Jessica Runions, 21, Missing Since September 8, 2016 - Raymore, MO

Fears for missing Missouri woman after police find burned-out car

Published September 11, 2016 · FoxNews.com


This undated image shows Jessica Runions, who has been missing since Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016. (Kansas City Police Department)

Kansas City police have asked the public for help locating a missing woman after her burned-out car was found Saturday.

Jessica Runions, 21, of Raymore, Mo., was last seen at a house party Thursday evening. KSHB reported that she attended the party with her boyfriend.

At around 2 a.m. Saturday, authorities discovered Runions' black 2012 Chevy Equinox near an overpass in south Kansas City. Search teams canvassed the area near where the car was found for several hours before halting due to darkness.

~Snipped~

Jessica's aunt, Michelle Runions, told the station that the missing woman left the party with her boyfriend's childhood friend, Kylr Yust. Local media reported that Yust's ex-girlfriend, Kara Kopetsky, disappeared in May 2007, a week after filing a protection order against him. Kopetsky has never been found.

KSHB also reported that Yust has been convicted of assault, theft and animal cruelty.

So far, police have not named any suspects or persons of interest in Runions' case.

~Snipped~

Anyone with information about Runions' whereabouts is asked to call the Kansas City Police Department's Missing Persons hotline at (816) 234-5136, or the TIPS hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.

Read more:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/11/fears-for-missing-missouri-woman-after-police-find-burned-out-car.html

Ex-boyfriend of missing Kara Kopetsky faces questions in Raymore woman’s disappearance

September 11, 2016 2:58 PM



Rhonda Beckford of Belton, Mo., mother of Kara Kopetsky, 17, whose has been missing for nine years, expressed her concerns for family members of missing 21-year-old Jessica Runions of Raymore. Runions has been missing since Thursday.  Joe Ledord  - The Kansas City Star

By Laura Bauer
lbauer@kcstar.com
Glenn E. Rice
grice@kcstar.com
and Toriano Porter
tporter@kcstar.com

Family members of a young Raymore woman missing since Thursday see an ominous parallel to a girl who disappeared in 2007.

The family has been told by her friends that Kylr Yust — the off-and-on boyfriend of Kara Kopetsky, then 17, before she disappeared nine years ago — was the last person seen last week with 21-year-old Jessica Runions of Raymore.



Kylr Yust

He was taken into custody Sunday and was being held in Missouri’s Benton County jail.

Multiple Kansas City police sources confirmed that Yust, 27, was a person of interest in the Runions case but wasn’t the only person being sought for questioning. Authorities arrested Yust at 8:30 a.m. Sunday on charges of “knowingly burning” Runion’s 2012 black Chevy Equinox, which police found about 2 a.m. Saturday near 95th Street and Blue River Road.

“Right now I have positive news that my daughter wasn’t in the car when they found it,” Runions told The Star on Sunday. “And that’s what’s going to keep me going right now. There’s hope.”

Read more:

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article101235007.html#storylink=cpy

Kylr Yust, whose ex-girlfriend disappeared, held over missing 21 year old Jessica Runions

September 12, 201612:41pm


A MAN, whose ex-girlfriend simply disappeared, has been held over the disappearance of a 21-year-old woman, last seen on Thursday.

Kylr Yust was the last person seen with Jessica Runions at a house party in Kansas City, the largest city in Missouri, on Thursday evening.

Benton County Sheriff’s Office deputies in the state of Arkansas arrested Yust on a warrant for knowingly burning in relation to Runions’ car, a 2012 black Chevy Equinox, which was found burned in a remote area in Kansas City on Saturday.




“We love her. We want her home safe. We just want her home safe ... she is a sweetheart,” Jessica Runions' aunt Michele Runions said. Picture: Facebook Source:Facebook

Yust was the boyfriend of Kara Kopetsky, who vanished in 2007, a week after filing a protection order against him. Her case remains unsolved.

Yuest pleaded guilty in 2011 on abuse charges after his ex-girlfriend told police he strangled her. He was also convicted after stealing from a tattoo shop and for stomping and tossing a kitten into a river.

“You don’t know how hard we pray for Jessica,” Kopetsky’s father Jim Beckford told KHSB.

