(RepublicanPress.org) – On March 30, family members of 39-year-old Jilian Kelley and Veronica Butler, 27, reported their disappearance to law enforcement officials in their hometown of Hugoton, Kansas. The Texas County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) subsequently confirmed the two women had traveled together to Eva, Oklahoma, to pick up Butler’s two children but never arrived. Sadly, recent news reports indicated that law enforcement officials discovered two bodies while looking for the missing mom and her friend.
On Sunday, April 14, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) released a statement confirming that bureau officials, the FBI, and the TCSO recovered the bodies of two deceased individuals in rural Texas County, Oklahoma.
The OSBI confirmed that officials transferred the remains to the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner’s Office for identification and to determine the manner and cause of their death. The TCSO had previously asked the OSBI to spearhead the investigation into the disappearances.
Today, the OSBI, @FBI, and the Texas County Sheriff's Office recovered two deceased persons in rural Texas County. Both individuals will be transported to the Office of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner to determine identification and cause and manner of death.@OSBI_Director https://t.co/ySXILf18ai
— OSBI (@OSBI_OK) April 15, 2024
The OSBI issued a press release the previous day discussing the discovery of an abandoned vehicle in Texas County near the Kansas border. Special agents assigned to the OSBI immediately started investigating the vehicle and the surrounding area. They quickly uncovered evidence of foul play in and around the car.
The Daily Mail subsequently reported that investigators found “multiple puddles of blood” near the car. The media outlet also noted that residents said they saw a convoy of law enforcement vehicles, “including SWAT trucks, traveling along a “dirt track” near Oklahoma State Highway 95 near the crime scene.
The OSBI’s statement also detailed the arrest of four suspects. They face two first-degree murder and kidnapping counts and one charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.
The arrestees included Tifany Adams, the grandmother of Butler’s children, and her boyfriend, Tad Cullum. The other two individuals, Cole and Cora Twombly, were Adams’s friends.
Adams had reportedly been taking care of the kids while Butler was going through a bitter custody battle with her husband and Adams as part of her pending divorce. Media outlets reported that Butler had filed court documents seeking to increase her visitation rights 10 days before family members reported her and Kelley’s disappearance. Kelly was a pastor’s wife and supposedly supervised Butler’s visitations with her children.
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