KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man considered a person of interest in his ex-girlfriend’s 2007 disappearance and now charged with burning another missing Missouri woman’s car spent time in jail for assaulting his pregnant then-girlfriend in 2011, police and court records show.
This Sept. 12, 2016, photo provided by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in Warsaw, Mo., shows Kylr Yust. In court records obtained Monday, Sept. 12, 2016, Yust, who is facing charges in the burning of a vehicle belonging to a 21-year-old Missouri woman who has been missing since last week, was the subject of a protection order nearly a decade ago by his then-girlfriend Kara Kopetsky, who accused him of kidnapping and abuse. Kopetsky disappeared in May 2007 and remains missing. That April 30, 2007, filing alleged Yust kidnapped and restrained the teenager, choked her and threatened to cut her throat during their nine-month relationship. He has not been charged in Kopetsky’s disappearance. (Benton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
The 18-year-old woman in the 2011 incident later won a protection order against Kylr Yust after she reported he drunkenly choked her. She told authorities that during the attack Yust said, “I’ve killed people before, even ex-girlfriends out of sheer jealousy; I will kill you,” according to a Kansas City, Missouri, police report.
Yust later pleaded guilty and served 120 days in jail. Police did not immediately return messages Tuesday seeking comment about the alleged threat regarding killings and whether investigators followed up on it.
Court and jail records that are available don’t list whether Yust has an attorney. His father, Ken Yust, said Tuesday he was heartbroken about his son’s “crappy decisions” and violence toward women.
FILE – In this June 8, 2007 file photo, Jim and Rhonda Beckford talk about their their daughter, Kara Kopetsky. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
“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. “I can’t imagine it. It’s not cool, and there’s nothing but shame on this end.
“I wish this wasn’t happening, and I know the families are hurt,” he added. “Nobody deserves this, and it all makes me sick.”
In the 2011 incident, the woman was more than seven weeks pregnant with twins that she said were Kylr Yust’s, according to the police report.
Details about that attack are the latest to emerge involving Yust and claims that he was violent toward women close to him.
Yust, 27, was arrested Sunday in Benton County, about 100 miles (160.93 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City. 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.
Investigators haven’t said whether Yust, who is on parole in a drug case, knows Runions.
Yust faced no other charges related to Runions on Tuesday. Police said they are treating her disappearance as a suspicious missing-person case, and he remained jailed Tuesday in Benton County on a $50,000 cash-only bond.
Michael Mansur, a spokesman for the prosecutor in Jackson County, where Kansas City is located, reiterated Tuesday that he couldn’t release details about the case because of a judge’s order.
The 2011 incident wasn’t the first time that a protection order was granted against Yust. Court records show that Yust’s ex-girlfriend, 17-year-old Kara Kopetsky, filed for a protection order on April 30, 2007, alleging Yust kidnapped and restrained her, choked her and threatened to cut her throat during their nine-month relationship.
“I’m unsure what he will do next, because the abuse has gotten worse over time,” read her protection order application, which also alleged Yust stalked her.
A judge granted the protection order request and scheduled a hearing for May 10, 2007, but Kopetsky went missing six days before the court date. She was last seen at her high school in Belton, south of Kansas City and just blocks from her home. She left behind her debit card, and her checking account wasn’t touched.
Yust also isn’t charged in her disappearance, though Belton police describe him as a person of interest in the case.
In the 2011 incident, Yust’s then-girlfriend told police he was “extremely intoxicated” and arguing with her about her plans to end their relationship. She said he dragged her to a bedroom, pinned her on the bed and placed both hands around her neck, according to the police report. She said Yust warned that if she screamed again he would kill her.
She said she eventually lost consciousness as Yust choked her, but later regained it and found him embracing her from behind and telling her, “I love you,” the report said.
Source: AP
JIM SUHR
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