Cause of Death, Possible Motive Revealed for Murder of Two Kansas Moms

The cause of death for the two Kansas women whose bodies were found dumped in an abandoned chest freezer in April has been determined, court documents that KAKE obtained reveal.

It was March 30 when Hugoton moms Veronica Butler, 27, and Jillian Kelley, 39, went missing while on a road trip to Oklahoma to pick up Butler’s children, the outlet reported. Both of their bodies were discovered on April 14 in a freezer that had been buried in a cow pasture.

The car they were in was also found abandoned near the Kansas-Oklahoma border. 

Newly obtained police reports reveal investigators’ findings that two different suspects stabbed Butler and Kelley to death. 

Five suspects — including Butler’s children’s grandmother, Tifany Machel Adams, 50, who participated in an “antigovermental religious gang” called “God’s Misfits” — were arrested in April and May, the Daily Mail reported. 

Court documents state that Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44, allegedly served as lookouts for the murders and admitted it to their teenage daughter in hopes of securing an alibi. 

Paul Grice, 31, is the one accused of fatally stabbing Butler, and he apparently “badly” sliced his hand with the murder weapon. He also allegedly tossed his clothing, a stun device, and the knife used to kill Butler into the burial site. 

The clothing recovered from the site tested positive for both his and Butler’s DNA, police said. 

Tad Cullum, 43, allegedly got permission from the cow pasture’s owners to dig the hole in which the bodies were hidden the day before the murders took place.

The next day, Cullum allegedly stabbed Kelley, drove both bodies to the burial site with Grice, and also left his clothing there. 

His clothing was later determined to have Kelley’s DNA on it, and “accessories” to the knife used to kill the two women were found at his residence, the ABC affiliate reported. 

The Daily Mail reported that Cullum is Adams’ boyfriend and alleged co-conspirator.

Adams is accused of buying burner phones from Walmart, which the group used to communicate, and stun devices found at the burial site from Standard Supply. 

“She also bought the yellow straps that were placed around the freezer containing the bodies of Butler and Kelley at Tractor Supply,” KAKE added.

“Adams hated and despised Butler and wanted her dead,” a court document stated.

Court records that the Daily Mail viewed reveal that Adams had become involved in a custody dispute over Butler’s children with Butler’s husband, Wrangler Cole Rickman, as the couple went through divorce proceedings. 

On March 20, ten days before the two women went missing, Butler filed a court petition to get more time with her children as she fought for full custody. 

“Court filings claimed that Butler and Adams were not getting along amid the custody battle,” the outlet said.

Kelley was one of the four people listed as a supervisor for Butler’s weekly visits with her kids.

The two women were heading to see Butler’s kids on her daughter’s sixth birthday. 

The Twomblys’ daughter reportedly told authorities that the group’s initial plan was to make Butler’s death look like an accident by throwing a large anvil or hammer through her windshield “because anvils regularly fall off of work vehicles,” court records stated.

Another alleged murder plot fell through in February, as the teenager told cops that Butler would not leave her home, and Adams allegedly searched the Internet for ways to get someone out of his/her house.

The Twomblys allegedly told their daughter that they would not be home the day before the women went missing because of a “mission,” then later said that while it did not go as planned, they would not have to worry about Butler anymore.