Authorities confirm 2 bodies found in Oklahoma those of missing women
Jilian Kelley (left) and Veronica Butler are pictured in a split image. Two bodies found in Oklahoma on April 14 have been identified by the office of chief medical examiner as two women who had been missing
By Joe Sutton, CNN
(CNN) — Two bodies found in Oklahoma on Sunday have been identified by the office of the chief medical examiner as two women who had been missing, the state bureau of investigation said Tuesday.
Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were riding together to pick up Butler’s children when they disappeared, according to an “endangered missing advisory” from the Texas County Sheriff’s Office in Oklahoma late last month.
Four people have been charged with felonies including murder in the case. Tad Bert Cullum, 43; Tifany Machel Adams, 54; Cole Earl Twombly, 50; and Cora Gayle Twombly, 44, each have been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder “by arranging and planning, the deliberate, intentional, and unlawful taking away of the life of Veronica Butler and/or (Jilian) Kelley.”
CNN has made attempts to determine whether the defendants have legal representation. Records do not indicate counsel has been obtained.
The defendants are scheduled to make their first court appearances Wednesday morning, per court documents.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said on Facebook its “thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones, along with everyone throughout their community.”
Victim was on trip for visit with children who were center of custody battle
According to an affidavit of probable cause for an arrest warrant, Butler was in a custody battle with Adams, who is the grandmother of Butler’s children. Butler was allowed weekly visits with the children and Kelley was traveling with her on March 30 as a court approved supervisor.
They were going to attend a birthday party, but they never made it to the event, the court documents say. Butler’s family located Butler’s abandoned vehicle in a rural area of Texas County near the Kansas and Oklahoma border and called police, the documents show.
“An examination of the vehicle and area surrounding the vehicle found evidence of a severe injury. Blood was found on the roadway and edge of the roadway. Butler’s glasses were also found in the roadway south of the vehicle, near a broken hammer. A pistol magazine was found inside Kelley’s purse at the scene, but no pistol was found,” the affidavit states.
Butler and Kelley’s phones were actively sending signals to their carriers until about 9:42 a.m. and then stopped transmitting, the probable cause documents state. The phones have not been recovered, according to the documents.
State investigators extracted information from Adams’ phone that showed web searches for “taser pain level, gun shops, prepaid cellular phones and how to get someone out of their house,” the probable cause documents show. Adams also purchased five stun guns and three pre-paid cellular phones in the months and days leading to the disappearance of Butler and Kelley, according to the documents.
Some details missing in the probable cause documents are whether the bodies of Butler and Kelley have been recovered and how they were allegedly killed.
All four defendants are described as being part of “an anti-government group that had a religious affiliation” called “God’s Misfits” that met weekly, sometimes at the Twomblys’ residence, according to statements made to investigators by Cora Gayle Twombly’s teenage daughter and recorded in the probable cause documents.
The daughter told investigators the defendants made “other attempts to kill Butler” in February, the probable cause documents stated.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt and Andy Rose contributed to this report.
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