The Trail Went Cold - Episode 435 - Pearl Kongsle

September 2, 1959. Seattle, Washington. 62-year old Pearl Kongsle discovers a paper sack on the walkway outside her residence and when she bends over to pick it up, a bomb goes off and kills her. Even though a car containing three teenage boys is seen speeding away from the scene following the blast, investigators are unable to turn up any major leads or compelling suspects with a motive to harm Pearl. It turns out that months earlier, two relatives of Pearl’s late husband died after a mysterious poisoning and there was another strange incident where sticks of dynamite were discovered on the property of Pearl’s brother-in-law, but no link can be found between these events and Pearl’s murder. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the bizarre unsolved bombing death of Pearl Kongsle.

Additional Reading:

https://www.historylink.org/File/10051

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pearl-kongsle-widows-1959-bomb-death-among-seattles-coldest-cases/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/769110471/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/734331382/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/769110685/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/258848940/

"The Trail Went Cold" will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Boston North Shore in Boston, Massachusetts on July 18-20, 2025. To get a 20 % discount on tickets, please use our specialized promo code, “ROBIN20”, by visiting https://www.truecrimepodcastfestival.com/. 

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The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.