After over four decades of unanswered questions and a cold trail, the Kent Police Department has announced the resolution of a 44-year-old murder case involving a Boeing employee and part-time pizza worker. The suspect, a 65-year-old Arkansas man, was only 20 when he allegedly committed the crime, forever altering the trajectory of Dorothy Silzel's life. Silzel, who was as much a community giver as she was a treasured sibling, was found dead at her Kent residence on February 26, 1980, after failing to show up to work, which prompted an alarmed call from her family, as KOMO news reported.
The breakthrough that allowed the authorities to suddenly solve the case was rooted in DNA evidence discovered at the crime scene. Over the years, advances in forensics technology enabled them to finally match the DNA to the Arkansas man now charged with her murder. According to KIRO 7, one detective remarked on the case's grip, saying, "Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down."
Dorothy Silzel, remembered for her dedication to her job at Boeing in Renton and for the care she showed to her family, community, and those she volunteered with at the Special Olympics, led a life of marked by the love she extended to others. Silzel was described by her brother at a press conference as someone who “was an awesome aunt to many nieces and nephews and daughter to mom and dad and a sister to eight brothers and sisters,” according to a profile shared by Kent Reporter. "She loved her job at Boeing," Yantzer, her brother, added. Silzel had been working part-time at Gaetano's Pizza just a few blocks from her condo, the place where her life was tragically cut short.
The King County Medical Examiner's Office initially identified the cause of death as "asphyxia death by cervical compression," noticing also a "blunt impact" to her head, as per KOMO news. This analysis was crucial in linking the suspect to the crime through preserved DNA evidence that would take decades to be appropriately matched. This evidence, combined with relentless work from Kent's detectives, has now brought a semblance of closure to a case that not only haunted the area but also trembled through a family which had to continue to live on, always carrying a hollow space where Dorothy once was.
