The lawyer for a man charged with the murder of two Kansas women has proposed a court order stating his client wasn’t fit to stand trial due to his mental incapability, according to multiple reports.
Lawyers for Kylr Yust proposed the court order ahead of the trial date on Sept. 3, according to Fox 4 Kansas City. It stated that Yust was unfit to stand trial following a doctor’s report that was submitted on Aug. 23. Yust’s lawyers have asked that he be released into the Missouri Mental Health department. The lawyer said Yust would not be able to understand court proceedings fully.
According to the proposed court order, Yust “[lacked the] capacity to understand against him or to assist in his own defense,” adding that Yust was mentally unfit to proceed with the court trial at this time, according to KSHB. Yust’s lawyer suggested that the murder case of Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions should be put on hold until Yust was well enough to stand trial. Yust is the suspect in the killing of the two women. He faces two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of abandoning a corpse.
In the proposed court order, Yust’s lawyer suggested that his client should be transferred to the department of mental health and receive treatment, according to KSHB. The proposed court documents read that Yust should be assigned to the Missouri Department of Mental Health, as per his lawyer’s suggestion, and that Yust should remain in the custody of the department, “… for as long as the mental unfitness endures or until the charges or proceedings against the defendant are disposed according to law,” according to Fox 4 Kansas City.
The proposed court order stated that should the court order go through, the mental department in Missouri would have to report back within 180 days to update the courts on Yust’s situation, and whether he had gotten well enough to stand trial.
Fox 4 Kansas City reported that the court order that Yust’s lawyer proposed had not been signed off by the judge yet. On Sept. 3, Yust is ordered to be present in court for the hearing of the motion.
Kara Kopetsky was killed in 2007—she went missing after filing a restraining order against Yust. Authorities searched for her but were unsuccessful in finding her body, according to the news outlet. Friends of Kopetsky kept on looking for her for many years but were also unsuccessful.
Jessica Runions was killed in 2017, after being seen leaving a party with Yust, according to the news outlet. Authorities managed to find Runions’s car burnt out.
After Runions went missing, people, including Runions’s family and friends gathered to search for her. In the Facebook Page “Search for Jessica Runions,” Runions’s family posted addresses and called on people’s help to search for the missing woman. The search for Jessica Runions went on for seven months, according to the Facebook Post.
It wasn’t until April 3, 2017, that a mushroom hunter found human remains while foraging in Cass County. Investigators sent the human remains to the medical examiners. On April 5, 2017, police confirmed that the first set of human remains belonged to Jessica Runions. The second set belonged to Kara Kopetsky; the first woman Yust is suspected of killing in 2007, according to a Kansas City Star report.
A memorial was created for the two women, according to the Facebook page, and the families of both women were glad that they were able to be put to rest. Runions’s family also thanked the people for their support in searching for Runions.
“There just aren’t the right words to say how grateful we are that both of these beautiful girls can now be properly put to rest. The grieving will never end, but there is definitely a tremendous relief knowing where they are. This is another emotional day, and we have many more to come, but we can’t help but to feel relief,” the post read.
