Jury recommends life in prison for Missouri man in 2 deaths

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. (AP) – A jury has recommended the maximum possible sentence for a Kansas City man convicted of killing two women about a decade apart.

The Cass County jury on Friday recommended that Kylr Yust be sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder in the death of 21-year-old Jessica Runions in 2016, and 15 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter in the killing of 17-year-old Kara Kopetsky in 2007.

Formal sentencing is scheduled for June 7.

The two victims’ bodies were found in 2017 in the same field south of Kansas City. Prosecutors said Yust killed them because they rejected him. His defense criticized the investigation and suggested Yust’s half-brother killed the women.