Her mother Rhonda Beckford added: “Unfortunately it was our feeling that as long as he was out that he was going to continue to do what he has always done victimise young innocent girls.”

Read more:

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/kylr-yust-whose-exgirlfriend-disappeared-held-over-missing-21-year-old-jessica-runions/news-story/f0ed05e0186fcdc22d9103e3eaf02d54

Andres Gutierrez @AFGutierrez  

Police arrest Kylr Yust for burning Jessica Runions' car. She remains missing. Yust bond: $50k cash only. Mug-2011

7:40 PM - 11 Sep 2016

___________


Andres Gutierrez Retweeted

41 Action News ‏@ActionNews  · 3h  

UPDATE: Kylr Yust arrested in connection with the disappearance of Jessica Runions - http://bit.ly/2cNTkFs


https://twitter.com/AFGutierrez?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Ali Hoxie ‏@ali_hoxie  · 6h  

Emblem from Jessica's car @41ActionNews





Ali Hoxie ‏@ali_hoxie  · 6h

What's left of Jessica's car @41ActionNews





Ali Hoxie ‏@ali_hoxie  · 8h  

Three different dogs searching area where Runions car was found @41ActionNews





Ali Hoxie ‏@ali_hoxie  · 8h

Today I spoke with Kara Kopestky's parents say Jessica Runion's disappearance is eerily similar to Kara's




https://twitter.com/ali_hoxie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Missing Jessica Runions last seen with man that was last seen with Kara Kopetsky

https://missingpersonsofamerica.com/2016/09/11/jessica-runions-last-seen-with-man-that-was-last-seen-with-kara-kopetsky/

Fears for missing Missouri woman after police find her car burned and dumped in a remote area three days after she disappeared

. Jessica Runions, 21, has been missing since 9:30pm on Thursday, when she attended a house party with her boyfriend
. Her car was found early-morning on Saturday at near an underpass in the remote area near 95th Street an Blue River Road in Kansas City, Missouri
. Worried family members say she was last seen with Kylr Yust, who was a person of interest in the 2007 disappearance of Kara Kopetsky
. Kopetsky filed a restraining order against then-boyfriend Yust a week before she vanished
. Police have not named any suspects in Runions' disappearance

By Dailymail.com Reporter
Published: 10:07 EST, 11 September 2016  | Updated: 12:34 EST, 11 September 2016

Police in Missouri continues to search for a 21-year-old woman who has been missing for three days.

Jessica Runions, 21,was last seen at a house party about 9:30pm on Thursday.

Her car, a black 2012 Chevy Equinox, was found burned and empty about 2am Saturday morning near an underpass on 95th Street an Blue River Road in Kansas City.  

'We are very concerned for her safety,' said Captain Stacey Graves, of Kansas police, to KCTV.


Relatives first reported Runions missing on Friday when she didn't return a series of phone calls, which the family says is unusual for her


Runions' car was found empty and burned up in near this remote overpass in Kansas City


Police say the disappearance of Runions is 'suspicious' after they found her vehicle unoccupied and burned in this remote part of Kansas City

~Snipped~

Yust was a person of interest in the disappearance of his girlfriend Kara Kopetsky, a 17-year-old high school student who vanished in 2007 — just a week after filing a protection order against Yust when their relationship soured.

He's also been linked to a number of other crimes: assaulting a girlfriend, animal cruelty and drug trafficking, for which he spent the last three years behind bars.

He was never charged with Kopetsky's disappearance.

 
Family members say Runions was last seen with Kylr Yust (left), who was a person of interest in the disappearance of his then-girlfriend Kara Kopetsky (right), 17, who vanished in 2007

Police reports say that Yust claimed in 2013 that he had killed former girlfriends and could dispose of bodies by feeding them to pigs at a family farm,WDAF-TV reported.

On Thursday, Yust apparently stayed at the party with Runions when her boyfriend left, her family said.

'We just know that they left the party together,' Michele Runions told KSHB.

