No one held for West Valley triple murders: Case against Culton dismissed
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YAKIMA, Wash. -- The case against Tracy Culton has been dismissed, the Yakima County Prosecutor's Office announced Friday. She was being held in connection with the aggravated murders of three people in West Valley. This means no one is charged with the murders of the Goggin family.
Bill, Pauline and Bettye Goggin were found brutally murdered in their West Valley home in February of 2011.
Prosecutors wrote in a news release, "...Ms. Culton was not involved in the planning or participation in the triple homicide."
Sheriff's department detectives interviewed "dozens of witnesses" that supported her alibi, according to the release.
Culton also took a polygraph test which concluded she was "truthful regarding her non-involvement in the planning and/or participation in the Goggin murders.
Prosecutors said they received results from the Washington state crime lab this week. None of the results implicated Culton.
Prosecutors wrote in a statement, "Based on the totality of evidence, the state dismissed the case for insufficient evidence and in the interests of justice."
Neighbors of the Goggins' still can't believe it.
"Just a sense of disappointment," said Raymond Vanderwall. "We use the expression he got away with murder. So far somebody is getting away with murder."
"I look all around my house and I have memories," said Ellen Vanderwall. I have things Bettye, Bill's mother, had give me -- made for me. Just little trinkets of this and that. Things that Pauline and I shopped for together. Plants that we shared. They're still part of us."
Back in October, prosecutors struck a deal with Kevin Harper who was facing murder charges. Harper pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a firearm and possession of stolen property, for having the Goggins' stolen credit cards.
Yakima County deputy prosecutor Ken Ramm said new information came from a witness in that case that changed the time prosecutors originally thought the murders happened by several hours.
The sheriff's department plans continue investigating the case. At this time, no one is charged in the murders of the Goggin family.
What happened to the other players in the case?
»Tennance Buckingham still faces charges of trafficking stolen property and rendering criminal assistance. He is not in jail and was never charged with the murders.
»Crystal West, Kevin Harper's wife, was charged with rendering criminal assistance and attempted rendering criminal assistance. Those charges were dropped as part of her husband's plea deal.
»Grady Mitchell was arrested on unrelated charges last year, but has no charges pending in the Goggin case. He's not in custody.
From then to now: Timeline of events
This is the second shocker for the case. A quick look at the twists and turns which all began almost exactly two years ago.
- February 18th of 2011: The bodies of the three victims were found inside the gated community of Falcon Ridge.
- March 2nd: Kevin Harper was arrested for the crime.
- Six weeks later: Investigators said Tennance Buckingham was caught with items stolen from the Goggin home. He was arrested.
- The next month: Harper's wife Crystal West was accused of destroying evidence.
- June of 2011: Tracy Culton first came into the picture. Investigators initially arrested her for burglary. She was charged with the murders by August.
- August 2012: Kevin Harper's trial started and stopped on the same day when his attorney said they'd no longer waive the right to a speedy trial.
- October 2012: The move that no one saw coming. Harper makes a plea deal with prosecutors who dropped all murder charges against him. He has not been sentenced, but is likely to get seven-years for the lesser crimes he agreed to.
- February 8th, 2013: murder charges dropped against Tracy Culton. Leaving no one on the hook for this triple murder.
Harper remains in custody
The only person still in custody is Kevin Harper as he awaits sentencing. Many wondered if this case would fall apart completely when Harper struck a plea deal.
The only person left to pin the murders on was Culton. KIMA questioned Stewart Graham with the Yakima County Sheriff's Office back in October.
"Do you feel there is enough evidence to convict Tracy Culton?" KIMA asked.
"Oh, I can't answer that," Graham said.
Action News asked what would happen if Tracy Culton wasn't found guilty of the murders?
"Then, for us, the case would be cleared."
"Cleared, meaning no longer being looked into?" KIMA asked.
"Yes," he said.
"So, essentially closed?" KIMA asked.
"Yes," Graham said.
