Silke Jasso
One of two skulls discovered in a rural area near Kansas City, Mo., has been positively identified as Jessica Runion, according to ABC News and Kansas City police. The skulls were discovered near each other on Monday and Tuesday of this week in a secluded area near State Route Y and East 233rd. The first skull was found by a mushroom hunter, who alerted police. They say one set of remains seems to be older than the other.
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Runion, of Raymore, Mo., has been missing since September of 2016. After finding her remains, police now say they are investigating her disappearance as a homicide. She was last seen with Kylr Yust, a friend of her boyfriend’s, whom she allegedly offered to drive home on the night she disappeared.
Her torched SUV was found days after she disappeared in south Kansas City, not far from her last known whereabouts. Yust has been charged with setting her car on fire, but more charges may be coming thanks to an eerie twist in the story. Yust is also the ex-boyfriend of another missing Missouri woman, Kara Kopetsky, who disappeared in 2007 at age 17.
A Kansas City Police report obtained by KMBC-9 News cites a witness who says Yust and his vehicle were spotted shortly after Kopetsky’s disappearance in the same area where the skulls were discovered. The same report quotes the witness as they tell police Yust confessed to them that he had “killed people.”
Police have not charged Kylr Yust with the disappearance of either woman.
Due to the decomposition of the second set of remains, it could be up to a year before they are positively identified.