Read more:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3784059/Fears-missing-Missouri-woman-police-car-burned-dumped-remote-area-three-days-disappeared.html#ixzz4K0qfOYOc

Police search Yust family home for clues in Jessica Runions' disappearance

September 14, 2016

Read more:

http://www.kctv5.com/story/33094675/man-questioned-in-jessica-runions-disappearance-transferred-back-to-kansas-city

September 14, 2016 12:24 PM

Kylr Yust, questioned in woman’s disappearance, brought to Kansas City



Kylr Yust was transferred from the Benton county jail Wednesday to the Kansas City Missouri Police South patrol station where processing procedure started and then he was transferred to the Jackson County jail. Yust is a person of interest in a missing Raymore woman Jessica Runions, according to KCMO police officer Darren Snapp.  Joe Ledford  - The Kansas City Star

By Laura Bauer
bauer@kcstar.com

The man questioned in the disappearance of a Raymore woman was transported Wednesday from Benton County, Mo., to Kansas City, where authorities searched his grandfather’s home.

Authorities moved Kylr Yust, 28, from the county jail in Warsaw, Mo., where he had been held since Sunday. Police arrested him on charges of “knowingly burning” the vehicle of Jessica Runions, 21, of Raymore.

Runions was last seen Sept. 8 leaving a gathering in south Kansas City with Yust, the ex-boyfriend of Kara Kopetsky, who disappeared in May 2007. Yust was questioned more than once in that case.

Wednesday afternoon, police spent about three hours searching the home of Yust’s grandfather in the 8700 block of Crescent Avenue in southeast Kansas City. Kylr had been living with his grandfather in the months since he got out of prison earlier this year.

Read more:

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article101787882.html#storylink=cpy

Latest: Bullets, other items seized in Missouri missing-women probe

Published September 14, 2016 · Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Investigators looking into the Missouri disappearances of a woman and a teenager nine years apart have taken bullets and other items from the home of a man considered a person of interest in at least one of the cases, court records show.

Kylr Yust was returned to Kansas City on Wednesday to face a charge that he knowingly burned 21-year-old Jessica Runions’ vehicle. The woman from the Kansas City suburb of Raymore was last seen leaving a party Thursday night.

~Snipped~

Search warrant documents that The Associated Press obtained Wednesday from Benton County court officials show police seeking evidence related to Runions’ vehicle and a “missing persons investigation” seized two 9 mm bullets from a home occupied by Yust, as well as clothing, hair, fingernail scrapings and swab samples from him.

Court and jail records that are available don’t list whether Yust has an attorney, and it was not immediately clear Wednesday when Yust will make his first court appearance.

Read more:

http://www.torontosun.com/2016/09/14/bullets-other-items-seized-in-missouri-missing-women-probe

Ali Hoxie Retweeted

Andres Gutierrez ‏@AFGutierrez  · 12h  

Andres Gutierrez Retweeted Nick Kastelan

Yust is spending his 28th birthday getting transported to the @JacksonCountyMO jail for burning Jessica Runions' car



Nick Kastelan @nickkastelan
 
.@41ActionNews Kylr Yust is in KCPD custody as police picked him up in Warsaw, MO around 10am today.




https://twitter.com/ali_hoxie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Richard Sharp Retweeted

41 Action News ‏@ActionNews  · 11h    

WATCH: Kylr Yust had some interesting responses to @RichardKSHB's questions about Jessica Runions' whereabouts.

Video clip:

https://twitter.com/RichardKSHB

Partygoer: Kylr Yust said he wanted to marry Jessica Runions

MSN Video:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/watch/partygoer-kylr-yust-said-he-wanted-to-marry-jessica-runions/vi-BBwdth7

Kylr Yust in court on charge linked to missing Jessica Runions

Posted: Sep 15, 2016 2:50 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 15, 2016 4:04 PM CDT

By Chris Oberholtz, Digital Content Manager
By Jonathan Carter, Reporter

Read more:

http://www.kctv5.com/story/33105620/kylr-yust-in-court-on-charge-linked-to-missing-jessica-runions

September 15, 2016 7:30 PM

Kylr Yust caught breaks in years of encounters with law



Jessica Runions’ family has been told by her friends that Kylr Yust — the off-and-on boyfriend of Kara Kopetsky, then 17, before she disappeared nine years ago — was the last person seen last week with the woman from Raymore. He was taken into custody Sunday and was being held in Missouri’s Benton County jail.  Monty Davis  - The Kansas City Star

By Judy L. Thomas
jthomas@kcstar.com
and Laura Bauer
lbauer@kcstar.com

Kylr Yust seemed eager to turn his life around when a judge sentenced him to federal prison three years ago.

