GUILTY MO - Kara Kopetsky, 17 in 2007; Jessica Runions, 21 in 2016; found deceased - *ARREST* #2

[Niner]

https://www.kshb.com/news/crime/yust-trial/jury-selected-for-kylr-yusts-double-murder-trial

Trial begins Monday @Dre

In the above link is also a series of podcasts covering the case by the 41Files which is Kansas City 41 action news podcast. I'll be listening through them later today and will report back if there is any new details.

Okay - sounds good! I've been following Chauvin's murder trial - so I'll be busy over there posting tweets.

Do you know if anyone will be doing tweets for this one? I don't mind posting them - if there is anyone - will need a link - if you find something! TIA!

 

[Niner]

@Vail - if you will following this - when you take notes - could you make sure you get the name of the persons testifying & "who" they are? I'll take that info for my notes on this trial.
again TIA!

 

[Jewels53]

FOX4 will be in the court room for the trial and will have live blogs on fox4kc.com. You can also find daily updates on air and online.

Kylr Yust trial: Belton ready to see resolution nearly 14 years later

Much more at that link! There maybe someone tweeting from the trial I will have to check on Monday. I will give the person and someone else will have to post the tweets since I will be gone.

 

[Niner]

@Jewels53 - don't know if you are still home - any tweeters for this trial? I'll go ahead & post them if there is a person doing this!

or @Vail - if Jewels isn't around - did you find someone? TIA!

 

[Niner]

Monday, April 5th:
*Trial set to begin (Day 1) (~ @ 1pm CT) – MO – Kara Elise Kopetsky (17) (last seen at Belton High, May 4, 2007, Belton; found by mushroom hunters in rural Cass County near East 223rd & State Route Y on April 3, 2017) & Jessica S. Runions (21) (missing Sept. 8, 2016, Raymore; her car was found burned near Bannister & Blue River Rds. on Sept. 10, 2016. Found by mushroom hunters in rural Cass County near East 223rd & State Route Y on April 4, 2017) – *Kylr Charles Yust (18 in 2007/29/now 32) indicted (3/1/18) & arraigned (6/18/18) on 2 counts of 1st degree & 2 counts of abandonment of a corpse. Plead not guilty. $1M cash only bond. Originally charged with felony arson for burning Jessica’s car was dismissed on 10/5/17. Charges of 2 counts of abandonment of a corpse-dismissed on 3/4/21).
Trial set to begin 4/5/21. Jury Selection started on 3/29/21 & ended on 3/31/21. Held in Cass County & jurors from St. Charles County. Jurors will be sequestered throughout the trial (expected to last 3 weeks). Jury: 12 jurors & 4 alternates (13 women & 3 men).
Court info from 3/1/18 thru 3/11/21 & jury selection (3/29/21) reference post #94 here:
MO - Kara Kopetsky, 17 in 2007; Jessica Runions, 21 in 2016; found deceased - *ARREST* #2
3/30/21 Tuesday Day 2 of Jury selection. In the second day of jury selection, 71 people were informed about the case & asked about potential biases or hardships. Of the 71, 33 said the commitment to a three-week trial in Cass County would be a hardship, citing work & child care reasons. Several of the members seated Tuesday also had connections to law enforcement. Nine of the possible jurors had previously been impacted by domestic violence but none felt that affected their impartiality. In the end, the prosecution & defense teams released 44 of the people questioned Tuesday. The remaining 27 were asked to report again Wednesday, 3/31/21 in addition to 53 from Monday’s session. A jury for the case, set to go to trial next Monday, could be finalized Wednesday. Jury selection continues on 3/31/21.
3/31/21 Wednesday Day 3 of Jury selection. It took 3 days to choose the 12 jurors, plus four alternates. There are 13 women & 3 men. Jurors were selected from St. Charles, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. They are scheduled to leave St. Charles at 8am Monday morning & will arrive in Harrisonville by noon. Opening statements are scheduled to take place Monday afternoon, 4/5/21.

 

[Niner]

@Vail - if you could "tag" me when you have tweet person, please? TIA!

Otherwise I will forget... I'm old... LOL!

 

[Jewels53]

@Jewels53 - don't know if you are still home - any tweeters for this trial? I'll go ahead & post them if there is a person doing this!

or @Vail - if Jewels isn't around - did you find someone? TIA!

I will check after 9 am, I think that is what time the trial starts. I just checked Fox4 KC and nothing on there yet.

I found this and I don't know if this means they are streaming the Trial or not.

41 Action News[URL='https://twitter.com/41actionnews']@41actionnews[/URL]
STREAMING NOW: With the trial of Kylr Yust now just days away, learn more about the case in our special coverage, Journey for Justice: The trial of Kylr Yust. #yusttrial http://kshb.com/live

I will check later and see if anyone is tweeting.

