Court documents detail cause of death for murdered Kansas moms
Court documents detail the cause of death of two Kansas moms whose bodies were found after disappearing on a road trip to Oklahoma to pick up their kids.
In April, the Office of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner positively identified the two deceased persons from Texas County as 39-year-old Jilian Kelley, and 27-year-old Veronica Butler.
Butler and Kelley were last seen on March 30 heading to pick up their children before their car was found abandoned near the Oklahoma-Kansas border, with foul play suspected, police said.
The court documents, obtained by KSNW, detail that one of the defendants, Paul Grice, allegedly stabbed Butler to death while Tad Cullum allegedly killed Kelley. Grice severely cut his hand in the process of killing Butler, the documents described.
FIFTH ARREST MADE IN CONNECTION TO MURDERED KANSAS MOMS WHO DISAPPEARED WITHOUT A TRACE
Hugoton Assembly of God Pastor Tim Singer tells Fox News that Jilian Kelley, left, and Veronica Butler, right, were heading Saturday to pick up Butler’s children to bring them back to a birthday party in Hugoton, Kansas. (Texas County Sheriff’s Office/Oklahoma Highway Patrol/Shutterstock)
Both women’s bodies were found in a cow pasture inside a chest freezer.
The document alleges Grice tossed the clothing he was wearing when he killed Butler, a stun device, and the murder weapon into the grave, KSNW reported. It also states that DNA recovered from the clothing contained both Grice and Butler’s DNA.
Cullum also allegedly tossed his clothes into the freezer with the women’s bodies, which Kelley’s and his DNA were reportedly on. Investigators uncovered that accessories to the knife were found at Cullum’s home.
The suspects charged in the killings of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation – Authorized Page/Facebook)
Tifany Machel Adams, 54, one of the women arrested, is reportedly the grandmother of Butler’s children. Court records revealed that Adams was involved in a custody dispute with Butler’s children. The children’s father is in a rehabilitation facility.
Adams, her boyfriend Cullum, and married couple Cole and Cora Twombly all face two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of Butler and visitation supervisor Kelley, a 38-year-old preacher’s wife who was also a mother.
BODIES OF MURDERED KANSAS MOMS FOUND BURIED IN FREEZER AS GRUESOME DETAILS EMERGE IN COURT DOCS
Paul Grice was arrested and 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 in connection to the killings of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)
The document also alleges that the Twomblys served as lookouts on the day of the murder and confided in their 16-year-old daughter, hoping she would provide them with an alibi, KSNW reported. It claims Adams purchased the burner phones, stun devices, yellow straps found around the freezer, and even the pants that Cullum wore and buried with the victims.
Interviews with the Twombly’s daughter and a review of Adams’ phone and data from three burner phones led investigators to find the women’s bodies on April 14. The 16-year-old said her parents told her they would “not have to worry about [Butler] again” and that the two may have been placed in a well, per previous court documents.
The group’s plan was initially to “throw an anvil through Butler’s windshield while driving, making it look like an accident because anvils regularly fall off work vehicles,” Cora allegedly told the 16-year-old.
(Both women’s bodies were found inside a chest freezer.)
Previous court documents revealed that Adams searched “taser pain level” and other phrases that give insight into the women’s horrific deaths amid a child custody battle.
The four belonged to a religiously affiliated anti-government group called “God’s Misfits,” Fox News Digital previously reported.
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Their motive, investigators say, was to get custody of Butler’s two children. Wrangler Rickman, Adams’ son, had custody of the children but was confirmed to be in an Oklahoma rehab facility when the women disappeared. Butler was allowed supervised visitation with her children every Saturday and was likely to be granted unsupervised visitation during an upcoming hearing, per court documents.
The state is arguing that all the defendants should face a preliminary hearing together instead of a separate hearing since they allege that all five conspired and participated in the murders of Butler and Kelley.
Fox News Digital’s Christina Coulter contributed to this report.
