JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

I said I was going to try to cover as much of the Kylr Yust trial as I could, but, unfortunately, I haven’t had time to cover it at all since it began Monday in Cass County Circuit Court.

There’s plenty of coverage, however, from The Star and some TV stations, and if you’re looking for blanket coverage, I recommend KMBC-TV’s website. The station is providing real-time coverage, from one witness to the next.

So far, testimony has centered around the disappearance of Kara Kopetsky, who had been dating Yust and went missing the morning of May 4, 2007, after leaving Belton High School, where she was a student.

Yust, 32, is also charged with murdering Jessica Runions, another woman he dated, in 2016. The remains of both women were found in a wooded area south of Belton in April 2017. Prosecutors have said the location was not far from a house where Yust used to spend time.

From what I’ve read, it sounds like the state’s evidence is coming in very well. So far, the defense has been nipping around the edges of incriminating testimony, trying to case doubt about the some witnesses’ credibility.

Here’s some of the most incriminating testimony so far, accompanied by my observations…

:: Yust apparently told at least four people he had killed Kopetsky, including one woman who was wearing a wire to record what he told her. The woman has not testified yet, but a defense attorney said in her opening statement Monday that Yust told the woman he had killed Kopetsky because she was acting titillated by the possibility of being in the company of a murderer, and Yust thought that by telling her he had killed someone she would agree to have sex with him…I doubt if the jury will buy that story. How many people are going to confess to a murder to get laid?

:: Yust was a member of a “death metal band.” He was the lead singer, although indications are there was a lot more yelling than singing…If you’re going to end up charged with murder, I can’t imagine a worse type of band to have been involved with than a band playing music defined by “death.”

:: Yust had a very bad temper. Jennifer Smith, a friend of Kopetsky’s, testified Yust would be “screaming at the top of his lungs” at gatherings of friends…I guess it’s possible he wasn’t out of control. Perhaps he was just exercising his vocal chords to prepare for death-metal performances.

:: At her mother’s urging, Kopetsky applied for and got a restraining order against Yust on April 30, 2007, after coming home with cigarette burns inflicted by Yust. In the application for the order, she (Kara) wrote, “The abuse has gotten worse over time.” Her mother, Rhonda Beckford, also read from a poem her daughter had written, in which Kara said, “After all the pain and suffering, I am through.” She may have been through, but, as is the case in many abusive relationships, she wasn’t able to get away in time to save her life.

:: Amy Clark, another friend of Kara’s and the person who reported her missing the day she disappeared, testified she had seen signs of abuse on Kara, including a “choke mark” and a “fat lip.” Kara and Jessica are believed to have been strangled to death. A choke mark certainly won’t win Yust any points with the jury.

:: A former Belton Police Department supervisor testified he brought Yust in for questioning on May 6, 2007, because he was aware of the restraining order. Steve Edson, the former supervisor, said that in the interview Yust insisted he would never hurt Kara but admitted to having grabbed her and shaken her. Oddly, Edson said, Yust spoke about Kara in the past tense…Who else besides the killer would have known she was permanently gone and not just missing?

:: Amy Clark testified that two weeks before Kara disappeared, Yust told her (Clark), “If I can’t have her, nobody can.” The prosecution is establishing a picture of a jealous hothead who was under a restraining order and who supposedly confessed to a murder in the hopes of getting laid…Even with no physical evidence linking him to the crime, it appears that Yust will be doing most of his future singing in a Fulsom-State-Prison-type setting.