Last week marked the 19th anniversary of the murder of Bridgette Seidel and nearly two decades later, the Tomball woman’s death still remains unsolved.

Seidel’s case, reported in the Dec. 7, 2009 edition of the Tribune, was brought to light again last week when, on Jan. 3, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit issued a press release seeking tips from the public to help solve the mystery. Her story was featured last week on several news outlets.

On Jan. 3, 1992, 32-year-old Seidel was found murdered in her home at 17921 Seidel Cemetery Road, located just off Cypress Rosehill Road west of Tomball. Seidel was found dead on her bedroom floor by her mother, Wanda Turner, after concern that her daughter did not show up for work that day.

An autopsy report revealed that Seidel had been beaten and suffocated. She had bruises on her neck and upper body. Investigators ruled her death a murder.

Initial suspicion centered on her husband, Dennis Seidel. Bridgette’s sister, Cheryl Lamont, said that Bridgette had grown scared of her husband and purchased a gun shortly before her death.

Another suspect, a younger male friend of Seidel’s, was also questioned, but neither he nor Dennis Seidel were ever charged. Dennis Seidel denied any wrongdoing in his former wife’s murder.

The recently-reinstituted Cold Case Unit took up the case last year and the investigation is being led by Sgt. Eric Clegg.

When Seidel’s case was re-opened last year, Clegg told the Tribune that the case had “good potential” and that DNA evidence linking the crime to the killer could possibly be discovered.

However, a year later, no one has been charged and Seidel’s murder is no closer to being solved.

Clegg said last week that the “physical evidence” he previously attested to had been sent to the Harris County Institute for Forensic Science for analysis, but the results had yet to be announced.

“They are still working on it,” he said. “They are like everyone else (in the Sheriff’s Office), everyone’s got a very large case load. Some things are fairly quick, some things take longer.”

Seidel left behind three children, Aaron, Adam and Angie. Only Angie still lives in the Tomball area.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to contact Crime Stoppers of Houston at 713-222-TIPS or the Cold Case Unit at 713-967-5911.

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