Dead Teen Was Due To Testify

Sat., Feb. 21, 1998

From Staff And Wire Reports

A teenager whose body was discovered last week had been expected to testify against a person accused of trying to rob him at gunpoint, police say.

At the same time, detectives have found nothing to link the killing of Anthony Genzale, 16, of Burien, to the attempted robbery case, police spokesman Elliott Woodall said Thursday.

Genzale’s body was found in a field the night of Feb. 12 by a man walking his dog. Cause of death has been withheld, and police have appealed to the public for information on the case.

Woodall said Genzale told authorities in neighboring King County that someone pulled a gun on him when an argument arose while he was playing basketball at a church in Burien last summer.

“This person demanded money from him, but he didn’t have any money and he ran off,” the police spokesman said.

Genzale notified authorities, who arrested the other person. The robbery trial was supposed to begin last week but had been postponed before Genzale’s body was found, Woodall said.

The defendant in that case, whom Woodall did not identify, apparently was not in custody at the time Genzale was killed, but police have no reason to believe that person was involved in the killing, Woodall said.

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