Remains Found in Okla. Identified as 2 Missing Kansas Women After 4 Arrested on Murder Charges

Human remains found in Oklahoma have been identified as those of two Kansas women who went missing on March 30.

Two days after announcing that the Office of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner “recovered two deceased persons in rural Texas County,” the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OBSI) said that the bodies were identified as those of 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with their loved ones, along with everyone throughout their community,” the OSBI wrote on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, April 16.

The Texas County Sheriff’s Department previously put out an endangered missing advisory expressing that the women had been on their way to “pick up children” and “never made it to the pick-up location.”

In a March 31 press release, the OSBI said that their vehicle was found abandoned and that they were considering it as a “suspicious disappearance.”

Four suspects — Tad Bert Cullum, 43, Tifany Machel Adams, 54, Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44 — were arrested on Saturday, April 13.

“All four individuals were 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,” the OSBI explained in a press release.

According to a police affidavit obtained by NBC, Adams was also in a “problematic custody battle” with Butler who shares two children with her son, Wrangler Rickman.

Adams and the three other suspects belonged to an anti-government religious group called “God’s Misfits” that would meet regularly, according to an affidavit, reports Des Moines Register and FOX 25. (The Facebook page for “God’s Misfits” has made several posts denouncing the alleged crimes and refuting claims by police they are anti-government).

The four suspects are scheduled for an initial court appearance on Wednesday in Texas County court, according to NBC.

Family members of Butler and Kelly have set up GoFundMe campaigns to help their loved ones.

“We are completely devastated at this news. Please consider donating to this precious family in hope that we can help lesson some of the burden,” wrote Monica Berrera, Butler’s cousin, in a campaign that has accumulated over $4,500 in donations.

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A campaign for Kelly, which has raised nearly $5,000, reads, “As the undesirable outcome was announced that Jillian’s life has been taken, we are asking for help by making any donation to lessen the financial burden brought forth on the Kelley family.”