A 67-year-old California woman was found murdered and stuffed in a closet in plastic after having been missing for weeks — and now, her daughter has been arrested for the crime.
Late last week, the corpse of Peggi Yingling was found wrapped in plastic in a home in the central California farm town of Hanford. A neighbor had called police worried about Peggi after not seeing her for weeks. That was uncharacteristic of the woman, so police came out to search for her. Upon entering the home, per both ABC 30 and FOX 26 in nearby Fresno, cops found Peggi’s body in a closet.
After investigating Peggi’s friends and acquaintances, they arrested the victim’s 37-year-old daughter Kelli Yingling. Kelli (pictured above in her mugshot) lived in the same home as Peggi, but at the time of her dead mother’s discovery, the younger woman had already been in jail for 11 days on unrelated warrants. According to a press release from the Hanford PD, detectives visited Kelli in jail after discovering the senior citizen. There, Kelli made comments that “implicated” herself in her mother’s killing. Kelli was then charged with murder.
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According to an autopsy, Peggi died from strangulation prior to being wrapped in plastic and stuffed in the closet. Based on the condition of her body upon discovery, the neighbor’s claim about not seeing Peggi for weeks, and the fact that her accused killer daughter had been incarcerated for 11 days prior to the police search, cops believe Peggi’s body had been left in the closet for several weeks.
OMG…
According to Kings County District Attorney Sarah Hacker, who spoke to ABC 30 about Kelli’s arrest, the younger Yingling already has a prior conviction for elder abuse on her record. In fact, Kelli had been on felony probation for it:
“[Kelli] was on felony probation for elder abuse at the time that this offense occurred.”
That news outlet also reports that Kelli pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. Her lawyer Carlos Navarrete spoke to the media about the tragedy and claimed there were “nuances” in the case that must be taken into account. He told ABC 30:
“Very often when we get police reports, we start to see that things are not clear cut as they made it to be. There are a lot of nuances, and people’s memories aren’t what they claim or were initially, so we need to investigate all that.”
Hmmm. As for Kelli’s immediate future, her next court hearing on the murder rap is scheduled for July.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Consider calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, or go to https://www.thehotline.org/.
[Image via Hanford Police Department]