Tracey Lynn Kirkpatrick

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Frederick Police Department

Offense Location:

Frederick, Maryland

Reward:

up to $2,000

via Metro Crime Stoppers of Maryland

Not from STC, Conditions and restrictions apply

Summary:

On March 15, 1989, Tracey Kirkpatrick was only minutes away from going home on a slow Wednesday night in the small town of Frederick, Maryland when she was brutally murdered. Kirkpatrick was working the closing shift alone at Aileen’s Ladies Sportswear store in the West Ridge Square Shopping Centre. Kirkpatrick's body would be found by a security guard in the back storeroom with over 20 stab wounds to her chest and back already deceased.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

FINDING THE BODY On March 15, 1989, at around 10:40pm, a security guard named Donald Barnes Jr noticed something strange at the Aileen’s Ladies Sportswear store in the West Ridge Square Shopping Centre. All the lights were still on when the store should have closed almost 2 hours before. On a hunch, Barnes, who was also a deputy with the Frederick County Sheriff’s office decided to check the store out and make sure everything is ok. He goes to open the door, and finds the store completely unlocked. Finding the store empty, he made his way through the store, until he found the storeroom, and is met by a crime scene that has haunted investigators for nearly 35 years. The body of 17 year old Tracey Kirkpatrick is lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Barnes could immediately tell that whatever had happened to Tracey, it had been brutally violent, and the disturbing amount of blood all over the storeroom told him that she’s already dead. He immediately calls 911. THE SCENE Investigators soon arrived at the scene and would find more than 20 stab wounds across Tracey’s chest and back. Despite the sheer amount of blood at the scene, there was very little evidence to go off. The only other clue investigators could find was a blood smear on the back door, along with a partial fingerprint. The back door led to a hallway, which then led to the loading docks behind the mall, and investigators conclude that this was likely the path the killer took to escape the scene after the murder. Strangely however, other than a few drops, there was very little blood in that hallway. There was also no sign of a struggle inside the storeroom, and no signs of forced entry. The front of the store also seemed undisturbed. It seemed that whoever had killed Tracey, she had let them into the store herself. The cash register was still full, and cash receipts were still stashed on the counter, likely eliminating the possibility of a robbery gone wrong. However the stores keys, as well as any personal items Tracey may have been carrying were missing. Tracey’s car was still parked in the parking lot, but her keys were missing. There was also no sign of a murder weapon. Because of the lack of anything from the store itself being stolen, and the violence displayed during the crime, investigators would conclude that this was likely a targeted attack, by someone Tracey knew personally. As officers on the scene collected evidence, Tracey’s parents would burst into the store, asking them to please tell them that she’s ok. They had originally shown up to make sure she was alright, as it was very late (around 11pm by this point) and Tracey’s car was unreliable. Thinking her car might have broken down, her parents had gone to make sure the 17 year old had a ride home. Officers were forced to break the news that their daughter has been murdered. Tracey’s mother Diane doesn’t remember anything else from that night and would later be treated at a hospital for shock. After breaking the news, and finding out why the parents showed up, Tracey’s father would tell officers something interesting. She had told them that if she wasn’t home by 11 that night, to assume that something had gone wrong. Despite the seemingly significant implications that come from someone informing their parents something bad might happen to them that night, and then getting murdered, it seems that it wasn’t expanded upon. The second thing investigators would learn from Tracey’s father is that this is the second time in 2 nights that they had made the trip down to the mall. The night before, they had rushed down only to find Tracey safe, but not alone in the store. She had been talking with her ex-boyfriend, a 19 year old named John German. Apparently the 2 had decided to get back together the night before, which is why they had both stayed at the store so late. THE INVESTIGATION Investigators would spend the next 2 days interviewing everyone who knew Tracey. Teachers, friends, family, anyone, and everyone who knew her, to piece together what they could. Diane would tell investigators that Tracey had headed to the mall at around 1pm to start her shift as a clerk, before clocking into work at the ladies sportswear store at around 4pm. Diane had stopped by at around 6:30-7pm to bring her some food to eat, and described her daughter as acting normal if a bit bored, because the store was completely empty. The store manager also says that they checked on Tracey at around 8pm and also described the store as empty. The store's computer system showed that the register hadn’t been used since around 8pm, meaning that unless someone walked in and didn’t buy anything, no customers entered the store for the rest of the night. There were no security cameras inside the store, but investigators decide to interview Donald Barnes Jr, the security guard who found Tracey’s body in the hopes he might have seen something or heard something. Barnes simply repeated the same story as he had when he first found the body. Nothing suspicious except the lights. He also took and passed a polygraph test. Apparently, the mall closed at around 9, and the only other person investigators can verify as having been at the mall around the time of murder is a man seen in the parking lot, who tells investigators that he was parked there waiting for his girlfriend to finish her shift. Once she had finished her shift, the 2 drove home, without seeing or hearing anything suspicious. After this, Tracey’s autopsy results come in, with the medical examiner concluding that she had been stabbed over 20 times, defensive cuts on one of her hands and died around 9pm. There was no evidence of sexual assault, but the wounds were deep, and this backed up investigators belief that this was an angry, personal attack. After this though, the trail seems to go cold. A CONFESSION? Months later, investigators get a call from the producers of a TV show called Confession Hotline. The show is where people would pay to confess secrets. The producers say they got a call in June that investigators might like to hear and sent over a tape recording. In the recording, a man who introduces himself as Don, confesses to Tracey’s murder. He says that “about 3 months ago I stabbed a girl to death” and specifies that he did it inside the stockroom of a women’s sporting goods store. He even calls Tracey by name as he’s