Officials: Two Bodies Recovered amid Search for Missing Kansas Mothers

Officials said Sunday two bodies have been found in Texas County, Oklahoma, as authorities have been searching for two Kansas mothers.

Officials with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said the remains will be transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office where the bodies will be identified, the Oklahoman reported Sunday.

The OSBI said authorities will also work to determine the cause and manner of death, adding the investigation was ongoing.

The news comes as law enforcement officers have been trying to find a pair of mothers from Kansas who are identified as 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley.

The women went missing in Oklahoma’s panhandle over Easter weekend. The women set out to pick up children but did not arrive at their destination and their car was found abandoned in Texas County near Elkhart, Kansas.

“Four arrests have been made related to the women, authorities said. All four were booked into the Texas County jail Saturday, each on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said. Official charges have not been filed,” according to the Oklahoman.

The OSBI shared mugshots of those arrested in a social media post on Saturday. The suspects were identified as Tad Bert Cullum, Tifany Machel Adams, Cole Earl Twombly, and Cora Twombly.

According to court documents, Butler and the father of her children were involved in a custody battle, and she reportedly knew two of the suspects who were recently arrested, NBC News reported Sunday:

Suspect Tifany Adams is reportedly the grandmother of Butler’s two children whom she was on her way to pick up, according to News Nation.

“Adams, we know, was fighting against more visitation,” the outlet said:

The outlet also noted that Kelley was a “court approved supervisor during Butler’s visitation,” adding that Butler had recently filed a petition seeking full custody of the children.