Police in Washington have finally managed to identify the killer of an 18-year-old woman who was found dead on a riverbed 36 years ago.

It was August 28, 1988, when fishermen on the Puyallup River discovered the body of Tracy Whitney, a teenager who had last been seen the day before leaving a Burger King after an argument with her friends.

Her body was nude, and an autopsy revealed that she had died as a result of asphyxia from strangulation and probable smothering.

According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, Tracy was also believed to have been sexually assaulted.

After Tracy was found, detectives launched an investigation and conducted interviews to try and track down the person responsible for her murder.

They collected DNA samples, but at the time they were unable to identify the killer, and the case went cold.

In 2005, police used the DNA they had collected through a national database, but still no positive matches were found.

It wasn’t until 2022, following a grant from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, that a detective working on cold cases at Pierce County Sheriff’s Office was able to submit the DNA to a genetic genealogy laboratory for repeat testing.

Tracy Whitney disappeared after leaving a Burger King (Facebook/Pierce County Sheriff’s Department)

The testing allows analysts to build a family tree based on a DNA profile, and in the case of Tracy’s murder police were able to identify a member of her killer’s family – namely his biological son.

The man’s father, John Guillot, Jr., was confirmed to be a match for the DNA collected by investigators at the time of Tracy’s murder. However, his death in January 2022 means he could not be brought to justice.

On Saturday (November 30), Pierce County Sheriff’s Office announced the case had been solved.

Tracy Whitney’s murderer died in 2022 (Facebook/Pierce County Sheriff’s Department)

They wrote on Facebook: “There were no connections between Tracy and Guillot Jr and detectives believe this was a stranger abduction, rape and murder.

“Our Cold Case Unit is always looking into the past trying to find answers for families just like Tracy’s. We are glad they can finally have an answer and some closure with the solving of this case.”

Tracy’s relatives have told CBS News affiliate KIRO that the resolution of the case has brought them a sense of peace.

Her sister, Robin, 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.”

After being found not guilty in relation of murder after being wrongly charged, an elated man’s reaction hasn’t gone down too well with people online.

Eddie Person of Mississippi was arrested in October 2022 in connection to the killing of John Anthony Tarvin, a volunteer coach for the Hattiesburg Parks and Recreation Department.

Known by friends and family as Jay, he was shot dead on January 3, 2020, at a home on Presley Drive in Hattiesburg.

Person had been charged with capital murder and tampering with evidence, but on May 14 of this year, a Forrest County Circuit Court jury found him not guilty on all charges.

It came after hours of deliberation and following the news, Person – who was 26 at the time he was arrested – turned to the camera and flipped it off with both hands.

Eddie Person was arrested in October 2022 in connection with John ‘Jay’ Tarvin’s murder (Hattiesburg Police Department)

The gesture appeared to tick off his attorney and farther afield after the footage was posted to the social media website.

Taking to Facebook, where the video was posted, one user commented: “Wow just wow. If I had just been declared not guilty I would’ve been more respectful to myself and my attorney!”

While another typed: “With that attitude….. he will be back, the state will get a second bite at that apple.”

And a third penned: “Hold on so he was found guilty and then not guilty I’m confused. Was this an appeal?”

To which another user explained: “His brother was found guilty and has an upcoming appeal.”

Reacting to Person giving the camera the both middle fingers, another Facebook user commented: “Wow not guilty and then to turn and do that to the camera ????”

While someone else added: “Lawyer has had enough of him.”

In January, Kode McNair was found guilty of Jay’s murder, as well as tampering with evidence.

In November last year, the US Marshals Service detailed how McNair was arrested, just shy of five years on from Jay’s death.

“Kode McNair, 25, was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee on November 6, 2024, after an investigation by the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS),” it said in a statement. “McNair was wanted in Mississippi for capital murder and tampering with/fabricating evidence.”

Person’s reaction to his not guilty verdict in court hasn’t gone down too well (Hattiesburg Patriot News Media)

“On January 3, 2020, John Anthony ‘Jay’ Tarvin was shot and killed at a home on Presley Drive in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. On October 19, 2022, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Kode McNair in connection to the crime.

“On September 24, 2024, the USMS Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force (GCRFTF) in Mississippi adopted the case.”

It added: “On November 6, McNair was tracked to a residence in the 6200 block of Thistlebrook in Memphis. With the assistance of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Apprehension Team, the USMS surrounded the residence, and McNair was taken into custody without incident.”

A storage hunter who wanted to get his hands on a cop car light ended up finding much, much more in the unit.

Rick Ratzlaff purchased an abandoned unit for $50 back in 2017 after some of its contents caught his eye.

Units are typically sold off to the highest bigger when the original owner fails to pay the fees, and it’s safe to say Ratzlaff got more than he bargained for.

When he opened the unit, however, one of the first things he spotted was a series of envelopes with ‘evidence’ written across them.

Ratzlaff didn’t think much of it at first, but when he started digging around the rest of the unit he’d just bought, he discovered much more sinister items.

“There was a lot of police lights off cop cars, and I wanted one. So I kept bidding on it until I got it,” the Colorado resident told KKTV at the time.

