So I've been waiting for the patch so I can start this quest but alas it still will not! Are there certain things I may have done to impede it from starting? I killed a woman who has a key to the house and entered it, would that have stopped me from starting it?

This will probably be getting move to the Bugs/Glitches sub-Forum.

Oh, really? Thanks for your contribution. It really helped.

Yes, that would have stopped you from starting it. Pretty much interacting with anyone who resides in Windhelm who is part of the quest before the quest is started will generally break the quest.

And I also normally don't say this because i don't like to back-seat mod, but threads on this exact topic pop up at least three times a day. Search feature is there for a reason.

The patch was just released today so I wasn't sure if it fixed that problem. Thanks though.