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Oklahoma investigators have recovered two bodies in their search after the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OSBI.OK/posts/pfbid02R7LcaxWDDW4yVS5gGEbWfrtwo6YZSPvqRXoW1M9WF13Eyo8yEei3FcwzJWeE5b3tl" target=_blank>“suspicious disappearance” of two Kansas women </a>who were on their way to pick up children for<b> </b>a birthday party.

Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39 went missing March 30 while traveling to Oklahoma from Hugoton, Kan., about 30 miles south, to pick up Butler’s two children. Police received several tips from the community after their disappearance, as interest in their case gathered steam in the state and beyond.

Oklahoma officers said they immediately suspected “foul play” based on evidence in the vehicle, and over the weekend, <a href="https://twitter.com/OSBI_OK/status/1779308760143458650/photo/1" target=_blank>four people were arrested</a> on suspicion of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.

On Monday, the <a href="https://twitter.com/OSBI_OK/status/1779676929819357360" target=_blank>Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations </a>said<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TVIJNVE3VE" target=_blank> two bodies had been recovered in rural Texas County</a> in Oklahoma, and offered condolences to Butler’s and Kelley’s families, while stressing that the bodies were still awaiting formal identification by Oklahoma’s chief medical examiner.

<a href="https://ktul.com/resources/pdf/7b4d818f-4930-4ef8-8b11-1c37ccf87680-texascountycasecourtdocs.pdf" target=_blank>An affidavit from the bureau</a>, unsealed Monday and shared by local media, said Butler was in the midst of a “problematic custody battle” with Tifany Machel Adams, 54, the children’s grandmother.

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2024/04/15/bodies-found-missing-kansas-women-search-oklahoma/8cfc15b0-fb10-11ee-87ac-20f7e67cbe29_story.html" target="_blank">The affidavit added that</a> the four people arrested — Adams, her boyfriend Tad Bert Cullum, 43, Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and his wife Cora Twombly, 44 — were members of an “anti-government group, that had a religious affiliation,” known as “God’s Misfits,” which met weekly.

“All four individuals were booked into the Texas County Jail on two counts of First-Degree Murder, two counts of Kidnapping, and one count of Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the First Degree,” an earlier OSBI <a href="https://twitter.com/OSBI_OK/status/1779308760143458650" target=_blank>statement </a>said.

Butler and Kelley arrived about 9:40 a.m. on March 30 at a spot near a highway in Texas County to pick up Butler’s two young children from Adams, according to the affidavit. When the group didn’t arrive at a children’s birthday party as planned, Butler’s family began searching for her and eventually found her abandoned car. They alerted police around midday, the court document said.

“An examination of the vehicle and area surrounding the vehicle found evidence of a severe injury. Blood was found on the roadway,” the affidavit said. “Butler’s glasses were also found in the roadway … near a broken hammer.”

“Their vehicle was found abandoned near Highway 95 and Road L, south of Elkhart, Kansas,” the OSBI said in a statement.

Hunter McKee, a spokesman for the OSBI, told reporters that “several tips” from the public had led to the arrest of the four individuals.

“There are no suspects at large, the public is not in danger,” McKee said. “We are extremely grateful that we were able to locate and arrest the four people that we believe are responsible for this crime.”

Texas County Sheriff Matt Boley also told reporters that the attack appeared to be “targeted.” He said that when police arrived at the scene, they found “some things that just weren’t adding up,” Boley said. “We felt this wasn’t a random deal.”

Butler had been in a “problematic custody battle with Tifany Adams for the custody of Butler’s two children,” the affidavit said. Butler was allowed supervised visits with the children every Saturday, while their father — Adams’s son, Wrangler Rickman, was in a rehabilitation facility. Kelley was traveling with Butler to supervise the visitation.

A hearing had been scheduled for April 17, at which Butler’s attorney believed Butler was “likely to receive unsupervised visitation with her children,” the affidavit said.

The affidavit cited a teenage witness, the daughter of Cora Twombly, who was identified as CW and said her parents had informed her that they wouldn’t be home the morning of March 30 as they had a “mission.” They later asked her to clean the interior of their Chevrolet pickup when they returned home about noon, the court document said.

“CW asked Cora what had happened and was told things did not go as planned, but they would not have to worry about her (Butler) again,” the affidavit said. “CW asked Cora if their bodies were put in a well, and Cora replied ‘something like that.’”

CW also described other attempts to kill Butler, including a plan to “throw an anvil through Butler’s Windshield while driving, making it look like an accident because anvils regularly fall off of work vehicles,” the affidavit added.

Investigators obtained a court warrant to Adams’s phone April 1, and found web searches on her phone that included “taser pain level” and “gun shops.”

“This has been challenging for everybody involved,” OSBI Director Aungela Spurlock told reporters Monday. “This case did not end the way we had hoped, it has certainly been a tragedy for everybody involved.”

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Butler and Kelley were expected to pick up the children at a birthday party. They were expected to pick them up and bring them to the party. The article has been corrected.

Social Impact Media Award winner (SIMA), 2020

Religion Newswriters Association, Handa Fellow, 2016.

 Women’s International Leadership Scholar, 2016.

School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, LLB Law

Columbia University, MS in Journalism

Adela Suliman is a breaking-news reporter in The Washington Post's London hub. 

Adela Suliman

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