Skulls Found This Week May Belong to Missing Women

Authorities are hoping to identify the remains found outside Kansas City
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 4, 2017 4:46 PM CDT
Updated Apr 5, 2017 4:33 AM CDT
Families of Missing Women Notified After Skulls Found
Kara Kopetsky was last seen in 2007.   (AP Photo/ Beckford family)

The families of two missing women have been notified after the discovery of a pair of skulls this week outside Kansas City, the Kansas City Star reports. Kara Kopetsky was last seen in 2007; Jessica Runions disappeared last September. Neither woman's body has ever been found. The first skull was discovered by a mushroom hunter Monday in a wooded area of Cass County. According to WDAF, authorities found the second skull Tuesday while searching the area. A number of other bones have also been found. While the families of Kopetsky and Runions were notified, neither of the skulls has been identified yet, KMBC reports. It's unclear how long it could take to get an identification.

The families of the missing women are hopeful the remains will soon provide some answers. "Even if it’s not Kara, it’s someone’s loved one and someone has answers,” Kopetsky's mother tells the Star. “Good or bad, someone has answers.” Runions' family has been searching regularly since her disappearance. Searchers found two bodies in January, neither of them belonging to the missing women. Runions, 21, was last seen leaving a party with 28-year-old Kylr Yust, a friend of her boyfriend, in September. Yust has been charged with burning her car after it was later found. Yust had dated Kopetsky prior to her disappearance at the age of 17 a decade ago. Shortly before she went missing, Kopetsky filed a restraining order against him. (More missing woman stories.)

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