The case of two mothers who vanished in the Oklahoma Panhandle took a turn last week when four people were charged with the murder and kidnapping of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. One of the suspects, Tifany Adams, is the paternal grandmother of Butler's children. Adams was in a custody battle with Butler for those children, according to court documents. Adams has ties to the Oklahoma Republican Party and was elected last year as the chair for the Cimarron County GOP. State Sen. Nathan Dahm, who is the chairman of the Oklahoma GOP, confirmed the suspect's position. Investigators believe that the disappearance of the two came as the result of a custody battle.
The Child Custody Battle
Veronica Butler's custody battle for her two children started in February 2019 with many hearings and court appearances. The court documents state motions were filed on March 18 and March 20, asking for Butler to have extended visitation. A hearing was scheduled for April 17, and the affidavit says Butler's attorney told OSBI that "Butler was likely to receive unsupervised visitation with her children at that hearing." Even though Adams' son had legal custody of the two children, she allegedly refused to let him have his children at times.
The affidavit states that law enforcement had responded to a call where Adams allegedly refused to give her grandchildren to her son and that an officer reportedly told him that "he believed the children were better off in Adams' care." The affidavit states that throughout the child custody case, recordings were obtained where Adams' son "discussed death threats by Adams and Adams' boyfriend, Tad Cullum." The two children were in Adams' custody when Butler and Kelley disappeared, and investigators confirmed that their father was in an Oklahoma City rehabilitation facility.
The Disappearance
On March 30, the Texas County Sheriff's Office requested the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation's help with the suspicious disappearance of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley after their vehicle was found abandoned near Highway 95 and Road L south of Elkhart, Kansas. The court documents say the two were traveling to Oklahoma from Hugoton, Kansas. The person the court ordered to supervise the visit wasn't available on March 30, so Butler contacted Kelley to help, according to the court documents. The affidavit states that Butler told family members that she was going to pick up her children at 10 a.m. on March 30 at Four Corners, which is at the intersection of Highway 95 and US 64 West in Texas County.
Butler and Kelley left Hugoton and arrived at the intersection, which is about 5 miles north of Four Corners, at around 9:40 a.m. on March 30. Butler planned on taking her daughter to a birthday party, but the court documents state that they did not arrive. Her family started looking for her, found her vehicle abandoned just west of Highway 95 and Road L and contacted law enforcement at 12:09 p.m. on March 30.
The Abandoned Car
Texas County Sheriff Matt Boley said on April 15 that deputies responded after learning that the two women's car was found and that Butler and Kelley were missing. "When they arrived on scene, they found some things that just weren't adding up," Boley said during a news conference. "So, we established a crime scene and then notified the OSBI to have them come and assist us with this and actually take the lead on the case." Authorities said they discovered evidence of foul play, with the court documents adding that "evidence of severe injury" was found.
According to the affidavit, law enforcement found blood at the scene, and Butler's glasses were found near a broken hammer not far from the vehicle. They also found a pistol magazine inside Kelley's purse, but the affidavit says a pistol wasn't found. "We can say the evidence that was discovered inside of that abandoned vehicle and around it were able to help our investigators determine that there was foul play involved and then led to the progression of this investigation," Hunter McKee, with the OSBI, said on April 15. "What was in the vehicle around it, we cannot discuss."
Tifany Adams' Story
During the investigation, Adams told OSBI that her son and grandchildren stayed the night at someone else's house on March 29 and that she planned to pick them up the next morning before Butler's visitation. According to the court documents, Adams said she called Butler at 9 a.m. on March 30 to confirm the meeting. Butler, however, reportedly told her that "something came up and she was not going to make it." Butler's phone records confirmed that the call happened, but the affidavit states that Butler was in the process of picking up Kelley in Hugoton at the time of the call. Adams also told investigators that she was home when Butler and Kelley went missing and that she picked up her two grandchildren before noon.
