Yes I finished it on PC. Viola should be wandering around the residential district during the day. You still have a quest marker for Jorleif because that is kind of a standard thing throughout the quest, to go back to him. Sometimes you can skip him. Like, if Viola gives you a lead, try go talking to that person first before you tell Jorleif.

So you haven't found Viola yet? Take a walk around town, especially down to the Gray Quarter past the tavern and used-goods shop. I've seen her wandering along there as well as between the inn and the palace. Also, look upstairs at the inn, as she sometimes takes refreshment there. BTW, I didn't find all the clues Hjerim, and IIRC the flag on Jorlief didn't clear until he decided to go after the court mage.

I've already finished the quest, I simply told the steward about who we suspected. I didn't realize he wasn't guilty .

Can I visit him in prison or something and catch the real killer? Or is it too late?

Twice, actually.

I've completed it nearly a dozen times without any glitches, if you read the wiki page and know what not to do, it works every time.

I think this is what happened to me also. I couldn't see the item we had to find and because I was having a problem, I started using the wiki but it was too late for something I had to do. I finally just kept going and was glad to be done with this quest. Next time it'll be better.

I've had several characters for whom the quest just wouldn't start. It finally started for my latest character, who also was the only one who hadn't started the Civil War questline prior to visiting Windhelm. It seems the Civil War questline causes more problems than is mentioned in the UESP.

Out of four characters, I've only been able to start it on one, and that was unintentional on her first visit to Windhelm.

No issues at all with finishing it, once it started.

I don't understand this. many people say they can't refuse, leave, or abandon a quest.

Just don;t do it. Your journal isn't a set of instructions. Just because it's in your journal doesn;t mean you have to do it; it seems as if the goal of many players is to 'clean' their journal by accomplihing all quests in it. I don't understand that

update: i was able to finish the quest but only after i did the other quest offered by jorleif (a random radiant quest initiated when asking about "extra work") for some reason when i came back from that he snapped out of whatever he was in and i could continue the quest with him and viola

On PS3 it was rather easy, the blood trail led away farther than I thought it had at first.

If for no other reason: too many quests seem to have effects on other quests. In other games when quests have bugged out I could abandon them, clear a few others, and restart the previously abaonded quests and the problem was solved.