SHORELINE, Wash. — Fifty-five years after Edwin T. Pratt was killed at his Shoreline home, the push to keep his memory alive drives Jean Soliz.
"I'm here because of him," Soliz said. "He used to check my grades on the way home from babysitting. He invested in me and gave me confidence."
As a close family friend, Soliz saw the turmoil fighting for equality brought on Pratt and his family.
"One night, about three weeks before he was killed, I was over there and going to babysit. He pulled me aside when Bettye was in the other room and said, 'Don't answer the phone. If I want to talk to you, I'll let it ring once, then call back,'" Soliz said.
In hindsight, Soliz understands Pratt was trying to protect her from hearing threats he'd received over his integration efforts in all facets of Seattle life.
Soliz said the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act allowed Pratt to insist on equal rights for all in his community. His insistence, whether with labor unions or school districts, made him many enemies.
"There was a whole lot of angst about bussing. At the same time, residential segregation had forced 80% of the Black population in the Central area, four square miles that were so crowded because of The Great Migration coming from the South," Soliz said. "Schools became very segregated in Seattle, not by law, but by practicality. There was tension on how you repair that. He received threats about that. A month before he was killed in January, he was thinking about buying a gun, but his wife Bettye talked him out of it."
Soliz said that the gun wouldn't have saved Pratt because of how it happened.
"He and Bettye were sitting in their family room and they heard thuds against the window," Soliz said. "Edwin went to the front door and opened it and took one shotgun shot to the mouth and that was it."
KING 5 last reported on the case in 2011. At the time, cold case detectives with the King County Sheriff's Office said they believed Tommy Kirk, described as a mentally unstable drug dealer, killed Pratt. Detectives told KING 5 they didn't believe the murder was a political or racial assassination.
In 2019, the Justice Department reopened the case for review under the Till Act. In that investigation, the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington, and an attorney from the Civil Rights Division's Cold Case Unit reviewed records, looked into new leads and spoke to a number of people.
However, according to the Justice Department, that investigation "ended in the same manner as the previous two – with further indications that Tommy Kirk was the gunman who killed Pratt; with a list of likely accomplices but no confirmed motive; and with no living subjects available for a prosecution."
The FBI closed its investigation in Dec. 2021. The Justice Department provides a full outline of investigations and theories into Pratt's death on its website.
Soliz, however, has her own theories. She's been working on a book that she said will honor Pratt's legacy and also uncover who she believes killed Pratt. Soliz poured over countless cold case files to write the book. It is now in the editing process.