“I noticed envelopes that said ‘evidence’ on them. At first I didn’t think it was that big until I started pulling out shell casings and hatchets.”

“What really fazed me was when I pulled out bloody clothes,” he added.

Eventually he worked out that the items were regarding a decade-old cold case involving the death of a teenage girl.

Candace Hiltz was found dead in her home in 2006 (GoFundMe)

In August 2006, Candace Hiltz, 17, was found fatally shot in her family’s home. To this day, the case remains unsolved.

Ratzlaff alerted the police to what he’d found in the unit and it went on to be revealed that it had once been rented by Sheriff Lieutenant Detective Robert Dodd.

Colorado Bureau of Investigations looked into the matter and Dodd was placed on administrative leave during this time.

A year later, he was found guilty of misdemeanor abuse of public records for altering a homicide case file and two petty counts of second-degree official misconduct for failure to properly handle potential evidence and was sentenced to 15 days behind bars.

Candace’s Hiltz’s mother Dolores was far from pleased with the sentence length however, and called it ‘a tap on the wrist’, as per The Pueblo Chieftain.

While they thought Dodd should have served more time, the Hiltzs said it was ‘a small win’ that he was convincted.

Dodd may have been convicted, but Candace’s killer is yet to be – and may never be as a result of Dodd’s actions.

In 2020, a judge who denied Dodd’s appeal of his evidence misconduct failure conviction, said that he’d ‘never obtained DNA tests for any of the items in the storage unit’ meaning that ‘potential relevant evidence in criminal prosecutions was lost’.

UNILAD have approached Fremont County Sheriff’s Office for comment.

University of Utah Police have revealed a 51-year-old cold case involving a missing student has finally been solved.

On October 12, 1973, Douglas Brick walked out of his dorm at the University of Utah and was never seen again. Despite police’s efforts and multiple searches, the 23-year-old senior’s case remained cold for over 50 years.

However, towards the end of last year, a discovery was made when hunters found bone fragments in the foothills above the university.

And in May this year, the remains were matched to the DNA of Brick’s relatives.

Eerily, a press release shared by The University of Utah reveals that a psychic accurately predicted where Brick’s remains were found over 30 years ago.

Douglas Brick went missing in 1973 (University of Utah/ The Daily Utah Chronicle)

What did the psychic said about Brick’s disappearance?

In 1990, 17 years after Brick disappeared, his family decided to celebrate by throwing a memorial service for him. In the same year, Brick’s mother, Donna, is reported to have written an entry in her journal that stood out to investigators.

During a trip to a department store in Salt Lake City, Donna is reported as having bumped into a store clerk who claimed to be a psychic.

Her journal entry detailed Donna asking the store clerk whether she could ‘tell [her] what happened to [her] son’. The psychic’s response? ‘Details no one would have known.’

The psychic allegedly told Donna that her son ‘had gone to the foothills above the U[niversity]’, as she further suggested theories as to what happened to lead him to pass away, such as him ‘slipping and falling’ because it was ‘dark’.

However, it was the location of the ‘foothill above the university’ that ‘stuck out’ to Detective John Dial.

“Where the skull was located, the terrain I was traversing as part of the search, it is extremely steep and loose on both sides, and I was having a hard time in the daylight keeping my footing under me and figuring out where I was going.” Dial said.

Ultimately, even after 51 years, six months, and 19 days, the University of Utah Police were able to resolve Brick’s case.

The police update to the case

The psychic predicted the rough area Brick’s remains were eventually found (Facebook/ The University of Utah)

In 2022, a new case was reopened, and one coincidence in particular aided authorities in identifying new leads into Brick’s disappearance.

From finding out Brick’s sister had called the university dispatch in 2018 to check in on her brother’s case, leading to the team getting a DNA swab for her, to the investigations lieutenant at the time stumbling upon the person who’d initially reported Brick missing when attending a doctor’s appointment with her daughter.

Police were subsequently able to confirm where officers had previously searched for Brick. Despite the trail seemingly ending there, the DNA swab on file helped keep the case open.

And then, in October 2024, when hunters found two fragments of bone – later ascertained to be a human skull – close to the same area authorities had searched for Brick at the time of his disappearance, the breakthrough came.

The bone was confirmed to be around 50 years old, and after five months, the DNA test results came back—it was a 99.9 percent genetic match to Brick’s sister’s DNA.

And Brick’s family has since spoken out following the identification.

What have Brick’s family’s said?

Two bone fragments were discovered in the foothills (Facebook/ The University of Utah)

The family released a statement on May 7, which read: “We thank the hunter who found him six months ago and reported it immediately, Detective Jon Dial and Major Heather Sturzenegger, search and rescue volunteers, and all the individuals and agencies that were involved in this case. We are requesting privacy during this time of transition.”

Following the DNA breakthrough, they said in another statement that they’d ‘never stopped hoping for answers about Doug’s disappearance’.

It resolved: “Many years ago, we pushed for the cold case to be reopened with the addition of DNA evidence. We are relieved to finally have some answers. After 52 years, this result, while sad, is nothing short of a miracle.”