Missing Kansas women's bodies found in ice chest buried in cow pasture, according to court documents

The bodies of two Kansas women who disappeared in the Oklahoma Panhandle in March were found in a chest freezer buried in a cow pasture, according to court records tied to five suspects who are charged with murder and kidnapping.

Veronica Butler, 27, and her court supervisor in a children's custody case, Jilian Kelley, 39, disappeared March 30. Their remains were found on a property in Texas County, Oklahoma, on April 14, less than 10 miles from where they vanished, according to an affidavit filed last week during the application of a search warrant by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

It took authorities a day to locate the bodies after excavation began, court records show. Personal items that did not belong to Butler or Kelley were also found in the hole.

"A chest freezer was excavated and opened. Within the chest freezer, the bodies of Butler and Kelley were located," according to the affidavit.

Five defendants have been arrested and are being held with no bond at the Texas County Jail in Guymon. They are Tifany Adams, 54; Adams' boyfriend, Tad Bert Cullum, 43; Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and his wife, Cora Twombly, 44; and Paul Grice, 31, a jail spokesperson said.

They are charged with two counts of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping, according to the court records.

All of the suspects except Cullum are represented by public defenders, said Tim Laughlin, executive director of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System.

Laughlin declined to comment Wednesday afternoon. Cullum’s listed attorney in court records could not be reached for comment.

A spokesperson for the State Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday that there are no additional suspects.

Cullum rented the property where Butler and Kelley were found for cattle grazing, court records indicate.

Butler and Adams were involved in a "problematic" custody dispute that began in February 2019 over Butler's two children, the affidavit said. Adams is the mother of the children's father, according to the court record.

Butler had recently requested extended visitation of her children, and her lawyer told the State Bureau of Investigation she would most likely get unsupervised visitation at a court hearing April 17, according to court records.

The investigation bureau affidavit also indicated the children's father had said that, at times, Adams had not allowed him to have his children even though he had legal custody of them.

According to the affidavit, recordings in the custody case revealed that Adams' son had discussed death threats by Adams and Cullum. The affidavit did not specify whom the death threats were directed at.

On the day she disappeared, a day she had visitation, Butler planned to take her daughter to a birthday party.

Butler's relatives found her abandoned 2009 Nissan Altima near Highway 95, and authorities documented evidence of "severe injury" near the car, the affidavit said.

"Blood was found on the roadway and edge of the roadway," according to the affidavit. "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 but no pistol was found."

Texas County authorities issued an “endangered missing advisory” later that day.

The State Bureau of Investigation probe determined Adams bought three prepaid cellphones in February. All three phones were in the area where Butler's car was found around the time the women disappeared, according to court records.

A search warrant return said authorities have collected evidence that includes several items of clothes and other materials that may have blood on them. Some of the items were Wrangler blue jeans with a black belt, a brown sweatshirt, a black hooded sweatshirt, a reddish-pink sweatshirt and a roll of duct tape.

The warrants also indicate a 16-year-old witness who spoke with investigators said the suspects belong to an "anti-government group" with a "religious affiliation" named "God's Misfits." Meetings were sometimes held at the Twomblys', the witness said, according to court records.

A Facebook page that appeared to belong to the group said: "We are NOT & have never been part of anything in Oklahoma. we are husband & wife spreading Jesus."