Kansas

Murdered Kansas mothers were found dead in buried freezer: police

Published

2 years ago

May 21, 2024

Murdered Kansas mothers were found dead in buried freezer: police

Two Kansas mothers who were murdered in the Oklahoma panhandle were found dead in a chest freezer buried in the ground, according to police.

Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley disappeared on March 30 and were found dead on April 14, but authorities have released few other details in the case.

However, search warrants recently filed in district court in Texas County, Oklahoma, revealed police discovered their bodies in a freezer in the county, Oklahoma City NBC affiliate KFOR reported Tuesday.

Cops also said they found jeans, sweatshirts, T-shirts, a black jacket, cloth gloves, ball caps, duct tape and a sheathed black knife in the freezer, according to KFOR. Police believe several of the items had blood on them.

This combination of booking photo provided by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation shows Tad Bert Cullum, top left, Cora Twombly, top right, Tifany Machel Adams, bottom left, and Cole Earl Twombly, bottom right. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation via AP)

Butler, 27, and Kelley, 39, were traveling from Hugoton, Kansas, through the panhandle to pick up Butler’s two children for a birthday party. Butler and the children’s father, Wrangler Rickman, had shared custody of the kids.

Kelley was traveling with Butler as a court-approved supervisor of the custody exchange. Rickman was at a rehab facility in Oklahoma City at the time, and his mother, Tifany Adams, had custody of the children.

Adams was one of five people arrested and charged with killing Butler and Kelley. Her boyfriend Tad Cullum and their friends Cole and Cora Twombly were also arrested, along with a man named Paul Grice.

Grice was arrested several days after the first four suspects. Police said he was trying to get out of the country before cops could catch up with him, KFOR reported. According to court documents, Grice asked someone “how to get a guy and his family” to Mexico and how long DNA would remain on clothing in a dirt hole 15 feet deep.

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Kansas

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

Published

4 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A former Kansas wrestling coach was charged with creating child sexual abuse materials by secretly recording minors showering during an athletic competition.

According to court documents, 37-year-old Ryan Brungardt of Salina is charged with two counts of production of child pornography and one count of attempted production of child pornography.

Brungardt is a former employee at Lakewood Middle School and former wrestling coach for Salina Central High School.

Brungardt is accused of using a cellphone to record three minors while they showered in a locker room during the Tournament of Champions, a wrestling tournament was held at Newton High in January 2024.

Brungardt made his initial court appearance for the criminal complaint on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooks G. Severson.

A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday

Investigators are in the process of reviewing additional seized cellphone videos in this case that are suspected to have been recorded at wrestling meets in Newton, Hays, Garden City and Salina during the 2023-2024 wrestling season.

Anyone who believes they witnessed crimes or any suspicious activity at these events is asked to contact the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (785) 600-8790 or report at www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.

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