By Donald W. Meyers, Yakima Herald-Republic, Wash. The Tribune Content Agency

Linda Berukoff's family didn't mince words when describing her killer.

But Berukoff's daughter expressed hope that Timothy Michael Lamar Harrison would try to somehow turn himself around while he spends the next 28 years in prison for raping and bludgeoning Berukoff to death with a rock near fruit bins on North Front Street almost five years ago.

"I hope that through his time in prison he will take the programs that are offered to him and become a better person," Tamara Harrah said at Harrison's sentencing hearing Monday.

Harrison, 22, earlier entered an Alford plea to charges of first-degree murder and third-degree rape in Berukoff's death. The plea allows Harrison to maintain his innocence while conceding that prosecutors could have convinced a jury to convict him.

At Monday's hearing, Harrison accepted responsibility for Berukoff's death.

"I take full responsibility for this heinous action and crime," Harrison said. "It was a senseless killing and there was no need for it. I get asked by other inmates if she deserved to die, and I said no."

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.

Cara Bardwell, a friend of Harrah's, told Yakima County Superior Court Judge Kevin Naught about riding with Harrah trying to look for her mother at that time.

"I felt heavy-hearted and pained," Bardwell said, calling Harrison a "nobody" whom she hoped wouldn't have many prospects in his future.

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.

"I'm just wondering how scared she was. She was a 4-foot, 11-inch, maybe 90 pounds soaking wet female," Harrah said. "She never hurt anybody, even with her mental health issues . . . and this person just comes along and takes whatever hope we had in her life to make her better away from us."

Harrah said she had hoped that the early blows would have knocked out Berukoff so she wouldn't feel anything, but as a nurse she knew that was not the case, and the autopsy showed she had defensive wounds, indicating that she fought for her life.

Brittney Harrah, Berukof's granddaughter, recalled when her father told her that Berukoff had been killed.

"It was cold and gloomy outside, exactly how I felt when he told me my grandma was murdered," Brittney Harrah said. "I was in shock. The only thing was I never got to say good-bye."

She said she didn't know which pain was worse, knowing how Berukoff died, or that she would not see her again, and that Berukoff would miss milestones in her life, such as graduating from college.

"It's a sliver of pain I have endured for the last four-plus years. The pain that will never go away because of a worthless human with a rock," Brittney Harrah said.

DNA connection

Berukoff's killing remained unsolved until February 2023, when 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 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.

Harrah said when Yakima police Detective Kevin Cays gave her the news that Berukoff's killer was identified, she was pleased on the one hand, but it undid three years of healing for her and her family.

Along with destroying Berukoff's family's sense of peace, Harrison also destroyed his own family, Harrah said, and that any sentence the court can hand down will not make much of a difference.

"I really hope that God can forgive him, because I don't know in this lifetime that I can," Harrah said.

Steve Brownlow, Berukoff's brother, hoped that Harrison would take to heart the pain that he inflicted on Berukoff's family as well as his own.

"I hope he recognizes this beautiful soul that he erased from the Earth, and I hope he remembers that every day of his life," Brownlow said.

A dark place

Harrison said he did feel the family's pain as he listened to their statements and acknowledged that there was no way he could undo what happened.

"There is nothing that could ever happen for me to fill that hole I left in their hearts and in their family," Harrison said.

At the time he killed Berukoff, Harrison said he was in a dark place in his life, and that he plans to work with his mother to ensure that others don't follow the path that has led him to prison.

"By the grace of God, I am still alive today, and by his grace, I will be able to help others," Harrison said.

Naught acknowledged Berukoff's family's pain, and the inability of the justice system to make things better for them, as well as how the family's wounds reopen with every new development in the case.

"We hope today is the day that you can say, 'I don't have to do that anymore, I can focus on my healing'," Naught said.

The judge also appreciated Harrison's willingness to accept responsibility for the crime and hoped for a better future for him.

Naught said the sentencing recommendation considered Harrison's youth and inability to appreciate the consequences of his actions at the time of the crime.

Harrison was sentenced to 312 months - 26 years - on the murder charge, which is slightly below the middle of the sentencing range, and 17 months - the top of the range - on the rape charge, with the sentences to run together. Prosecutors recommended, and Naught concurred with, a two-year dangerous weapons enhancement for using a rock in the crime, which would be served in addition to the sentence and cannot be reduced for good behavior.

Jeff West, Harrison's attorney, said Harrison has already completed his sentence in the assault case.

Harrison played football at Eisenhower High School when he was a student there and was named to the CBBN all-league football team in his junior and senior years.

Reach Donald W. Meyers at [email protected].