Harrisonville, MO – Kylr Yust has been found guilty of killing two women nearly a decade apart by a jury in Cass County.
Yust was initially facing two counts of first degree murder. A jury brought in from St. Charles County to hear the trial found Yust guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the death of 17-year-old Kara Kopetsky and guilty of murder in the second degree in the death of 21-year-old Jessica Runions.
Kopetsky went missing on May 4, 2007, from Belton High School, south of Kansas City, just days after a restraining order against Yust. Runions was last seen leaving a house party with a drunken Yust on the night of September 8, 2016.
The women’s remains were found near each other in a wooded area of Cass County by a mushroom hunter in 2017.
Jurors deliberated for about 15 hours to reach their verdict. The sentencing phase is expected to begin Friday.
The sentencing for voluntary manslaughter is five to 15 years, and the sentencing for second degree murder is 10 to 30 years or life in prison. The sentencing will happen from the jury itself, but Judge William Collins can decide if the sentences run concurrent.