The cause of death for the murdered Kansas moms has been revealed in court documents.
In Oklahoma, the remains of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were discovered in rural Texas County after they disappeared on March 30.
The cause of death of two Kansas mothers who went missing on a road trip to Oklahoma to pick up their children has been detailed in court documents.
The Office of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner confirmed the identities of the two deceased individuals from Texas County as 39-year-old Jilian Kelley and 27-year-old Veronica Butler in April.
Police said that foul play was suspected after 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.
According to court documents obtained by KSNW, one of the defendants, Paul Grice, is accused of stabbing Butler to death while Tad Cullum is charged with killing Kelley. Grice sustained severe injuries to his hand during the attack, the documents stated.
In a chest freezer within a cow pasture, the bodies of two women were discovered.
According to the report, Grice discarded the clothing he was wearing, a stun device, and the murder weapon into the grave after killing Butler. DNA analysis of the clothing revealed that it contained both Grice and Butler's DNA.
Cullum 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.
Tifany Machel Adams, 54, one of the women arrested, is reportedly the grandmother of Butler's children. According to court records, Adams was involved in a custody dispute with Butler's children. The children’s father is in a rehabilitation facility.
The four individuals, including Adams' boyfriend Cullum, the married couple Cole and Cora Twombly, and 38-year-old preacher's wife Kelley, are all charged with 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.
The Twomblys were accused of serving as lookouts on the day of the murder and confided in their 16-year-old daughter, hoping she would provide them with an alibi, according to KSNW. It was also alleged that 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.
The discovery of the bodies of the Twombly's daughter and the women on April 14 was a result of interviews with the daughter and a review of Adams' phone and data from three burner phones. The 16-year-old stated that her parents had told her they would not have to worry about Butler again and that the two may have been placed in a well, as per previous court documents.
Cora allegedly told the 16-year-old that the group's initial plan was to "throw an anvil through Butler's windshield while driving, making it look like an accident because anvils regularly fall off work vehicles."
Court documents showed that during a child custody dispute, Adams searched for information about the women's deaths, including "taser pain level" and other related phrases.
According to Planet Chronicle Digital, the four individuals were members of a religiously affiliated anti-government group known as "God's Misfits."
Investigators believe that the women's motive was to obtain custody of Butler's two children. Wrangler Rickman, Adams' son, had custody of the children but was in an Oklahoma rehab facility at the time of their disappearance. Butler was granted supervised visitation with her children every Saturday and was expected to receive unsupervised visitation during an upcoming hearing, according to court documents.
The state is advocating for all defendants to undergo a joint preliminary hearing rather than individual hearings, as they claim all five individuals collaborated and were involved in the killings of Butler and Kelley.
Planet Chronicle Digital's Christina Coulter contributed to this report.
us
You might also like
- Governor says Kentucky judge was shot and killed in his chambers.
- On a hot day, Texas law enforcement discovered 16 undocumented individuals concealed within a trailer's "false wall," prompting the arrest of the driver.
- The Kentucky couple who discovered the remains of the alleged interstate shooter claims they became 'bounty hunters'.
- A hiker in Yellowstone was airlifted to the hospital with severe burns after straying from the designated trail near Old Faithful.
- Two Massachusetts corrections officers were stabbed by inmates, prompting the union to claim that they are effectively running the asylum.