Cigarette Butt Solves 44-Year-Old Murder Case!

An almost 44-year-old murder case was solved because of a thrown-away cigarette butt and the 65-year-old accused Kenneth Kundert was arrested in connection with the brutal killing of Dorothy Silzel in the US.

According to New York Post report, the 30-year-old Boeing instructor and part-time pizza worker Dorothy was raped and strangled to death in her Kent, Washington condo in February 1980. Her body was discovered on February 26, 2080, three days after she was last seen alive.

Over four decades back, investigators had collected sperm samples from the body of the victim. Only recently the DNA sample on a cigarette butt matched with that of the sperm of the accused. The DNA technology available in 1980 was not advanced enough to identify the accused. But the samples were preserved, awaiting future developments in forensic science.

In March 2022, a forensic genealogist uploaded the DNA profile of the seized sperm to two databases, revitalizing the investigation. The search led to 11 potential suspects, all first cousins of the victim. Police narrowed on Kenneth Kundert, who was under investigation for a separate assault case.

During investigation, it was found that Kundert carefully collected every cigarette butt he smoked and stored them in his pocket.

Alert detectives managed to retrieve a cigarette butt thrown by Kundert from a dustbin at a Walmart parking lot in 2024. The DNA test revealed that the DNA from the cigarette butt was identical to the DNA evidence seized from the 1980 crime scene. This scientific evidence linked Kundert to the murder of Dorothy Silzel.

He was arrested on August 20 and currently is on a bail of $3 million.