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A cigarette butt 🚬solves the mystery of a 44-year-old crime!



in an old murder case, Kent Police Chief Rafael Padilla said at a news conference that Selzel was found dead on February 26, 1980, inside her home in Kent, about 30 minutes south of Seattle. Police said she died of strangulation or suffocation, and suffered a blow to the head, citing an autopsy report. She was also sexually assaulted, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.


Police said Selzel was last seen three nights earlier leaving a pizza parlor where she worked weekends to supplement her income as a full-time training supervisor for Boeing.


In 2016, advances in DNA technology allowed investigators to obtain a partial DNA profile from the victim’s bathrobe at the crime scene that matched Individual A’s DNA profile, according to police.


Investigators compared multiple DNA samples over the years to the partial DNA profile, but none matched Individual A, according to police.


The breakthrough finally came in 2022, when crime lab investigators used genetic genealogy to identify 11 potential suspects, police said.


This forensic method compares unidentified DNA to DNA that can be found in genealogy databases, allowing investigators to find relatives of the unknown person. That, combined with other detective work, can help investigators identify potential suspects.


In the Washington case, investigators began collecting DNA samples from potential suspects to compare to Individual A’s DNA profile, Kent police said. Police said two possible suspects are Kenneth Kundert and his brother, both of whom live in Arkansas.


“In September 2023, (detectives) in Kent began investigating (the brothers) and were informed that they were in custody on an unrelated assault charge,” Kent police said in a news release.


According to police, Kent police coordinated with an Arkansas sheriff’s office to request voluntary DNA samples from the brothers. Kent police said that while Kundert’s brother voluntarily provided his sample, Kundert declined.


DNA testing determined that the brother was not a match, police said.


Police discovered that Kenneth Kundert had ties to Washington state. Police said he and his brother lived in an apartment complex about 1,200 feet from Selzel’s apartment. Court documents from prosecutors say the brothers lived at the complex at the time of Selzel’s death.


In an attempt to find evidence that Kundert was at the scene of Selzel’s murder, Kent police traveled to Clinton, Arkansas, in March, where they conducted surveillance with the help of the FBI and local law enforcement.


During that surveillance, police found a cigarette butt that Kundert had thrown away, police said in an affidavit. A crime lab report indicated that the DNA profile from the cigarette butt belonged to Individual A, according to the affidavit.


Kundert was being held in the Arkansas County Jail on Thursday, according to jail records. He was awaiting extradition to Washington state, police said.


Kundert is charged in King County, Washington, with first-degree murder, according to court documents. His bail was set at $3 million.


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