(Family photo of Greggette Guy during a hike, 2004)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Today marks exactly six months since Greggette Guy was found dead off the 3700 block of Beach Drive – the second, and most recent, West Seattle murder victim of 2012.

Police have yet to find her killer(s).

Her family, however, has found a way to honor her memory, via her lifelong involvement with Girl Scouts – from childhood through parenthood:

That’s some of the new information we have obtained for this update on the case, half a year later, after speaking with Mrs. Guy’s husband as well as with police.

A bit of backstory first, in case you have forgotten:

Though Mrs. Guy, 51, lived in Kent, she came to West Seattle, to Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook, a beautiful stretch of city-owned open waterfront along Beach Drive, for a walk the night of March 11th.

Sometime that night, police believe, someone murdered her. SPD’s “Catch a Killer” page notes she suffered “severe wounds to her neck.”

The next morning, her body was found in the water off Harbor West, the building that juts out into the water..

(Reader-contributed photo from March 12th)

Her car was found about a half-mile south, at Emma Schmitz. After announcing three days later that Mrs. Guy was a murder victim, police provided this photo of the car:

Though neighbors didn’t know Greggette Guy – she had some West Seattle ties, but they were from long ago – nearby residents organized a vigil the following weekend in her memory:

(WSB photo, March 18)
They also asked the city for safety improvements, since much of the viewpoint’s lower level was dark, hidden from the street.

Before and after a safety walk with Seattle Police and Parks representatives, changes were made. Shrubs were taken down. Lights were put up.

But while the area may be safer – Mrs. Guy’s killer has not been caught. “It is still very much an active investigation,” SPD spokesperson Det. Mark Jamieson told WSB, after checking in with homicide detectives.

Those detectives went with Ms. Guy’s husband of 30 years, Dwight K. Guy, to the scene several weeks ago, Mr. Guy told WSB.

He called us last weekend, just as we had been preparing to reach out to another relative who had previously served as a family spokesperson.

He has praise for police, including the detective who went to the scene with him “five or six weeks ago … I thought it would be really hard. He went through it, where they think it happened. It helped to know.”

But what Dwight Guy really wanted to talk about was the tribute they’ve chosen for his wife.

While they thought at first about a bench along Beach Drive, he said, they realized that they wanted something that would have been more meaningful to her than a memorial where she died.

Instead, there will be a tribute at one of the places where she had fond memories – a Girl Scouts camp in the region where a four-story-high totem pole has been installed in commemoration of Girl Scouts USA’s centennial.

The pole, he says, will carry a plaque in her honor, as they will be using some of the donations to her memorial fund to cover the cost of transporting it to the camp and installing it there. A closer look, he says, shows that its art depicts girls engaged in Scouting-related activities:

He doesn’t want to say too much more about the totem-pole tribute until a ceremony is scheduled. The Girl Scouts were a big part of Mrs. Guy’s life, he said, and their daughter’s. They had gone to the camp on outings. And outdoor activities had continued to be a big part of her life:

(Family photo from 2000)
In addition to the plaque ceremony, Dwight Guy expects to participate in another event soon – an event he says police are organizing with relatives of murder victims whose killers have not yet been found, to renew awareness of cases – like this one. “I have a responsibility to keep the case visible for a resolution,” he told us.

He knows his wife’s killer(s) may not be brought to justice for a long time. “It might be years. My daughter and I realize it’s going to take a while.” Police, he says, have told him that “it’s going to happen where somebody says something about it – telling a cellmate when they’re in jail for something else.” Or maybe the killer will dump a lover who, furious at being spurned, will go to police to share what had been a secret.

Police echo the fact that the break in the case could come when they least expect it. And it might not even be something as dramatic or emotional as a jailhouse confession or broken confidence.

“We just don’t know what will finally break a case,” Det. Jamieson said. “We encourage anyone with any information, no matter how small, even something they consider insignificant, to contact us. Anything at all.”

You can call the SPD tip line at 206-233-5000. Or even 911, he said (make it clear you are calling with information about a murder investigation). Or, you can go through CrimeStoppers (which can accept anonymous texted tips – here’s how to do that; the information is permanently atop our West Seattle Crime Watch page, in case you need it again sometime). And here, once more, is the CrimeStoppers poster:

The memorial fund is still open, too – its website is here.

All WSB stories on this case are archived here, newest to oldest.