Second human skull found in Cass County; FBI called to assist in investigation

By Stephanie Graflage, WDAF

CASS COUNTY, Mo. -- (WDAF) -- The FBI has been called in to assist in the delicate search of a remote area in Cass County, where human bones were found Monday evening by a mushroom hunter, and now remains of a second person have been found nearby in the area on Tuesday.

Authorities with Cass County now say they have found a second human skull in the wooded area near E. 233rd and State Route Y, south of Belton, where they found a human skull Monday. They also say they have been in contact with the families of missing person cases in the area, but could not confirm the identity of the victims.

According to Captain Kevin Tieman, the skull recovered Monday has been sent to the Jackson County Medical Examiner for further examination.

There are two women who have been missing from the Kansas City area for quite some time, and their cases could be connected, but police have not yet been able to confirm if the skulls belong to either of these women.

The missing women are Kara Kopetsky, a Belton teen who has been missing since May 2007, and Jessica Runions, a Raymore woman who disappeared in September. Kopetsky was last seen leaving Belton High School on May 4, 2007 and has not been seen since. Runions was last seen at a party Sept. 8, 2016 with her boyfriend and one of his friends, Kylr Yust.

Kylr Yust was involved with Kara Koptesky before her disappearance. Yust has never been charged in her disappearance, but she and her mother, Rhonda Beckford, filed a restraining order against him shortly before she vanished. The order wasn't officially granted until after she disappeared.

Yust was also a friend of Jessica Runions. Kylr Yust has been charged in Jackson County with "knowingly burning" in connection to Jessica Runions' case and car. He was arrested in September 2016 at his family's home in Edwards, Mo., in Benton County, about two hours from Kansas City. He has not faced additional charges related to her disappearance.

In 2011, Yust, then 22, was charged with two counts of animal abuse, including smashing a kitten against a bathroom floor. According to prosecutors, Yust allegedly smashed the head of a kitten against a bathroom floor on July 5, 2011, and then allegedly drowned two kittens in a bag in an area creek on July 20, 2011.

A week before the animal abuse charges, Yust was placed on two years probation after pleading guilty to beating and choking his 18-year-old pregnant girlfriend. According to police reports, Yust allegedly told the teen that he could dispose of body parts in a pig pen on a family ranch.

Family and friends of both woman have been searching for clues in their disappearance but have had no luck. Just in January, groups searching for Runions' body found two bodies while searching, but neither of those bodies belong to either of these women.