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Court documents detail cause of death for murdered Kansas moms

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Court documents detail cause of death for murdered Kansas moms

Court documents detail the cause of death of two Kansas moms whose bodies were found after disappearing on a road trip to Oklahoma to pick up their kids. 

In April, the Office of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner positively identified the two deceased persons from Texas County as 39-year-old Jilian Kelley, and 27-year-old Veronica Butler.

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, with foul play suspected, police said.

The court documents, obtained by KSNW, detail that one of the defendants, Paul Grice, allegedly stabbed Butler to death while Tad Cullum allegedly killed Kelley. Grice severely cut his hand in the process of killing Butler, the documents described.

FIFTH ARREST MADE IN CONNECTION TO MURDERED KANSAS MOMS WHO DISAPPEARED WITHOUT A TRACE

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Hugoton Assembly of God Pastor Tim Singer tells Fox News that Jilian Kelley, left, and Veronica Butler, right, were heading Saturday to pick up Butler’s children to bring them back to a birthday party in Hugoton, Kansas. (Texas County Sheriff’s Office/Oklahoma Highway Patrol/Shutterstock)

Both women’s bodies were found in a cow pasture inside a chest freezer. 

The document alleges Grice tossed the clothing he was wearing when he killed Butler, a stun device, and the murder weapon into the grave, KSNW reported. It also states that DNA recovered from the clothing contained both Grice and Butler’s DNA.

Cullum also 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. 

MURDERED KANSAS MOMS SUSPECT BOUGHT TASERS, BURNERS BEFORE WOMEN WENT MISSING, SEARCHED ‘PAIN LEVEL’: DOCS

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The suspects charged in the killings of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation – Authorized Page/Facebook)

Tifany Machel Adams, 54, one of the women arrested, is reportedly the grandmother of Butler’s children. Court records revealed that Adams was involved in a custody dispute with Butler’s children. The children’s father is in a rehabilitation facility.

Adams, her boyfriend Cullum, and married couple Cole and Cora Twombly all face 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, a 38-year-old preacher’s wife who was also a mother. 

BODIES OF MURDERED KANSAS MOMS FOUND BURIED IN FREEZER AS GRUESOME DETAILS EMERGE IN COURT DOCS

Paul Grice was arrested and booked into the Texas County Jail on two counts of First-Degree Murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree in connection to the killings of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)

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The document also alleges that the Twomblys served as lookouts on the day of the murder and confided in their 16-year-old daughter, hoping she would provide them with an alibi, KSNW reported. It claims 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.

Interviews with the Twombly’s daughter and a review of Adams’ phone and data from three burner phones led investigators to find the women’s bodies on April 14. The 16-year-old said her parents told her they would “not have to worry about [Butler] again” and that the two may have been placed in a well, per previous court documents.

The group’s plan was initially to “throw an anvil through Butler’s windshield while driving, making it look like an accident because anvils regularly fall off work vehicles,” Cora allegedly told the 16-year-old.

(Both women’s bodies were found inside a chest freezer.)

Previous court documents revealed that Adams searched “taser pain level” and other phrases that give insight into the women’s horrific deaths amid a child custody battle. 

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The four belonged to a religiously affiliated anti-government group called “God’s Misfits,” Fox News Digital previously reported. 

 

Their motive, investigators say, was to get custody of Butler’s two children. Wrangler Rickman, Adams’ son, had custody of the children but was confirmed to be in an Oklahoma rehab facility when the women disappeared. Butler was allowed supervised visitation with her children every Saturday and was likely to be granted unsupervised visitation during an upcoming hearing, per court documents. 

The state is arguing that all the defendants should face a preliminary hearing together instead of a separate hearing since they allege that all five conspired and participated in the murders of Butler and Kelley.

Fox News Digital’s Christina Coulter contributed to this report. 

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Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee man charged in fatal shooting near 20th and Burleigh

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Milwaukee man charged in fatal shooting near 20th and Burleigh


A Milwaukee man is accused of shooting and killing a 32-year-old after a hit-and-run on the city’s north side in April.

In court:

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Milwaukee County prosecutors charged 25-year-old Daniel Evans with first-degree reckless homicide and two counts of felony bail jumping. He’s being held in the Milwaukee County Jail on $100,000 cash bond.

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Court filings said Evans was out on bond for two different felony cases at the time of the shooting. He’d previously been convicted of misdemeanors in two other cases.

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Milwaukee County prosecutors also charged 22-year-old Joshua Evans with harboring/aiding a felon in the case. He’s being held in jail on $15,000 cash bond.