“The defendant is remorseful and contrite and desires only a chance to one day return to society and live as a productive, law-abiding citizen,” his lawyer wrote about his then-25-year-old client in a court document before sentencing. “The defendant acknowledges that his conduct was disgraceful.”

After years of court appearances and punishments for misdemeanors, Yust was sentenced to 45 months in federal prison on a felony drug charge. Guidelines recommended up to 87 months.

Yet just 27 months later, Yust was in a halfway house. And two months after that, he was sent to home confinement with his grandfather in south Kansas City. He was freed from federal custody in August.

Read more:

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article102134552.html#storylink=cpy

Sadly, given these circumstances, I think there is a zero chance of Jessica being found alive.

Mylife101 wrote:Sadly, given these circumstances, I think there is a zero chance of Jessica being found alive.  

I agree. It is very unfortunate that this girl crossed paths with a sociopath. I feel very bad for her and for her family; my prayers go out to them .

Businesses help raise money to aid search for missing Raymore woman Jessica Runions

Posted 10:00 pm, September 19, 2016, by Dave D'Marko, Updated at 10:12pm, September 19, 2016

CASS COUNTY, Mo. -- It’s been over a week since Jessica Runions' burned out car was found and Kylr Yust, the person police say was responsible for torching it, was arrested. But the family is still no closer to answers in the 21-year-old’s Raymore woman's disappearance.

For days, friends and family of Jessica Runions have posted flyers and searched for the missing woman. This past weekend, word spread throughout the family investigators had found a woman’s body in Cass County.



Read more:

http://fox4kc.com/2016/09/19/businesses-help-raise-money-to-aid-search-for-missing-raymore-woman-jessica-runions/

Family of Jessica Runions speaks out on search for her

Posted: Sep 20, 2016 9:29 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 20, 2016 9:29 PM CDT

By Nick Sloan, Digital Producer
By Amanda Palumbo, Executive Producer

Read more:

http://www.kctv5.com/story/33143791/family-of-jessica-runions-speaks-out-on-search-for-her

New details emerge on timeline of Jessica Runions' disappearance

Read more:

http://www.kctv5.com/story/33153777/new-details-emerge-on-timeline-of-jessica-runions-disappearance

Jessica Runions' father has to be restrained in Kylr Yust hearing (Video)

Raymore woman remains missing after 3 weeks

Updated: 5:07 PM CDT Sep 29, 2016

Read more:

http://www.kmbc.com/article/jessica-runions-father-has-to-be-restrained-in-kylr-yust-hearing-1/4311731

September 29, 2016 6:09 PM

Grandmother of missing Raymore woman: ‘Someone knows something’



By Laura Bauer
lbauer@kcstar.com

The father of a missing Raymore woman had to be held back by family members Thursday afternoon as Kylr Yust walked into a Jackson County courtroom.

Yust, 28, stood before Associate Judge Janette K. Rodecap for just a few minutes during a routine hearing. He is not charged in the disappearance of Jessica Runions, 21, but is accused of knowingly burning her vehicle.

Runions’ father sat in the front row, overcome with grief during Yust’s court appearance. Family members say it was the first time he had seen Yust since his daughter disappeared after leaving a gathering Sept. 8 in south Kansas City with Yust.

“Thank you everyone for showing up and supporting the family,” John Michael Runions said through tears after the hearing as relatives gathered outside the courtroom. A female family member hugged him as she started to cry and said: “We will stand here with you forever.”

~Snipped~

Across the aisle from the Beckfords was one person who had been friends with Yust since March, shortly after he was released from prison on a drug conviction. The woman, who would identify herself only as Jennifer, said Yust texted her around 2 a.m. Sept. 9, a little more than four hours after Yust left the gathering with Runions.

“He wanted a ride,” Jennifer said. “He said his car was getting a new transmission. He wanted to hang out.”

Yust told her he was at his grandfather’s house, she said. The two texted back and forth until the next evening. She said it wasn’t until a day or two later that she learned about the missing Raymore woman.

~Snipped~

Yust’s next court appearance is Oct. 31. He’s being held on a $50,000 cash-only bond and has qualified for a public defender.

Runions’ family said they’ll continue to search for her and are grateful for the community’s support.

Read more:

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article105029001.html