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   CASS COUNTY, Mo. -- The FBI has been called in to assist in the delicate search of a remote area in Cass County, where human bones were found Monday evening by a mushroom hunter, and now remains of a second person have been found nearby in the area on Tuesday. 
   
   Authorities with Cass County now say they have found a second human skull in the wooded area near E. 233rd and State Route Y, south of Belton, where they found the first human skull on Monday. They also say they have been in contact with the families of Kara Koptesky and Jessica Runions, two young women missing from the Kansas City area, but could not confirm if the remains were that of these missing women. 
   
   Kara's mother and Jessica's mother have become friends, sharing the common and devastating bond of missing a child. 
   
   "I don't think I could get through this without them and my family and friends," said Jamie Runions, Jessica's mom. "It's just hard. It's the hardest thing anybody would have to go through." 
   
   "We are a team and when you have a missing child… People can say they understand how you feel but unless you have another child that’s missing, you don’t," said Beckford, Kara Kopetsky's mother. "It’s not like any other thing and it’s drawn us closer together and we are like sisters." 
   
   The Missouri State Highway Patrol has shut down approximately 6.5 miles of S. State Route Y between YY-Hwy and D-Hwy (Holmes Road) for the search. The road closure began at 12:30 p.m. and is expected to continue until dark. It could even continue until Wednesday. 
   
   Kara Kopetsky, from Belton, has been missing since May 2007, and Jessica Runions, a Raymore woman disappeared in September 2016. Kopetsky was last seen leaving Belton High School on May 4, 2007 and has not been seen since. Runions was last seen at a party Sept. 8, 2016 with her boyfriend and one of his friends, Kylr Yust. 
   
   "My feeling is Kara is gone but of course there is always that doubt in the back of your mind when you don’t know 100 percent. You always hold onto that hope that’s what you go on. But we need a resolution to this and we need to find out what happened to our girls. Good or bad, we just want them home.​," said Beckford. "They brought us here because they thought there would be some new information that would come in but it just hasn’t panned out to be that way. We’re still just waiting." 
   
   "Every hour, every day, every minute, we just hope and pray those answers come in and we find our daughters and we are able to put the dirt bag away for the rest of his life so he can’t hurt anyone else again," said Beckford. 
   
   Kylr Yust was involved with Kara Koptesky before her disappearance. Yust has never been charged in her disappearance, but she and her mother, Rhonda Beckford, filed a restraining order against him shortly before she vanished. The order wasn’t officially granted until after she disappeared. 
   
   Yust was also a friend of Jessica Runions. He has been charged in Jackson County with 'knowingly burning' in connection to Jessica Runions' case and car. He was arrested in September 2016 at his family's home in Edwards, Mo., in Benton County, about two hours from Kansas City. He has not faced additional charges related to her disappearance. 
   
   In 2011, Yust, then 22, was charged with two counts of animal abuse, including smashing a kitten against a bathroom floor. According to prosecutors, Yust allegedly smashed the head of a kitten against a bathroom floor on July 5, 2011, and then allegedly drowned two kittens in a bag in an area creek on July 20, 2011. 
   
   A week before the animal abuse charges, Yust was placed on two years probation after pleading guilty to beating and choking his 18-year-old pregnant girlfriend. According to police reports, Yust allegedly told the teen that he could dispose of body parts in a pig pen on a family ranch. 
   
   Family and friends of both woman have been searching for clues in their disappearance but have had no luck. Just in January, groups searching for Runions' body found two bodies while searching, but neither of those bodies belong to either of these women. 
   
   According to Captain Kevin Tieman, the skull recovered Monday has been sent to the Jackson County Medical Examiner for further examination. 
   
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   'We speak for our daughters' Rhonda Beckford and Jamie Runions talk to media after meeting with Belton police Tuesday afternoon. The families of Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions were notified Monday evening about the discovery of unidentified skeletal remains. Rhonda Beckford and Jamie Runions talk to media after meeting with Belton police Tuesday afternoon. The families of Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions were notified Monday evening about the discovery of unidentified skeletal remains. Shelly Yang The Kansas City Star 
   
   Rhonda Beckford and Jamie Runions talk to media after meeting with Belton police Tuesday afternoon. The families of Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions were notified Monday evening about the discovery of unidentified skeletal remains. Shelly Yang The Kansas City Star ||||| The families of Kara Kopetsky and Jessica Runions were called by police Tuesday after investigators found a second skull in a Cass County field. 
   
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   Human remains were found by a mushroom hunter south of Belton Monday afternoon. 
   
   A second human skull was located in the same search area, the Sheriff's Office said. 
   
   "No identification has been made at this time. Based on the remains recovered the age, sex, race have not been determined. Further examination is currently in progress. 
   
   
   
   "Although families of missing person cases in the area have been in contact with law enforcement we cannot confirm the identity of victims," the Sheriff's Office said in a news release. 
   
   The remains were found near East 233rd and State Route Y. 
   
   
   
   Authorities said they have closed approximately 6.5 miles of S. State Route Y between YY Hwy and D Hwy (Holmes Rd). The area could be closed until Wednesday. 
   
   "We're another day closer to getting answers, and you know, every hour, every day, every minute, we just hope and pray that those answers come in and we finally, you know, find our daughters, and we're able to put the dirt bag away for the rest of his life so he can never hurt anybody ever again," said Kopetsky’s mother, Rhonda Beckford. 
   
   Kopetsky, 17, was last seen leaving Belton High School in May 2007. Runions, 21, was last seen in September 2016. 
   
   A police report taken after Kopetsky's disappearance shows a witness told police they saw the vehicle belonging to Kylr Yust, Kopetsky's ex-boyfriend, in the area where Cass County authorities say those remains were located. 
   
   Yust Kopetsky police report 
   
   Runions’ SUV was found burned along Blue River Road in south Kansas City shortly after she vanished. Witnesses told police that Kylr Yust was the last person seen with Runions. He has been charged with burning her vehicle. 
   
   The Cass County Sheriff's Office said they will continue searching the wooded area for at least the next 2 days. The search was suspended late Tuesday afternoon because it was getting dark. They said they will meet in the morning and evaluate the weather before continuing the search. 
   
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target: – 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.