Woman charged with murder in Yakima slayings

YAKIMA — Charges against a woman accused of taking part in a fatal burglary near Yakima have been upgraded to murder.

Thirty-five-year-old Tracy Elaine Culton was arraigned Wednesday in Yakima County Superior Court as an accessory in the beating deaths of three people.

Yakima Herald-Republic reported she has been in custody since June when she was charged with involvement in the burglary.

The prime suspect, 29-year-old Kevin Lee Harper, is charged with aggravated murder. The prosecutor is deciding whether to seek the death penalty.

Investigators say Harper broke into the home in February and killed William and Pauline Goggin and William Goggin’s 98-year-old mother, Elizabeth.

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