Cold 1980s Washington murder case solved using DNA technology

PIERCE COUNTY, Washington. – After more than 36 years, a family was finally separated after Pierce County officials solved a cold case from the ’80s.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department (PCSD), investigators used DNA evidence and new technology to link John Guillet Jr. to the murder of 18-year-old Tracy Whitney.

Pierce County investigators said Guillet Jr. died of cancer before he could be brought to trial. They also said he was linked to another involuntary manslaughter case in the area.

The heinous murder made headlines across the state more than three decades ago. An archived headline in a 1989 edition of The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Washington, detailed the limited evidence and information available even a year after Whitney’s murder.

According to the report, a fisherman found Whitney’s naked body on a sandbar near the confluence of the Stuck and Puyallup Rivers in Sumner, Washington.

Investigators said Guillet Jr. had no connection to the teen victim and described the incident as a kidnapping, rape and murder by a stranger.

Although DNA evidence of the crime was archived, there was no technology to analyze it at the time. This has only recently changed.

PCSD investigators told FOX 13 they were able to link the DNA to Guillet Jr. of Puyallup through genetic genealogy after a family member’s DNA was filed with the coroner.

However, the answers came too late to be justified. According to investigators, Guillet Jr. died of cancer about two weeks before final DNA results were returned.

In a Facebook post, a family member of the victim thanked Pierce County sheriff’s deputies for their continued and dedicated efforts to find her older sibling’s killer. She also shared a photo of Tracy in honor of her memory.

“Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, the perpetrator was identified as John Guillet Jr. of Puyallup, WA,” the family member wrote on Facebook. “Unfortunately, Guillet passed away a year before this breakthrough, so no arrest could be made.”

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