blood on the ice quest completely bugged

[Isabella]

Cannot get past the "Follow up the clues" part, not to mention the body that is supposed to start the quest never had any witnesses around it in the first place? its srsly just been laying there for 2 ingame days now and nobody has noticed it.

Should I just give up on this quest? i can't restart without going way back since i don't save often.
I might just have to go back anyways, since I won't be able to decorate the house I just bought w/o this quest done.

[CrackeR]

You could cheese it by finding the quest stage you need to restart it or set the stage you need to progress it in the console

[Isabella]

didn't know i could do that, i'll give it a try, thanks.

[Bonus!]

Originally posted by CrackeR:

You could cheese it by finding the quest stage you need to restart it or set the stage you need to progress it in the console

that's not cheesing it that's just standard procedure for Bethesda games

[alexander_dougherty]

You can get past Find the clues by examining the grave where the body was found, then talking to the Priestess in the nearby house of the dead, then following the bloodstains to Hjerim (walk up to the door and try it if necessary)

[peppermint hollows]

Just a word of warning for the future, this quest is notoriously buggy and has a lot of points where it can completely break and become incompleteable. It's arguably one of the buggiest quests in the game alongside the Civil War questline. You should save at each step of this quest if you ever play it again in the future.

[Nabinkemper]

While the original release version of the quest is buggy, many of the reported bugs have been corrected with the Unofficial Patch. The primary issue with Blood on the Ice is that it doesn't do a good job of quest direction. This is apparent as it continuously marks the Steward as a person to interact with even when this isn't necessary after the initial interaction.

As Alexander said, the 'follow the clues part' the OP mentioned is completed by following the blood trail to Hjerim.

The quest can easily be completed in less than 15 minutes.
At this point, I will usually break into the house and review the 'clues.' The chest of notes on the left, the bottles of mead nearby, the pots & pans in the kitchen, and the stacked chairs on the bed upstairs. Then, you make your way into the back room on the first level. On a bookcase you will find a stack of flyers and an amulet. In one of the wardrobes you will find a secret room with remnants of necromantic activities. There is a journal on the table. From here, you go and find Viola Giordano and show her the journal. She implicates the court mage and directs you to speak to the Steward. Don't do this. First, make your way to Calixto Corrium's curiosity shop. This shop is only open for a few hours midday. Sell him the strange amulet.
Then, enter the Palace of the Kings and use the first door on the left. Make your way to the end of the hall and confront Wuunferth. During the discussion, he will discern that the actual murderer will strike again. Wuunferth will say the next attack will be 'tomorrow night.' The attack will really occur the very night you speak to Wuunferth and will occur in the marketplace. You wait until 11pm and the murderer will appear before you ready to strike his next victim. You stop the murder, speak to Steward, Jorleif, and finish the quest.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Blood_on_the_Ice