Missouri appeals court upholds convictions of Kylr Yust in killings of two young women

A Missouri appeals court has upheld the convictions of a 34-year-old man in the killings of Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions, two young women who disappeared roughly 10 years apart in Cass County.

In an opinion filed Tuesday, the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District found that the trial court did not err on issues that Yust based his appeal on.

A Cass County jury in April 2021 found Yust guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the death of Kopetsky, 17, and second-degree murder in the death of Runions, 21. Kopetsky was reported missing in May 2007 and Runions was last seen alive in September 2016.

Yust was sentenced to life plus 15 years in a Missouri prison for killing the women and dumping their bodies.

Yust, of Kansas City, had been linked to Kopetsky and Runions early on in the investigations, but their cases remained long-running mysteries. In April 2017, a mushroom hunter found their remains in a wooded area south of Belton.

Yust was charged in 2017. The jury found him guilty in April 2021 after more than a week of witness testimony.

In his appeal, Yust argued that the trial court erred in excluding the testimony of two witnesses who offered evidence that someone else had killed Kopetsky. The court also erred in excluding surveillance video and related testimony that allegedly supported the theory that someone else had killed the two women, he argued.

Additionally, Yust contended that evidence of prior bad acts should have been inadmissible during the trial. Finally, Yust argued that prosecutors failed to present sufficient evidence for the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that he knowingly killed Runions.

The appeals court, however, found no errors and upheld the convictions.