KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Cass County judge on Tuesday ordered all jail communications from accused double murderer Kylr Yust to be turned over to a special master appointed in the case after Yust’s attorneys alleged violations of confidentiality.
According to an order filed in Cass County Circuit Court, Judge William Collins ordered “all phone calls, texts and emails from Kylr Yust while incarcerated at the Cass County Jail” to be sent to his defense attorneys and to a special master in the case for review.
Yust’s attorneys requested that a special master review recordings of calls Yust made in jail at a court hearing last week, alleging that jail staff listened to calls between Yust and his attorneys.
Collins said at that time that the case cannot go forward until the Cass County Sheriff’s Office turns over those recordings.
At the hearing on July 7, Yust’s attorneys also asked for a forensic evaluation of a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer’s phone, alleging the officer had inappropriate relationships with witnesses while investigating the disappearance of Kara Kopetsky on his own time.
Yust, 31, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 17-year-old Kopetsky and 21-year-old Jessica Runions, whose remains were found near each other in rural Cass County in 2017. The two went missing nearly a decade apart.
Yust’s trial, which has been delayed several times, most recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now is expected to start in 2021.
—
For jurisdictions that utilize the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline, anonymous tips can be made by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the 41 Action News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015.