apologizing for the murder. Despite apologizing, he would say that he wouldn’t turn himself in because Maryland has the death penalty and that it wouldn’t bring her back. He said that he had been to the store several times already to talk to Tracey when she was alone, and that after the conversation turned hostile that he had attacked her with a knife he carried with him in his pocket at all times. This matched the investigators theory that Tracey had known her killer. Despite the apparent risk of making this call, he stated that he wasn’t worried about the call being traced back to him because “there are a lot of guys named Don in Frederick.” https://youtu.be/RHfDKN6nzXo - This is a video of the phone call. Noted in the Crime Junkie Podcast, one of the main sources for this write-up, one of the first thoughts when hearing this name is Donald, the security guard. But despite this, it seems investigators cleared him. Apparently, Donald never went by Don, having friends and family call him Donnie, or even Charlie, which was his middle name, making the fact that caller is named Don more of a weird coincidence. At least in their mind. Their mind, however, is not the public's mind, and the public was quick to make the connection. Despite law enforcement specifying that Donald Barnes Jr. had nothing to do with the crime, public opinion differed. To this day, there are theories that Barnes killed Tracey, and that the investigators covered it up as Barnes was one of their own. Not only this, but there is also speculation that Donald Charles Barnes Jr. is the son of former Frederick Sheriff Donald Charles Barnes Sr. Not exactly hard to see why. There is however nothing to officially back up this claim. Investigators quickly trace the call to a payphone at a Safeway supermarket in Walkersville, about 8 miles north of Frederick. There are also no security cameras at the payphone, so they are unable to determine who made the call. Police would then put out a letter in the local newspaper, asking the killer to turn himself in, to no avail. It seems despite an apparent confession; the case had once again gone cold. A PSYCHIC TIP? A few months after the call, investigators would get a call from a woman named Martha Woodworth in Massachusetts who claimed to a psychic. She said that she had a man named Sean ask about finding Tracey’s killer. This didn’t seem suspicious at the time, as loved ones asking about dead family wasn’t uncommon in her line of work. However, over time she would start to believe that Sean wasn’t a friend or a loved one. He was obsessed with the case, to an unhealthy degree and when asked to provide more info on the case, the man had given her news clippings he had collected from when the case first broke, some 6-7 months earlier. When asked if she could recognize Sean’s voice, she said yes, having had several conversations with the man. Investigators would play the call from Don and the woman immediately confirmed that Sean’s voice matched Don's. Investigators would find the return address from the newspaper clippings is from an address in Walkersville, the same town that the phone call came from. When police knock on the door, a young man answers. He fit all the descriptions given to them by the psychic. They are also able to verify that he was the man who called the psychic. Despite this, it’s known that his real name wasn’t Don or Sean, and investigators never revealed his actual name as he refused to cooperate. When investigators dig into “Sean’s” life they can’t find any actual connections to Tracey, or the murder. They do, however, confirm that “Sean” also made the confession call. Investigators would eventually conclude that he wasn’t the murderer, but it isn’t clear how they came to that conclusion. On the one year anniversary of the murder, police would ask some radio stations to play Sean’s call, likely to drum up some attention to the case. It does, and they find another interesting tip. Now there’s differing information on this tip, as some sources claim it led back to Sean, while others say it led to a different man who lived in Frederick. Since Sean has already been cleared, it leading to a different man seems more likely, but this is worth noting regardless. When investigators go to see this man, he refuses to speak to them. The investigators returned at 1am with a warrant to both search his home and collect his DNA. In the search of his home, they found many newspaper clippings of the crime scene, but nothing that tied him to the murder itself. They collect hair, blood, scrapings from under his nails and his fingerprints. They also send samples of blood found at the crime scene to the Maryland State Police Crime Lab in the hopes of finding the killers blood mixed in with it. It’s unclear why it took them so long to do this. Unfortunately, all the physical evidence they sent belonged to Tracey. Despite also collecting his fingerprints, no sources state that they were ever tested against the fingerprint found on the backdoor of the store. A NEW SUSPECT? In 1993, Cpl Robert Servacek took over the investigation into Tracey's murder. In March 1994, he stated that they had identified a prime suspect in the case. At the time of the murder, the man lived in Frederick with his family, and was a friend and former coworker of Tracey’s. Servacek believes that jealousy, anger, and revenge were the motives for the murder. She reportedly thought of the man only as a "friend", while he read too much into the relationship and would not let her go. Servacek was sure he had found Tracey's killer based on a large amount of circumstantial evidence against him. In May 1994, a grand jury convened to hear the evidence against the suspect. Forty-six witnesses testified. The grand jury voted to indict him. However, the deputy state's attorney declined to prosecute him because she did not believe that she would be able to win a conviction. Servacek later claimed that "political and personal agendas" and "people not doing their jobs" prevented the arrest from being made. A POTENTIAL SCOOP? While reaching out to gain a recording of Sean’s confession call, Crime Junkie was able to glean 2 pieces of information from a detective. They have lost the cassette tape, meaning they no longer have access to the full call. They have suspect DNA. This was mentioned casually by the detective but has massive ramifications for the case. It’s completely unknown how or when they obtained the DNA, or what they are doing with it. There is literally no information about this, so it’s the last piece of the investigation, for now. THE LEGACY Tracey’s family has never stopped fighting for justice. They have been very critical of the past investigators as they believe there were multiple slip ups, but new investigators have started looking at the case from scratch, reinterviewing everyone who knew Tracey back in 1989. Despite this, it seems the only way this case is solvable is if someone comes forward with information. If you have any, please contact Frederick Police Department by calling 301-600-8477 or texting 240-674-8477.

Case Last Updated:

Mar 13, 2026