What killed it? Look closer. Not at the pump itself, but at the story it tells about you.
This is why the internet is filled with desperate videos of people flipping dishwashers onto their sides, unscrewing tri-wing screws with orphaned bits, and pulling out wads of pink, fibrous gunk. The ritual of unclogging is an act of mechanical penance. You must disconnect the power. You must bail the rancid water by hand with a cup you will later throw away. You must remove the lower rack, the spray arm, the filter—a series of plastic thresholds designed to prevent exactly this moment, which have failed. dishwasher drain pump clogged
Because a dishwasher without a drain pump is just a plastic tub of cold, greasy water. And a person who ignores the heart of the machine is destined, eventually, to drown in the remnants of their own feast. What killed it
That heart is the drain pump.