Man in court on charge linked to missing Missouri woman

Police say Yust is a person of interest in the 2007 disappearance of an ex-girlfriend, Kara Kopetsky, who was 17 when she vanished days after filing for a protection order against Yust.

A week after a 21-year-old Raymore woman disappeared after leaving a party in Grandview, a woman who was at the party is speaking out about the man Jessica Runions left with. Belton police considered Yust a person of interest in the disappearence.

Police were inside and around a home in south Kansas City near 87th and Crescent on Wednesday afternoon, executing a search warrant at the home that belongs to Kylr Yust’s grandfather.

On Wednesday, Crime Watch Daily, which can be seen on FOX 4 at 1:00 p.m. immediately following FOX 4 News at Noon, aired a segment on Runions’ disappearance and the connections between Yust, Runions and Kopetsky.

Yust hasn’t been charged in Runions’ disappearance and police haven’t said whether he knows her. Kopetsky disappeared in May 2007 and remains missing. The woman from the Kansas City suburb of Raymore was last seen leaving a party on September 8, and her SUV was found burned and abandoned two days later in Kansas City.

Authorities arrested Yust Sunday morning in Benton County, Mo. Police said he’s charged with knowingly burning — a felony — related to allegations that he torched a vehicle belonging to 21-year-old Jessica Runions, who was last seen leaving a party Thursday night.

She said she’s met Yust a few times in the past, but this was her first time meeting Runions, who she said wasn’t drinking.

The 2011 incident wasn’t the first time that a protection order was granted against Yust.

As Yust, 28, was escorted from the courtroom, he kept his eyes straight ahead and didn’t look into the benches of spectators.

“I don’t know what happened to him, why he’s doing what he’s doing”, Ken Yust, 51, told The Associated Press by phone.

As he was placed into a police vehicle, Yust said, “Hi, Mom”.

A man considered a person of interest in his ex-girlfriend’s 2007 disappearance has been returned to Kansas City, Missouri, to face charges that he burned another missing woman’s auto.

The judge on Thursday ordered an evaluation to see if Yust is eligible for a public defender and scheduled his next court appearance for September 29. He has not been charged in Kopetsky’s disappearance.

Court records show investigators took two 9 mm bullets, clothing, Yust’s hair samples and other items from a home in Benton County, southeast of Kansas City, where Yust spent time.