Missing Kansas women confirmed dead, 4 charged with kidnapping and murder
TEXAS COUNTY, Okla. (KAKE) - A spokesperson for one of the agencies investigating the disappearance of two Kansas women say there is no chance they are still alive.
Authorities in the Oklahoma Panhandle did not confirm during a news conference Monday whether the bodies in Texas County are those of missing Hugoton moms 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley. But Hunter McKee with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation confirmed they are dead.
McKee said the two bodies have been transported to the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's office to determine a cause of death. He added that there is no chance of Butler and Kelley are still alive.
Four people remain in custody in connection to the case on murder and kidnapping charges: Tad Bert Cullum, 43; Tifany Machel Adams, 54; Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44.
According to court documents, Butler was in a "problematic custody battle" with Adams for custody of Butler's children. Typically, Butler's visits were supervised, and Kelley was with her as a supervisor.
The OSBI said the case is not ending the way they wanted it to, calling it a tragedy. Authorities offered condolences to the families involved.
Butler and Kelley were driving through the Oklahoma panhandle to pick up Butler’s children for a March 30 birthday party in Kansas. They never showed up, and their vehicle was found later that day, abandoned on a rural highway near the Oklahoma-Kansas state line, with evidence of foul play.
The court documents state Butler's family found her vehicle with blood on the road. Butler's glasses were in the road next to a broken hammer, and a pistol magazine was found in Kelley's purse. No gun was located.
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Two unidentified bodies were recovered Sunday in the search for missing Hugoton, Kansas women Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says on April 14, the OSBI alongside the FBI, Texas County Sheriff's Department and the Office of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner recovered two deceased persons in rural Texas County.
The bodies were found during an ongoing search for Butler and Kelley, who were last seen on March 30.
On Saturday, four people were arrested in connection to their disappearance and were booked on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol canceled their Endangered Missing Advisory for the two women Saturday night.
"Both individuals will be transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine identification, as well as cause and manner of death," The OSBI said. "This is still an ongoing investigation."
