Who killed Geoff? Geoffrey Ramseth, a 33-year-old white male, was a devoted family man, a dedicated pharmacist, and a man of deep faith. Following in his father's footsteps, he built a career in pharmacy, working at a QFC supermarket in downtown Seattle. Geoff, as he was known, was married to his wife, Tamara, and was a loving father to three children, with a fourth on the way at the time of his death. His family remembers him as driven, good-spirited, and always there for his friends. Faith was an integral part of his identity; he was a Eucharistic minister, served on the parish council, and was involved with the church youth group at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Renton. His brother Peter recalled, "They actually have a monument stone in the church saying, 'here's a man of faith, here's a man of family, here's a fan, a person who was a community standout.'"
The early morning of May 29, 1999, began as a celebration and ended in tragedy.
Geoff had been at a going-away party for a soccer teammate at the Cucina Cucina restaurant in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood. After the party, around 2 a.m., he walked a female coworker, who was seven months pregnant, to her car. The two sat and talked for about 15 minutes as her car warmed up. Their conversation was shattered when they noticed a man in a small blue or green pickup truck with an extended cab parked beside them. The woman thought he might need directions and started to roll down her window.
Geoff, however, saw the red dot of a laser sight and immediately understood the danger. In a final, heroic act, he shoved his friend's head down just as the gunman opened fire. The assailant fired at least seven shots from a 9mm pistol into the car. Geoff was struck five times in the head and chest and was pronounced dead at the scene. His selfless action saved the life of his friend and her unborn child; she escaped with only a graze to her neck. His brother, Peter, later said, "If it wasn't for him, she would have been killed, and the baby would have been lost."
The Seattle Police Department investigation initially struggled for leads. The attack seemed senseless, as Geoff was a "squeaky-clean" family man with no known enemies. "How does that happen with somebody who is a family man; he has no ties to anything other than work, family and friends,” his brother Peter questioned. The surviving witness described the shooter as a white man in his 30s with shoulder-length blond hair, a mustache, and glasses. A police sketch was circulated, but the case went cold for months.
A significant break came when Spokane deputies arrested a man named William Bradley Jackson for the murder of his own nine-year-old daughter. Jackson had gone to school with Geoff's wife, Tammy, and had stayed with the Ramseth family just weeks before the killing. Investigators noted a striking resemblance between Jackson and the police sketch. The prevailing theory held by detectives, including former Seattle homicide detective Mike Ciesynski, is that Jackson was romantically obsessed with Tammy and saw an opportunity to be with her by eliminating Geoff, especially after learning of their marital struggles.
Despite being the prime suspect, Jackson has never confessed to Geoffrey Ramseth's murder. Seattle detectives have interviewed him multiple times in the Florida prison where he is serving a 56-year sentence for his daughter's killing. Without a confession or further evidence, no charges have ever been filed in Geoff's death, and the case officially remains unsolved. Jackson could be eligible for parole in 2050. The lack of resolution has been agonizing for Geoff’s family. His older sister, Theresa Strutynski, said, “I would love for him just to say, 'Yeah, I did it,' because he's not going anywhere. It would just be nice to know, to hear it.”
More than 1,000 people attended Geoff's funeral at St. Anthony Catholic Church, a standing-room-only service that was a testament to the lives he touched. His family continues to grieve and hope for answers, grappling with the "why" of his violent death. As of September 2025, the case is still open, a lingering mystery for a family that lost a hero. 