 

[Niner]

Thanks @Jewels53 - thought you were supposed to leave today?

edited to: I've opened up the tweeter for yusttrial - so I'll keep an eye out. You can be on your way!

 

[Jewels53]

Thanks @Jewels53 - thought you were supposed to leave today?

No I left yesterday, I am in Branson now. We can't get in the sewing room until 11 am.

 

[Niner]

No I left yesterday, I am in Branson now. We can't get in the sewing room until 11 am.

Ah! I see! I edited my last - saying I bookmarked the twitter account for the yust trial - so I'll keep an eye out when the trial starts this morning - does it start 9am CT?
If so, that's 4pm 5pm my time.

 

[Vail]

I will definitely be following this one. Thank you @Niner and @Jewels53 for being here.

Does this thread need to be moved into trials or something? I just want to be sure all the members following for the last decade can be here to see the conclusion.

Getting up to Speed (some of my links are global/non-GDPR):

https://www.kshb.com/news/crime/yust-trial

FBI's 'recorded confession' by Kylr Yust can be used in trial, judge rules

Outline - Read & annotate without distractions

A judge has ruled an FBI audio recording from Kylr Yust reportedly containing Yust's "recorded confession" for the death of Kara Kopetsky can be used in his upcoming double-murder trial.

(...ex Katelyn Farris flew back to Kansas City and met up with Kylr while there while on an FBI wire to get the confession)
The two went to woods near Yust’s grandfather’s house using a Ouija board to contact the spirit of Kara Kopetsky, according to the pleading.

“Mr. Yust’s statements of how Ms. Kopetsky was killed indicated he ‘flipped out.’ He shows Ms. Farris where he supposedly left Ms. Kopetsky’s body. As part of this façade, Mr. Yust and Ms. Farris leave a box of chocolates, some cigarettes and a paper card for the spirit of Ms. Kopetsky,” the defense motion said.


How could an ancient Hebrew code play into Kylr Yust’s trial?

https://outline.com/cBXqPM

Near the end of the first day of proceedings in the gymnasium of a more than 100-year-old church, defense attorney Sharon Turlington asked the group if anyone had knowledge of “Gematria code.” She described it as a secret code based in biblical times. None of the witnesses in the first group did, but if they had it could have swayed counsel on both sides whether to excuse or keep them... the most popular use of Gematria in popular culture is “666,” which is considered the number of the beast in the Bible. Many use the number to describe the devil. According to Catherine A. Cory’s book “The Book of Revelation,” the number comes from the translation of Greek text into Hebrew using Gematria from the book of Revelation.

(...)some piece of information within their evidence is connected to the code worthy enough to pose the question to jurors.

https://www.kshb.com/news/crime/yust-trial/journey-for-justice-the-trial-of-kylr-yust

So far the journalists covering things on Twitter are:

https://twitter.com/CKnuteKSHB

https://twitter.com/MGreensteinTV

https://twitter.com/NorthCassHerald

It looks like they will be sending Yust into court with his head shaved. Nothing like making sure he appears as brutal as possible! I bet he wears a turtleneck.

 

[Vail]

Summary of the admissions that Yust made to others about the killings (some of the expected witnesses):

KR - 4/26/10: A bandmate who was also a roommate of Yust's in 2007 told Belton investigators that Yust said something bad had happened to Kara and he snapped. Yust said he was angry with Kopetsky because she wouldn't love him, and he didn't want her to love someone else.
KF - 1/22/11: Yust ex-girlfriend contacted Belton police and said that Yust told her he choked Kara to death, picked up her body and hid it in the woods.
KF - 2/4/11: KF reconnects with police and tells a more complete story. She said that Yust described choking Kara, watching her take her last breath. He said he stared at her body before moving it to the woods.
CM - 8/19/11: A previous girlfriend of Yust tells Kansas City investigators that he choked her and told her that he had killed his girlfriends before and would not hesitate to kill her too.
SD - 6/5/12: Friend of Yust told police that in early 2012 Yust told them that he had choked Kara out, looked at her body before taking her to the woods. Yust further described they were having relationship problems and had a physical struggle before he killed her.
JC - 3/28/16: Cell inmate of Yust in Oklahoma says that Yust asked him for an alibi after the police interview in September of 2015. The inmate said Yust admitted that he had killed Kopetsky by choking her and then disposed of her body.
Jessup - 9/10/2016: Kylr's brother Jessup contacts Belton police and said he was with Yust when he admitted that he strangled and killed Runions. Yust also told that witness he had dragged her body into and undisclosed wooded area, but couldn't drag her very far. * This testimony will be delivered by pros as Jessup is now dead. It remains to be seen what they can present regarding Jessup's death and how it may be connected.
AC - 10/5/2016: Belton police interview a former roommate of Yust and CM, who said about 3-and-a-half years earlier Yust told him that he killed Kopetsky and no one would ever find the body unless he told them where it was. It is unclear why LE didn't interview AC back when CM went to LE (he lived with CM and Yust at the time)

