On the morning of March 30, 2024, Veronica Butler, a 27-year-old White woman, set out from Hugoton, Kansas, with her friend Jilian Kelley, 39. Their destination was a pre-arranged meeting point in the Oklahoma panhandle, where Veronica was scheduled to pick up her six-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son for a birthday party. Due to a bitter and ongoing custody dispute with the children's paternal grandmother, the visits were supervised, and Jilian, a pastor's wife, was accompanying
Veronica as a court-approved supervisor. The two women never arrived.
When Veronica and Jilian failed to appear, their families grew concerned. Their vehicle was soon found abandoned in a rural area of Texas County, Oklahoma, near the Kansas border. The scene suggested a violent struggle had taken place. Investigators discovered blood on the road, Veronica’s glasses, and a broken hammer nearby, prompting an urgent search and a multi-agency investigation.
The search for the two missing women ended in tragedy two weeks later. On April 14, authorities announced they had recovered two bodies from a pasture in rural Texas County. The remains, later confirmed to be those of Veronica and Jilian, had been placed inside a chest freezer and buried. An autopsy revealed that both women had died from "multiple sharp force trauma." Veronica had sustained 30 sharp force injuries, including several defensive wounds to her hands, as well as a cut on her head and possible stun gun marks on her neck.
The investigation quickly centered on the custody battle. A day before the bodies were found, authorities arrested four people: Tifany Machel Adams, 54, the children's paternal grandmother; her boyfriend, Tad Bert Cullum, 43; and a married couple, Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44. A fifth suspect, Paul Grice, was arrested shortly thereafter. All five were allegedly part of an anti-government group called "God's Misfits."
All five suspects were charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Investigators alleged that Tifany Adams had orchestrated a premeditated ambush to kill Veronica. According to court documents, the group lured Veronica to the remote meeting spot with the intention of killing her, and Jilian Kelley was killed simply because she was there.
Tifany Adams, considered the ringleader of the plot, pleaded guilty or no contest to first-degree murder. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for her role in the deaths. As of November 2024, the charges against the other four co-defendants—Tad Cullum, Cole Twombly, Cora Twombly, and Paul Grice—were still pending.
