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Judge sets jury selection for Kylr Yust murder trial; still no trial date

Kylr Yust mug new background
Posted at 4:20 PM, Oct 05, 2020
and last updated 2021-02-18 14:29:59-05

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. — Cass County Judge William Collins, who has been pushing to set a trial date for accused double murderer Kylr Yust for more than a year, wanted to set the date on Monday, but couldn't due to ongoing evidence issues in the case.

On Monday, Collins did schedule jury selection, which will take place in St. Charles County, for March 29.

Jury selection is expected to take a whole week, with jurors to be selected from the St. Louis area.

The families of Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions, whose bodies were found near each other in 2017 after they went missing nearly a decade apart, said they are taking this one step at a time. Yust is accused of killing both women and disposing of their bodies in rural Cass County.

The prosecution and defense have been going back and forth for months on evidence issues, which is why Collins was not able to set a trial date on Monday.

Prosecutors received the GPS tracker information they requested from Belton police and handed it to the defense this morning. Back when Kopetsky disappeared in 2007, police put a tracking device on Yust's car.

The prosecution also is waiting on T-Mobile phone number records from a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer who investigated Runions' disappearance on his own time.

Overall, both sides say they feel good about tying up these loose ends. Collins said he hopes the evidence issues will be resolved in two weeks and set another hearing for Oct. 19.

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