Kelli Yingling: California woman accused of murdering mother, storing body in plastic bags in a closet
A woman from Hanford, California, has been charged with the death of her mother while already behind bars for other unrelated offenses, according to a press release from the Hanford Police Department (HPD).
Officers were dispatched to a home on the 900 block of West Encore Drive at 2:09 p.m. on May 18, 2024 for a welfare check, the release says. A neighbor called in to say she hadn’t seen the woman at that residence “in a couple of weeks, and that this was unlike her.”
When they arrived and entered the home, police discovered “a deceased elderly female locked in a closet,” according to the release. Detectives determined that she had been dead for an extended period of time, and evidence showed she had been murdered. The woman was wrapped in plastic bags and left in a closet to decompose. The autopsy determined that there were signs of strangulation.
The prime suspect had been arrested on May 7, after being arrested for leading police on a pursuit on May 2, and remained in custody at the time of the welfare check, the release says. Detectives interviewed Kelli Yingling, 37, who lived with the victim before being arrested. Kelli allegedly made statements that connected her to the murder.
