Evidence about another suspect in Kylr Yust case found in old police desk: attorneys
Attorneys for a Kansas City man charged with killing two women say reports found when police were cleaning out an old desk at the Belton Police Department included undisclosed information about another suspect.
In court filings, Kylr Yust’s public defenders said the reports, which police recently turned over to prosecutors, detailed circumstances of a witness providing information in 2013 about another suspect, whose car was later searched by the FBI.
“The police failed to fully investigate the information provided and never even attempted to interview the suspect and other witnesses named in the reports,” the attorneys wrote.
Also found in the desk was a recording of a suspect who confessed to multiple people that he killed Kara Kopetsky, one of the women Yust is accused of murdering, according to the motion. His attorneys received that recording in April, they wrote.
Yust, now 31, was charged in 2017 with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of abandonment of a corpse in the deaths of Kopetsky and Jessica Runions.
Kopetsky was reported missing in May 2007; Runions was last seen alive in September 2016. Their remains were found in April 2017 after a mushroom hunter found bones in a wooded area south of Belton.
At least four people over the years told investigators that Yust confessed to them that he choked Kopetsky — who police said was last seen alive leaving Belton High School — until she stopped breathing.
Police said Runions was last seen leaving a gathering with Yust. Witnesses told authorities Yust was drinking heavily and arguing with Runions at the party, according to charging documents.
Earlier this week, Yust’s attorneys filed a motion to push back his scheduled July 22 trial. They said they needed more time to investigate alternative suspects, among other things.
Yust’s defense team also said they have identified witnesses who saw Kopetsky after she was reported missing May 4, 2007. They said that testimony would disprove a key element of the state’s case against Yust.
Lt. Dan Davis, a Belton police spokesman, referred questions about the motion to the Cass County Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecuting Attorney Ben Butler did not immediately respond to an email Friday seeking comment.
Yust’s St. Louis-based public defenders also noted the coronavirus pandemic has hampered their ability to investigate Yust’s case.
A hearing was set for Tuesday at the Cass County Justice Center in Harrisonville.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 2:09 PM.
