Kent cold case murder suspect back in state after governor’s warrant | Update

It took a governor’s warrant for extradition to finally get Kenneth Kundert out of Arkansas and returned to King County to face a first-degree murder charge in a 1980 Kent cold case.

Prosecutors charged Kundert, 65, in August for allegedly killing Dorothy “Dottie” Silzel 44 years ago at her Kent condo shortly after she ended her shift at a local pizza parlor. Kent detectives, the FBI and the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office arrested Kundert Aug. 20 at his home in Clinton, Arkansas.

Kundert fought extradition to bring him to King County.

“The defendant in this case is not waiving extradition, which makes a longer time frame to get him back,” said Casey McNerthney, King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office spokesperson, in an Oct. 30 email. “In September, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office sent a request to Gov. (Jay) Inslee’s office for a governor’s warrant for extradition, which is needed to get him to King County. Prosecutors asked for it to be expedited.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders recently signed the warrant sent by Inslee.

If Kundert hadn’t fought extradition, he would have been transferred within a few weeks after his August arrest, McNerthney said.

Kundert had been in custody in the Van Buren Correctional Facility in Clinton with bail set at $3 million. According to jail records, Kundert was released the morning of Oct. 30 in Arkansas and booked the night of Oct. 30 into the King County Correctional Facility in Seattle.

Kundert is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 7 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, McNerthney said.

Kent detectives used DNA, genealogy comparisons and a discarded cigarette to find Kundert and arrest him for investigation for the February 1980 strangulation of Silzel, 30, found dead in her condo in the 25400 block of 106th Avenue SE.

In March, Kent detectives in the Special Investigations Unit traveled to Clinton, Arkansas to conduct surveillance of Kundert, according to police. They were assisted by the FBI, the Arkansas 20th Judicial Drug Task Force and the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office.

During the operation, they were able to obtain a discarded cigarette reportedly belonging to Kenneth Kundert. Kent Detective Tim Ford confirmed at an Aug. 28 press conference at Kent City Hall about the cold case arrest that Kundert reportedly had discarded the cigarette outside of a Walmart store. The State Patrol Crime Lab determined the DNA on that cigarette reportedly matched DNA found on a bathrobe at the 1980 murder scene and belonged to what had been referred to as Individual A, which charging papers claim belonged to Kundert.

Kenneth Kundert. COURTESY PHOTO,