The Search of Tifany Adams' Phone
The court documents say OSBI agents obtained a search warrant for Adams' cellphone on April 1. While searching the phone, among the things they found included "web searches for taser pain level, gun shops, prepaid cellular phones and how to get someone out of their house." Agents searched local gun shops, discovering that Adams bought five stun guns at a store in Guymon on March 23. They also discovered that Adams purchased three pre-paid cellphones from a Guymon Walmart on Feb. 13.
The Pre-Paid Cellphones
OSBI agents identified the numbers associated with the three pre-paid cellphones that the affidavit says Adams bought. The affidavit states that all three phones were in the area where Butler's car was found, as well as Butler's and Kelley's last known location. Investigators also learned that the cellphones were powered on and accessed the cellular network for the first time at or near Cullum's home at different times before March 30. The court documents also say the phones were tracked to the Twomblys' home. Between 10:16 a.m. and 10:35 a.m. on March 30, investigators determined that two of the phones were in a pasture below a dam where "fresh dirt work" was found.
According to the affidavit," concrete was moved from an area about 150-200 yards below the dam, and there was a hole that had been dug and filled back in before being covered in hay. The hole was about 8.5 miles away from Butler's and Kelley's last known location, and OSBI said in the affidavit that it was "well within the 34 minutes between the time of Butler/Kelley's phones stopped transmission and (the pre-paid phones arrived) at the dam." All of the pre-paid phones stopped transmitting on the morning of March 30 at locations near the Twomblys' residence and the property by the dam.
The GOP, 'God's Misfits', and the Alleged Murders
On April 3, OSBI agents interviewed a relative of Cora and Cole Twombly who said they were "told by Cora that Adams, Cullum, Cora, and Cole were involved in the deaths of Butler and Kelley" and that Adams had provided burner phones. According to the affidavit, the relative described how in addition to being chair of the Cimarron County GOP, Adams, along with Cora and Cole Twombly and Cullum were "part of an anti-government group that had a religious affiliation" that the OSBI later learned was called "God's Misfits." They held regular meetings weekly at the Twomblys' home and another house. They reported that they were told on March 29 that Cora and Cole Twombly would not be home in the morning when she woke up and that the two were "going to be on a mission." When the relative woke up at 10 a.m. on March 30, Cora and Cole Twombly weren't home but returned around noon. The two allegedly took a blue and gray pickup truck, and after returning, the relative was told to clean the pickup's interior. The affidavit states that the relative asked Cora Twombly what had happened, and she told them that "things did not go as planned, but that they would not have to worry about her (Butler) again."
The relative then reported that Cora Twombly told them that Cora and Cole Twombly "blocked the road to stop Butler and Kelley and diverted them to where Adams, Cullum and (another man) were." They then "asked about Kelley and why she had to die and was told by Cora that she wasn't innocent either, as she had supported Butler," according to the court documents. She then "asked Cora if their bodies were put in a well, and Cora replied, 'something like that.'" The affidavit states that the relative disclosed to investigators that there were other attempts to kill Butler in February of 2024 near Hugoton. Butler did not leave her house during the alleged attempt, which the court documents say was "consistent with the web search discovered on Adams' phone about how to get someone out of their house." "According to Cora, the plan was 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 court documents say.
The Arrests
On April 13, law enforcement arrested Adams, Cullum, Cole Twombly and Cora Twombly in connection with Butler's and Kelley's disappearance. They were arrested without incident and booked into the Texas County Jail on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of first-degree conspiracy to commit murder. "This case was tragic," said Hunter McKee, with the OSBI. "We have two people who are dead and four people that committed an absolutely brutal crime." McKee said during the news conference on April 15 that the suspects were taken into custody at different locations without incident.
Two Bodies Found
OSBI officials announced on April 14 that two bodies were found in Texas County. They were taken to the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office, where the manner of death will be determined. On April 16, OSBI confirmed the bodies belonged to Butler and Kelley. "This case did not end in the way that we had hoped," OSBI Director Aungela Spurlock said on Monday. "It has certainly been a tragedy for everybody involved. Our condolences go out to the family."
(fist-bump)
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