Suspect arrested in connection with Yakima woman’s 2020 homicide
YAKIMA — After more than three years, Yakima police have arrested a suspect in the death of Linda Berukoff.
Timothy Michael Lamar Harrison, 21, was serving a five-year prison sentence on an unrelated first-degree assault case when DNA evidence linked him to Berukoff’s 2020 killing.
He was charged in a warrant with first-degree murder in Berukoff’s death, and made his preliminary appearance in Yakima County Superior Court on Thursday after being brought down from state prison.
Berukoff’s body was found by someone walking past a stack of fruit bins in the 800 block of North Front Street on Jan. 30, 2020. Police said the area is a known thoroughfare for homeless people.
Berukoff, 58, was a sister and a mother who was loved, family members said in 2020. She struggled with mental illness, drugs and homelessness, and they advocated for more support and services.
DNA
Berukoff was found with injuries to her face and head, and an autopsy determined that she died from repeated blows with an object, the affidavit said.
In February 2023, the Washington State Patrol’s crime lab was able to match DNA gathered from Berukoff’s body in a sexual assault kit to Harrison, who was required to provide a DNA sample following his 2022 conviction on first-degree assault.
In that case, Harrison pleaded guilty to running over a woman with his SUV in March 2020, almost two months after Berukoff was killed.
In that incident, a woman told police she was walking in the 1400 block of South 17th Street when Harrison approached her in his SUV and asked if she was “interested in making money,” according to court documents. Interpreting that as a request for sex, the woman told Harrison no, and he clipped her with the SUV and then ran her over as she tried to get away, breaking nine of her ribs, shattering her thigh bone and causing one of her lungs to collapse, the documents said.
Detectives reviewed security video from a North First Street motel the night Berukoff was killed and saw an SUV that matched Harrison’s in the area, the affidavit said.
Additional evidence indicated that Harrison took Berukoff to the North Front Street area, raped her and beat her to death with a rock, the affidavit said.
Bail set
A warrant was issued for Harrison’s arrest June 23, and Yakima County Superior Court Judge Richard Bartheld signed an order for Harrison to be brought to the Yakima County jail, where he was booked Wednesday.
Deputy Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney David Soukup asked Judge Elisabeth Tutsch at Thursday’s hearing to set Harrison’s bail at $500,000, even though Harrison is a state prison inmate.
Defense attorney Beth Wehrkamp acknowledged that she didn’t have an argument on bail but wanted Tutsch to consider that Harrison had three concussions while playing football for Eisenhower High School, had PTSD and depression.
Tutsch set bail at $500,000, citing the fact that the case is moving forward and Harrison has a presumption of innocence on the current charges.
Reach Donald W. Meyers at dmeyers@yakimaherald.com.