with it, they should be nervous about every knock on the door because it doesn’t matter how many years it’s been, that knock is coming,” Casey McNerthney with the King County Prosecutor’s Office said following the arrest.

Kundert is scheduled to be arraigned on August 29.

The arrest of Kundert brings some closure for Silzel’s family and friends who have been waiting for years, hoping for an answer.

“First it was outrage, then it was overwhelming joy that we get some closure,” her niece Leanne Milligan said. “Hopefully, we can convict this guy of doing what he did. He’s a monster.”

Milligan was 20 years old when her aunt was killed. She remembered her as someone who loved volunteering for the Special Olympics and was just someone she looked up to.

“She was only 10 years older than I am. She worked at Boeing. I got a job at Boeing, and we were more alike at that time of our lives,” she recalled.

Milligan, along with other loved ones gathered on Sunday at the Greenwood  Memorial Park in Renton to remember Silzel.

They also thanked the detectives, specifically Det Ford, for their dedication.

“Tim has definitely elevated the Kent Police Department very high,” Silzel’s sister-in-law, Carol Yantzel said. “This is our private celebration of joy and gratefulness, but it gives hope to so many other families who are out there.”