Kylr Yust, whom investigators have long suspected of involvement in the disappearances and killings of Kara Kopetsky in 2007 and Jessica Runions in 2016, has formally been charged with murdering both women.
Court documents show that in addition to the first-degree murder, Yust has also been charged with two counts of abandonment of a corpse. The remains of Kopetsky and Runions were found next to each other in April 2017 by a mushroom hunter in rural Cass County.
Related: Second Set Of Human Remains Found In Missouri Has Been Identified As Kara Kopetsky
Police quickly zeroed in on Yust as a suspect due to his connection with both women. Runions disappeared after she left a party with Yust in September 2016. Kopetsky, who was Yust’s ex-girlfriend, was last seen walking out of Belton High School on April 28, 2007. She was 17.
Shortly before she went missing, Kopetsky filed an ex parte order against Yust after he kidnapped her from her job. Yust admitted to police at the time that he didn’t like that she was seeing other people after their volatile on/off relationship. A judge granted her request for a restraining order on April 30 — four days before investigators believe she was killed.
Related: Search For Jessica Runions Uncovers 2 Unrelated Corpses
Investigators have been trying to crack the case for years.
Yust had confessed to friends, roommates, and cellmates that he had killed Kopetsky because he was upset that she wanted to end their on-and-off relationship, according to a probable cause statement released Thursday:
“(The witness) stated Yust then told him the victim K.E.K. wouldn’t love him and that he was angry with her because he didn’t want her to love someone else. Yust then told (the witness) that he had just snapped, and that something bad happened to the victim.“
Between 2010 and 2012, multiple people called police and told them that Yust had admitted to choking Kopetsky to death and hiding her body in the woods.
Related: Jessica Runions Vanishes, Last Seen With Man Who Was Questioned In His Ex’s Disappearance
On September 9, 2016, Runions was reported missing a day after leaving a party with Yust. Witnesses said that he was drinking heavily and acting possessive of his date. Police found Runions’ burned-out car on September 10.
A man who was with Yust that same day told police that he drove Yust home, and that Yust had told him he strangled Runions and “she was gone.”
Yust was arrested on September 11, and investigators noted that he had burns on his face, hands, and arms — and scratches on his face.
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He is still in custody in Jackson County, where he is due to go to trial later this month on a charge of burning Runions’ SUV.
According to authorities, Yust will be held on a $1 million bond.
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Main photo: Kylr Yust [Benton County Sheriff’s Office]
The post “He Just Snapped”: Kylr Yust Charged With Murdering Both Kara Kopetsky & Jessica Runions appeared first on CrimeFeed.