We can additionally expect family members (Kara mom, dad, stepdad, Jessica mom, Jessica's bf JM, Kylr Grandfather, possibly dad, Jessup's wife/gf)

Lt Brad Swanson will definitely be on the stand, possibly Capt. Kevin Tieman, the mushroom hunter that found the bones, the friend of Kylr who's farm is connected to the land they were buried on (or owns the land, it was unclear) and the witness that saw the red truck belonging to Kylr on the road next to the woods they were later found, all of the experts to cover the video, text messages/phone records.

This may be the best Twitter btw, they have been working with the Kopetskys for a long time and going to the hearings:

https://twitter.com/SarahPlakeTV

https://twitter.com/AndyAlcock2

https://twitter.com/sheraehoneycutt

 

[Niner]

@Vail - I do see this case under "Trials". And thanks for all that info.

 

[Vail]

Log into Facebook

The trial begins this afternoon for Kylr Yust, the man accused of killing young Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions, and dumping their bodies in the woods.
But before that, the judge will decide whether local news stations can shoot video inside the courtroom and bring you those proceedings.

 

[Niner]

I'm going with the Hearld tweeter person - looks like he covered the jury selection. The other 2 lists don't have much on this case.

 

[Niner]

Oh - it doesn't look like the trial starts in the morning - jurors are being transported from another city - and will arrive in the afternoon to hear opening statements per this tweet:

Allen Edmonds
@NorthCassHerald
·
Mar 31
A jury for the Kylr Yust trial has been selected. The 16, which includes four alternates, will leave St Charles at 8 am Monday and arrive in Harrisonville to hear opening statements in the afternoon. Thirteen women and three men will hear the case.

link: https://twitter.com/NorthCassHerald

 

[Vail]

In Episode 6 of the 41 Files Case overview reporter Andres Gutierrez (who initially reported on Jessica Runions case) mentions that an encrypted note was left in Jessep's cell. This is apparently what the defense is hemming over and why they may have asked jurors if they know anything about Gematria. I am very curious about this detail, because it points in every way to Kylr.

https://omny.fm/shows/the-41-files/...tice-the-trial-of-kylr-yust/embed?style=cover

 

[Vail]

Update: Kylr's grandfather passed away last year so he cannot testify or be an alibi for Kylr.

 

[Jewels53]

9:40 a.m. | The trial for accused double murderer Kylr Yust begins on Monday afternoon, and the judge granted permission last minute for a camera to be allowed in the courtroom.


Media outlets in the Kansas City region filed a motion to allow a camera in the courtroom for the high-profile case after the judge initially said one wouldn't be allowed.

https://www.kshb.com/news/crime/yus...gins-monday-camera-to-be-allowed-in-courtroom

 

[Vail]

@sheraehoneycutt
·
25m
Judge William Collins will allow cameras in the courtroom for the trial of #KylrYust. Neither the prosecution or the defense objected.

16m
Prior to trial Yust's attorneys argued to allow evidence of other possible suspects in the murders of Kopetsky and Runions. One of them being Yust's own half brother, Jessup Carter. #YustTrial

16m
Carter took his own life in the Jackson County Jail in 2018. He was also allegedly involved with the burning of Jessica Runions car in 2016. The defense argued they should be able to present evidence that Carter may have killed the women. #YustTrial

16m
The defense claims when Carter died he left an encoded message in Gematria code, an ancient Hebrew numerology code. They claim the short message eludes to 11 murders by Carter of women over his lifetime. #YustTrial

16m
Judge Collins plans to hold a hearing to discuss if this and other evidence will be admissible in the trial. #YustTrial


Allen Edmonds
@NorthCassHerald
·
1h
Pre-trial arguments by Kylr Yust defense attorney Sharon Turlington indicate a possible intent to show half brother Jessup Carter’s potential involvement in similar crimes. Carter committed suicide in jail after his 2017 arrest on arson charges.

1h
One alternate juror was released this morning before the jury left St. Charles for the Kylr Yust trial, leaving three alternates,

Andy Alcock
@AndyAlcock2
·
10m
Members of the jury are on their way to Cass County with one less alternate juror. Jury left St. Charles Co. near St. Louis this a.m. with 12 jurors and 3 alternates. Court reconvenes at 1:30 in Kylr Yust trial.
@41actionnews
for updates.

(I guess our auto-tweet embed is turned off?)