Convicted Daughter Sued Over Estate

YAKIMA - A woman who drowned her mother and then dismembered the body should not share in the dead woman's estate, another family member says.

James Yates, son of the slain Lois Huysman, filed a lawsuit seeking to bar his half-sister and her immediate family from receiving any portion of Huysman's estate.

Christine Varness, 43, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in May and was sentenced to two years in prison for killing her mother in 1990. Yakima County prosecutors alleged the crime was for financial gain. Varness testified she killed her mother in a rage when Huysman admitted having known about the sexual abuse Varness suffered as a child at the hands of a stepfather.

In his lawsuit, Yates contends Varness already had taken at least $144,000 from Huysman's estate before confessing to the 1990 slaying. Yates wants the court to establish a trust to hold the estate's assets and declare Varness an ineligible heir.