The hallways and offices of Kent City Hall turned somber this week after the death of city employee Seth Frankel.
Frankel, 41, a video program coordinator for the city since 2007, was found dead May 22 lying on the floor of his Auburn home in the 100 block of D Street Northwest.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy Monday, and ruled the cause of death as “incised wounds of the neck and hands,” and the manner of death as homicide. A spokesman for the medical examiner listed the date of death as May 21.
Auburn Police continue to look into the death of Frankel.
“We have no positive leads or suspects,” said Sgt. David Colglazier, Auburn Police spokesman, during a phone interview Wednesday. “The detectives are following up with everybody they can talk to.”
Colglazier said the crime scene indicated “signs of a slight struggle,” but he declined to go into details about what has been discovered at Frankel’s house.
“We do not want to give out too much,” Colglazier said. “A suspect knows the crime scene, so we want to keep details from getting out.”
Colglazier said detectives can use specific details about the crime scene to help find or eliminate suspects.
The news about the death of Frankel hit hard at City Hall.
“Most of us are in a state of disbelief,” said Michelle Witham, city community and public affairs manager who worked closely with Frankel, during a phone interview Tuesday. “You don’t think these things happen to somebody you know.”
The family of Frankel had a private memorial service for Frankel May 27 at the Kent Senior Activity Center.
At about 11:57 a.m. May 22, police responded to the residence of Frankel to assist in checking the welfare of Frankel. A neighbor checking on him could see through a window that he was lying on the floor inside the residence.
Frankel did not respond to the neighbor or officers on scene before authorities entered the house. Officers found him dead at the scene with injuries not consistent with a natural death.
“It’s a shock and horrible tragedy,” Witham said. “And there are no answers, no why or no who.”
Frankel was the subject of a city profile story in the June 18, 2008 Kent Reporter. He was the employee behind most of the city meetings and events shown on Kent TV21. Residents within the city limits, who subscribe to Comcast cable services, can watch city meetings and events on channel 21.
“I hope what I do helps people turn on the meetings or programs,” Frankel said in an interview for the 2008 story at a small studio on the second floor of City Hall.
Frankel worked about 11 years as a director of production at a PBS station in Eureka, Calif., before he decided he wanted a new challenge. He saw the job posting for a video program coordinator for the city of Kent and figured his experience would be a perfect fit for the position.
“We are very sad for the loss of him,” Witham said. “And he has two really adorable little girls. Seth was the greatest guy and a joy to work with.”
Frankel had recently moved to Auburn from Kent, Witham said.
Frankel worked as part of a communications team formed by Witham two years ago to improve connections with city residents.
“He not only was good with video he was very savvy about communications,” Witham said. “He has been very key to a lot of the work we do, not just video.”
Frankel, who grew up in Hawaii, moved to the mainland to attend the University of Oregon, where he earned a degree in telecommunications and film.
Outside of work, Frankel enjoyed spending time with his two girls. He liked to hike, jog, camp and was a big rock ‘n’ roll fan. He saw his first Bruce Springsteen concert in 2008 at KeyArena in Seattle.
“That had been a goal of mine to see him,” Frankel said. “That was great.”
The news hit friends and colleagues hard.
“He was an extremely well-liked person,” said John Hodgson, chief administrative officer for the City of Kent. “Everyone that knew him really liked him. He was a great guy, very fun loving. We have a lot of people around the City who are devastated by what happened.”
He had friends at Auburn City Hall as well.
“Seth had an extensive background in video and broadcast work,” said Dana Hinman, public affairs manager for the City of Auburn. “We worked with him on several projects, and he was always willing to share his knowledge and skills with us. He was great to work with and had a great sense of humor. Clearly he worked very hard. A lot of the processes we use in video services at the City of Auburn come almost directly from Seth in terms of how we manage our content. If we needed help, he was at the other end of the phone willing to help and collaborate with us on a project. He will definitely be missed.”
Friends and family of Frankel started a memorial fund. To contribute, send a check to Seth Frankel Memorial Fund, c/o Boeing Employee Credit Union, PO Box 97050, Seattle, WA 98124-9750. Make the check out to “Seth Frankel Memorial Fund” and write “Account 3585404820” on the note line.
Reporter Robert Whale of the Auburn Reporter contributed to this story.
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