Rachelle Murcia joined the 17 News team in August of 2011. She is a weekday anchor and reporter. She is thrilled to be closer to family and to be a part of this community.
Rachelle has followed her passion for story telling all over the country. She was born and raised in Muncie, Indiana, the home of the Ball Jar and Garfield. She attended Ball State University in her hometown and graduated with a degree in telecommunications. From there, she moved to Kennewick, Washington and was the weekend anchor/reporter/producer for KNDU. She covered the massive Hanford Nuclear Reservation fire and the Olympic torch run as the flame passed through the town.
After over 3 years with KNDU, she moved to KVVU in Las Vegas, Nevada. There, she did national live shots after the tiger attack during the Siegfried and Roy show, followed Michael Jackson down the strip as he was wanted amid child molestation allegations, and covered the many visits of presidential hopefuls during the 2004 elections in the swing state.
In 2005, Rachelle accepted the job as the morning reporter at KOMO 4 in Seattle, Washington. There, she helped the station bring home numerous Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. After 5 years, Rachelle took over the role of traffic anchor and reporter for the station.
Rachelle loves becoming involved in the community. She’s spent time working with food banks, raising money for animal shelters, hosting American Heart Association events, supporting breast and colon cancer awareness events, and making appearances at schools. She looks forward to getting involved with the charities and foundations of Bakersfield and Kern County.
Rachelle is married to a photographer at KGET, Ley Vaughn. Ley was raised in Frazier Park and was a Driller, attending Bakersfield High School. He went on to graduate at CSUB. He's been a photographer in Bakersfield, Las Vegas, and Seattle. Ley's parents, sister, and nephew still live in Frazier Park.
Rachelle loves spending time with her two step children. She also loves spending time with her two yorkies, Indiana and Tinkerbell, and her Persian cat, Gypsy. In her spare time, Rachelle likes cooking, running, and exploring new things to do in California.
You can follow Rachelle on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachelle-Murcia/58762944222 or on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/#!/RachelleMurcia
