Family remembers teen victim after DNA helps crack 1988 WA cold case
PUYALLUP, Wash. - DNA evidence helped the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department crack a cold case that’s haunted the Puyallup and Sumner community since 1988.
That’s when the body of Tracy Whitney was found in the Puyallup River, with the cause of death consistent with strangulation or suffocation.
Genetic genealogy helped detectives find a match to the alleged killer’s DNA by tracing it to one of his living family members, then further narrowing it to him.
WA teen's cold case murder solved 36 years later through DNA tech
After 36 years, a family finally has closure after Pierce County detectives solved a cold case murder. However, the suspect died before facing justice.
Tracy’s uncle Chad Bartlett is younger by Tracy by a few years.
"She had a way of making people feel special," said Bartlett.
As kids, the two would hang out together during family functions. He says for him, it’s not the images, but the feelings he remembers.
Pictures of Tracy Whitney and her younger sister Robin show what life was like growing up in the 80’s. Bartlett said it was a happy time.
"When she was with me. I felt like she was my best friend," said Bartlett. "I just remember feeling happy.
"Some of the images fade, but the way people make you feel, is what stays with you," said Bartlett.
After fishermen found Tracy’s body on a sand bar, where the Stuck River and the Puyallup River meet near Sumner, Bartlett never imagined that the mystery surrounding her death would haunt the family for more than 30 years.
"I think I’d given up thinking we’d every have any answers," said Bartlett.
"She was at Burger King with some friends and an ex-boyfriend. She got into an argument and walked away from that Burger King in Federal Way back in 1988," said Sgt. Darren Moss with the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.
Moss says 13 hours later, her body was found by the fishermen.
"Based on the evidence and the autopsy, they were able to tell she had been smothered, strangled, beaten and raped. It was a horrific crime," Moss said.
Investigators said DNA found on Tracy showed that a stranger committed the crime, and the case went cold with no matches in criminal databases. Then, detectives were able to get a grant from the state attorney general’s office for genetic genealogy testing, which only recently led to John Guillot Jr. of Puyallup.
"Unfortunately, by the time we had these results back in 2022, he had died from cancer," said Moss.
He said that Guillot had a strange history beyond Tracy’s case.
"His wife had committed suicide with a firearm. We investigated that and we believed it to be a suicide, but then fast forward to 2021, and we had another death in the family. His girlfriend who was living with him, needed to be cared for. He was her caretaker. His son also lived in the house. They were negligent in taking care of her," said Moss.
Moss said that Guillot died before charges could be filed in that case and it was his son’s DNA, later on file with the medical examiner’s office, that helped to confirm that he was a match to Tracy’s case.
"We believe he was not in the will, and the son actually set himself on fire in the driveway in the home while random people were at this estate sale," Moss said.
Bartlett feels there may be more to the story.
"I don’t believe that Tracy was his only victim," Bartlett said.
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