FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — More than three decades after the killing of 18-year-old Tracy Whitney, investigators have identified a suspect using DNA evidence and genetic genealogy, bringing some answers to a family haunted by loss.
Whitney disappeared on Aug. 28, 1988, after leaving a Burger King restaurant in Federal Way following an argument with friends. Her body was found the next day on a gravel bed in the Puyallup River near Sumner. According to police records, her body showed signs of strangulation, sexual assault and blunt force trauma.
For Tracy's father, Ronald Whitney, the pain of losing his daughter has remained constant.
"It's something that never leaves your mind, every day, I don't think the grief will ever go away, it's the first thing I think about in the morning, it's the last thing I think about at night," he said.
For years, the Whitney family had little hope of finding answers. Ronald Whitney recalled, "I came to the conclusion that the only way we were going to find out what happened or who murdered my daughter was if he walked into the front door of the police station."
Tracy's sister, Robin Whitney, who was 11 at the time of the murder, reflected on the impact of the case: "For the longest time, I just felt like the girl whose sister was murdered." She recalled her sister's trusting nature: "She was trusting; she was emotional; she was 18 and not making the best decisions."
As Robin and Ronald Whitney recently looked through old photos of Tracy, they remembered the happy girl who always had a sparkle in her eye.
Robin Whitney said shortly before her death, she felt like she was "only truly beginning to know who she was."
Photos of Tracy Whitney and her family
Tracy's body was not identified for two months after it was found. Two months in the criminal investigation world is an eternity, so the case eventually went cold. Thankfully, investigators had the foresight to collect and preserve DNA.
The breakthrough came after advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy. Ronald Whitney noted how significant developments in other cases inspired hope for his daughter's case: "When the Golden State Killer got busted, I said, ‘This is it, this is the break that we’ve been waiting for.'"
Pierce County Sheriff's Detective Lindsay Kirkegaard said DNA evidence collected at the crime scene was recently submitted for genetic genealogy analysis. The results pointed to John Guillot Jr. as the suspect. However, Guillot died in 2022 at age 65, eight months before being identified.
'If John G. Jr. had been alive today, law enforcement would have probable cause to arrest'
Kirkegaard said DNA evidence collected at the crime scene was recently submitted for genetic genealogy analysis. The results pointed to John Guillot as the suspect.
When asked if Guillot was definitively the killer, Kirkegaard stated, "If John G. Jr. had been alive today, law enforcement would have probable cause to arrest. From our standard, he was the suspect, and he would have been arrested for the crime." She confirmed, "From a law enforcement perspective, yes."
Records show he was questioned in connection to the death of his girlfriend in 2010 and the death of his wife in 2020, though he was never arrested or charged with either crime.
The case is now officially closed and classified as "Cleared Exceptional - Death of Offender." While the identification of a suspect brings some closure, the Whitney family continues to grapple with their loss and the lack of a complete resolution to a case that has haunted them for 35 years.
'We'll never find out the true story'
“In my head, I imagined that we’d be going to court, and I’d be sitting in the courtroom looking him in the eyes and watching him get sentenced to death or life in prison,” Robin Whitney said.
“It’s kind of an empty feeling because now we know who did it. We know some background on him, but we’ll never find out the true story of what actually happened,” Ronald Whitney continued.
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