Daniel Evans, Joshua Evans

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20th and Burleigh

The backstory:

The shooting happened on April 23. The victim, who the medical examiner’s office identified as 32-year-old Terry Brown-Maben, died at the scene near 20th and Burleigh. A criminal complaint said police found nine bullet casings there.

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What they’re saying:

A witness told detectives that he and Brown-Maben had just left a liquor store when an SUV rear-ended them at 20th and Hopkins, according to the complaint. He said the crash snapped his car’s axle, and he was upset but told the people in the SUV to “just pull over” because he did not want to make a big deal of it. At the same time as the witness was talking to a passenger in the SUV, he said Brown-Maben was talking to the driver.

Scene near 20th and Burleigh (April 23, 2026)

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Court filings said the SUV drove away, and the witness and Brown-Maben began to walk because their car was left inoperable after the hit-and-run crash. A short time later, the witness said the SUV came back, and the passenger started to shoot at them.

The complaint said the witness told detectives that he took Brown-Maben’s gun and hid it after the shooting, adding he did not see Brown-Maben with the weapon before the shooting. The witness was also “adamant” that there had been no confrontation between them and the people in the SUV after the crash.

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Shooting investigation

Dig deeper:

Court filings said detectives watched surveillance video that showed an SUV turn near 20th and Burleigh, after which there appeared to be a muzzle flash from the passenger side of the vehicle. Video from the liquor store and a nearby gas station showed the SUV with front-end damage, and showed Joshua Evans getting out of the driver’s door.

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Detectives showed the witness photo lineups in an attempt to identify the driver and passenger in the SUV. Court filings said he identified Daniel Evans as the passenger and shooter, but he did not identify Joshua Evans as the driver.

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Police ran the SUV’s license plates, and determined Joshua Evans was the registered owner. When detectives interviewed him, he said he thought he might have been at work or “with a female” that night but identified himself and Daniel Evans in surveillance video from the liquor store.

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Another person told police that she spoke to Daniel Evans. According to the complaint, that person said Daniel Evans told her “Josh” hit someone’s car and there was a “shoot out.” When police showed her pictures of the SUV from the liquor store surveillance, she said she “thought it was Josh’s.”

Five days after the homicide, police interviewed someone who was arrested on unrelated charges. Court filings said he told police he’d bought his gun from “the Evans brothers” for $200. Ballistics tests of that gun determined it matched the casings recovered at the homicide scene near 20th and Burleigh.

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The Source: FOX6 News went to the shooting scene after it happened. Information in this story is from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office and Wisconsin Circuit Court.

Crime and Public SafetyNewsMilwaukee



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Minneapolis, MN

Break out the rhinestones for this book bedazzling event

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Break out the rhinestones for this book bedazzling event


Local romance authors Evi James and Alice Daniels will be at Yellowbird Coffee Bar NE on Friday, May 8th to meet the readers, sign books and bedazzle book covers. DabbleKit will be bringing all the supplies for bedazzling. The event is 18+ and you do need to reserve a spot to attend. There will be more bedazzling events throughout the summer.



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Indianapolis, IN

University of Indianapolis launches UIndy Online

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University of Indianapolis launches UIndy Online


INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The University of Indianapolis has launched an online learning platform designed to make college more flexible and affordable for working adults.

The university says UIndy Online, which will be offered beginning in the fall semester, will go beyond the traditional classroom. “As it shifts online, we have three new programs that we’re offering, said Chris Plouff, provost and executive vice president at UIndy.

The undergraduate degree programs include a bachelor’s degree in elementary education for paraprofessional educators, a bachelor’s degree in health sciences, and a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership.

Students can enroll in accelerated seven-week courses with tuition set at $400 per credit hour. Plouff said, “We are offering a lot of new incentives for a lot of students who are coming into the programs. We have our first course free for a number of the students who apply to the program who come from any of our corporate partners, as well as any area community college.”

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Veterans, and active-duty and reserve military personnel, and their families will also be eligible to have their first course free.

Plouff said the move is meant to reduce financial barriers while helping meet workforce needs across the state. “Because of the flexibility and how we build the program to be able to be workforce ready, as students come out of them, that the students will have lots of opportunities to be able to engage with their programs out in the fields of study while they’re doing that as well as being able to do that flexibly around their schedules.”

“We’re starting classes this fall, so we’re going to be ready to go in August with the program. Students are signing up today. We’ve had a number of students already contact us about getting started, and we’re really excited about launching those programs.”

UIndy is a private college affiliated with the United Methodist Church.

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