Daughter charged after mother found dead wrapped in plastic in closet

A 37-year-old woman in California was charged Tuesday in connection with the death of her mother after authorities found a body wrapped in a plastic bag in a closet of her home, Hanford police announced.

Kelli Elizabeth Yingling pleaded not guilty Wednesday to the killing of her mother, 67-year-old Peggi Yingling, whose body was discovered after a neighbor who had not seen Peggi Yingling in weeks asked police to conduct a welfare check, ABC affiliate KFSN-TV in Fresno reported.

“The defendant has a previous conviction for elder abuse and was on probation for that offense at the time of the crime,” Kings County District Attorney Sarah Hacker said in court, according to KFSN.

Hacker confirmed in an email to HuffPost that Yingling would face charges of premeditated murder and elder abuse in connection with her mother’s death.

Her lawyer, Carlos Navarrete, told KFSN that his client is innocent until proven guilty.

“When we receive police reports, we very often find that things are not as clear as they are portrayed. There are many nuances and people’s memories are not what they claim or originally were. We have to investigate all of this,” Navarrete said.

On May 18, authorities conducted a search of the victim’s home in Hanford, a small town in the San Joaquin Valley. According to the press release, they found the woman dead in a locked closet. Police said the victim had been dead “for an extended period of time.”

An autopsy found evidence that Yingling had been strangled, Hanford police said in a press release.

Authorities claimed that Kelli Yingling’s questioning by detectives “implicated her in the murder.”

Residents of the Yinglings’ neighborhood described it to KFSN as quiet, although police had appeared at the victim’s home in the past.

Gabriel Virrueta, who lives near the house, described Peggi Yingling as “very introverted” and told KFSN that she occasionally “asks neighbors for help and drives to the store or doctor’s office.”

Kelli Yingling had been in custody at the King County Jail since May 7, before the body was discovered. She was arrested in connection with a May 2 car chase, authorities said in the news release.

According to KMPH-TV in Visalia, California, Kelli Yingling was convicted of elder abuse in 2023 in a case that also involved her mother.

Related…