Kara Kopetsky

Case background and investigation

Kara Kopetsky was a 17-year-old junior at Belton High School in Belton, Missouri, a suburb south of Kansas City. According to a case chronology published by KSHB, she told Belton police on April 28, 2007, that her former boyfriend, Kylr Yust, had kidnapped her. A Cass County court issued an order of protection against him on April 30, and it was served on May 1.

On May 4, 2007, she left the school during the morning and was not seen again. KSHB reports that school surveillance video recorded her that morning and that she was reported missing to Belton police later the same day. Her debit card was found in her school locker on June 1, and her account showed no activity after she vanished. No charges were filed at the time and the case remained open for almost ten years.

On September 8, 2016, Jessica Runions, 21, was last seen leaving a gathering in Grandview with Yust, according to KSHB. She was reported missing the next day, and her vehicle was found burning in Kansas City early on September 10. Yust was arrested on September 11 in connection with the burning of the vehicle.

In early April 2017 a mushroom hunter found human remains in a wooded area of rural Cass County, south of Belton, and investigators located a second skull nearby the following day, KSHB reported. One set of remains was identified as Runions within days. On August 16, 2017, Belton police announced that the FBI laboratory had identified the other set as Kopetsky. Murder charges were filed against Yust on October 5, 2017.

The trial was held in Cass County in April 2021 after several delays. KCUR reported that the defence pointed to the absence of DNA evidence tying Yust to either death and that Yust testified his half-brother, who died in jail in 2018, was responsible. Prosecutors argued Yust acted out of jealousy. On April 15, 2021, the jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter in Kopetsky's death and second-degree murder in Runions' death. In June 2021 Judge William Collins imposed the sentences the jury recommended: 15 years and life, to run consecutively.

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, affirmed the convictions in August 2023, rejecting all six points raised, KY3 reported. Yust then sought post-conviction relief. According to KCTV5, his lawyers argued before a state appeals panel on September 1, 2026, that his trial counsel was ineffective and that trying the two deaths together prejudiced the jury. No ruling had been reported at the time of writing, and the convictions remain in place.