The latest statement from prosecutors indicates Yakima County deputies are continuing their investigation into the triple murder.
Action News has been tracking the Goggins' murder case since the day it happened. Stay with KIMATV.com, Facebook & Twitter for the latest on the West Valley triple murder investigation.
The injustice was to me. I went through beatings by jail officers, being stip searched infront of male officers, and watching a girl die rite infront of my cell door. As well as spent most of the 20 months locked away isolated away front other inmates, do to the crime I was accused of. I can't get that 20 months of my life back. Either can my kids, get that 20 months back with me or what they went through mentally or emotionaly because of me being accused of murder. They had nothing on me, but lies from the proscuters. Where do I go here? I even have to stay hidden. So I really aint free at all.
What an Epic and sad fail. That office has become a joke.
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The miscarriage of justice here is that Tracy Culton was held for two years with zero evidence of her participation in the crime. She was in the hospital the entire time the crime occurred, she passed a lie detector test, there was zero physical evidence linking her to the crime, and the story that she told people she had done it is totally bogus, AND the initial lead investigator testified in court months ago that in his opinion she was not guilty.
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Someone associated with Kevin Harper stole her phone and sent texts to people she knew "confessing" to the crime, yet saying that "Kevin Harper had nothing to do with it". Kevin Harper is guilty as sin. There was abundant evidence of his guilt, and if the prosecutors hadn't totally botched the investigation, he would be in prison for life.
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Kevin Harper walked. THAT is the real injustice here. That, and Tracy Cullton sat rotting two years in jail because the prosecutors needed someone to take the blame and couldn't figure out how to let her go without embarrassing themselves.Â
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Mr. Haggardy is an excellent attorney with a great record as a federal prosecutor, and has done some good things since coming into office. However, his is an extreme micromanager and his insistence on being involved in every aspect of every case that comes before his department has bogged the department down, chased away qualified people, and demoralized his whole crew.Â
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He needs to go, sooner than later.
How dare these men want retribution from the State! They got away with a crime, if not this one then sometime in their young lives they have committed a crime and weren't charged. Somewhere, somehow, they will pay for what they've done. I feel so very sorry for the family that has lost their loved ones to such a hideous crime. My family also has suffered from a murderer that has gotten away with his crime, and we live with that everyday, but the criminal(s) will pay, if not in this life then in the afterlife.
What happened to the internal investigation of the Prosecutor's office? Why did it take more than two years to look into these alibis?Â
Next time the Prosecutor and police tell KIMA that they have arrested the people responsible for the crime, how much credibility will they have?
It is time for Mr. Haggarty to step down, and for Yakima to demand a Prosecutor who is more interested in Justice than in his own ego and career. Â So far, under his command, we have:
1) Low conviction rates
2) DUI
3) Over budget
4) A very negative independent report on his office
5) Possible misconduct or incompetence, or both in the Goggin cases. (And how many others?)
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Friends of the Goggin's - we would like to thank KIMA for their very good and in depth coverage. Thank You. Jim and Rocky
How can they be in possession of the Goggin's things and be innocent. How did they get the Goggins things and from whom? I want the guilty person in jail for this but how can they let these key players walk. They know who gave them the things or they did it themselves. Shame on the sheriff who messed this up. We are not a small town with local volunteers for sheriff-these are well paid people. Maybe too well paid.
 @DJ It is not a matter of them being "Innocent." It is that they are innocent of the crimes they were charged with, and the prosecutor's office and police screwing up so badly, that they are now afraid to charge them with the crimes they MAY be guilty of. For now, I am not even sure I believe that they WERE in possession of stolen property. The only evidence of that comes from the police, and we have seen how trustworthy they are. Did they ever retract the false story that the inmate who never came back from furlough stole a car? You know that that never actually happened, right?
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Perhaps KIMA could just doing some actual investigative journalism?
This is insane. Either one of those involved did it or we have another very dangerous person on the street, walking around enjoying life, while the Goggin family, well, isn't