Tracy Whitney Obituary, Death; – More than thirty years after the discovery of 18-year-old Tracy Whitney’s body in the Puyallup River in northwestern Washington, authorities have identified her murderer.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department reported that Whitney’s nude body was found by fishermen on August 28, 1988. An autopsy determined that her death was caused by asphyxia due to strangulation and probable smothering, classifying it as a homicide. Additionally, she sustained multiple blunt force injuries and was suspected to have been sexually assaulted, according to police reports.
Detective Sergeant Lindsay Kirkegaard of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department stated that Whitney, whose identity was confirmed through dental records, was last seen leaving a Burger King in Sumner, Washington, following a dispute with her ex-boyfriend. Less than a day later, her body was discovered.
“There were numerous suspects, including current and former boyfriends,” Kirkegaard mentioned in a video released on December 1. Despite obtaining DNA samples from the crime scene believed to belong to the perpetrator, investigators were unable to identify a suspect, as reported by CBS.
Tracy’s sister, Robin, who was only 11 years old at the time of the murder, recounted to CNN that their father had made several visits to the sheriff’s office over the years, seeking to revive the investigation and locate his daughter’s killer.
In 2005, the sheriff’s office submitted the DNA sample collected in 1988 to the FBI’s national genetic database, CODIS, but this effort did not produce any leads, as stated by the sheriff’s department.
A significant development occurred in 2022 when the sheriff’s department received a grant from the State Attorney General’s Office, allowing them to send the DNA sample to Parabon NanoLab in Virginia for genetic genealogy analysis.
In August 2022, five months later, the results identified the suspect as John Guillot Jr. However, Guillot Jr. could not be apprehended, as he had passed away from cancer eight months prior to the identification, according to Kirkegaard. Additionally, he had been cremated.
