Where is the guard that gives you the 'Blood on the Ice' quest?

Question

Susanna the Wicked is dead, and has been dead for a while. Her body is currently lying, haf naked, in the cememtary. The three NPCs I'm supposed to question are also surrounding her body, and keep saying the same thing over and over. They are always there commenting on her being dead, whether it be morning, noon, or night.

However, the guard is not there. I've gone up to guards and talked to them, but none of them will give me the quest. It seems the quest guard is missing in action.

Yes I did kill Nilsine for the Dark Brotherhood, but I believe I killed her the day that Sussana was dead, because when I killed Nilsine, the people were surrounding Susanna. But of course, the guard was absent and the people have not moved.

The Imperials have not taken over the city, and Tova has committed suicide, and I have taken the key from her body. It's been a few days in game, and I'd like to know what I should do to get this quest moving along.

I am playing on a PS3, so I cannot use commands. Is there anyone else I can talk to so I can start this quest or something I can do to fix this?

Answer 1

I just encountered that glitch on the xbox. I didn't do any Dark Brotherhood quests, so I don't know how that affects the game, but this is how I got around it.

Forget looking for the guard; if he hasn't come yet, he wont. Go to Hjerim and pick the lock (or in your case, open it with the key you got from Tova).

Once inside, you can't interact with anything at first. Instead it should say "inspect item". Go ahead and inspect everything in the house. You should find a couple of butcher journals, a bunch of "Beware the Butcher!" fliers, a Strange Amulet, and the Butcher's mess beyond the fake wardrobe.

Once you've inspected and picked up enough evidence, the quest should move onto the next step and proceed as normal. You can confront Viola (the woman making the fliers) or any of the guards with your evidence.

One more thing - if you picked up the Strange Amulet, it's marked as a quest item and can get stuck in your inventory. The only way of getting rid of it is by taking it to Calixto's Curiosities and selling it to Calixto. The amulet is not required to finish the quest so don't worry about selling it.

Answer 2

The guard is usually there around midnight, but if he's not use the key that you took from Tova Shatter-Shield's body to enter Hjerim. Towards the back of the house is a small dresser with fliers about the murder on it. Take one and the quest should start midway through the questline.

Answer 3

To clarify: don't buy the house, but do break into it. That makes sure the evidence is left there for you to find and move the quest on.

Answer 4

if you side with the Imperials, and taken over Windhelm, there will be no guard at the graveyard since there is supposed to be a Stormcloak guard but Bethesda hasn't added the Imperial Guard to the graveyard yet. What you can do instead to start the quest is lockpick into Hjerim which should start the quest, then follow the objectives.