FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — Thirty-five years after her murder, Tracy Whitney’s family finally has the name of her killer, thanks to genetic genealogy.
On August 28th, 1988, fishermen at the Puyallup River near Sumner found the body of a woman.
According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, detectives investigated the case as a homicide after an autopsy revealed the woman’s cause of death was asphyxia caused by strangulation and probable smothering. She also had several blunt-force injuries and was believed to have been sexually assaulted.
Two months after her body was discovered, dental records identified 18-year-old Tracy Jean Whitney as the victim.
Whitney’s last known location was a Burger King in Federal Way, where she had reportedly been seen arguing with her ex-boyfriend the night before her body was found.
During the investigation, police spoke with multiple suspects, including Whitney’s friends and ex-partners. Despite following up on multiple rumors and leads, police say the investigation stalled.
In 2005, a DNA profile of the suspect was uploaded to CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), a national database run by the FBI to link crimes with violent offenders.
Swabs taken from Whitney’s body back in 1988 were resubmitted for forensic genetic genealogy testing in March of 2022 by a retired detective sergeant. The results came back five months later, linking the DNA evidence with family lines leading back to the 1700s.
Police were then able to establish a family tree linking to a suspect, John Guillot Jr.
Unfortunately, Guillot Jr. had died just eight months prior from cancer. He was cremated after his death, which meant the DNA evidence gathered in 1988 could not be matched to any current DNA.
However, his son had also recently died, and detectives were able to use his DNA from the Medical Examiner’s office to affirm his father’s link to this crime.
While Guillot Jr. couldn’t be arrested or posthumously charged in Whitney’s death, the family was finally able to answer the decades-long question hanging over them.
Detectives concluded that Guillot Jr. and Whitney were not connected before the crime, leading to the belief that this case was a ‘stranger abduction, rape, and, murder’ – and the case was closed as ‘death of offender’.
Whitney’s father and sister both remember her as a sweet, good kid, who has been dearly missed since her death. Her sister, Robin Whitney, says they are happy that Tracy Whitney can finally rest peacefully now that her killer has been found.
In a social media post, Robin Whitney added, “We believe that John Guillot Jr. likely committed other crimes. However, since he is deceased and due to current legal restrictions, his DNA cannot be uploaded into CODIS (law enforcement DNA database). We hope that this policy can be reevaluated, as it could aid in solving additional cases.”
She hopes to honor Tracy’s memory and raise awareness of John Guillot Jr.’s name, which may potentially lead to information about other unsolved cases.