February 13, 2024

• Adams purchased three pre-paid cellular phones from the Wal-Mart in Guymon, Oklahoma, according to the OSBI.

March 18 and March 20

• Motions were filed in the child custody case requesting extended visitation for Butler. A hearing was set for April 17.

March 23, 2024

• Adams purchased five stun guns from the Big R store in Guymon, Oklahoma, according to the OSBI.

March 25, 2024

• Butler had petitioned for custody of her two children last month as their father, Adams’ son, Wrangler Cole Rickman, had been ordered to complete six months of inpatient drug and alcohol rehab after being released from jail for possession of a firearm after a felony conviction. Court Records
  

March 30, 2024

• 9 a.m. Butler and Kelley leave Hugoton, Kansas Saturday morning to pick up Butler’s children for her weekly supervised visit. Butler planned to bring her daughter to a family birthday party. Kelley was one of Butler’s court-approved visit supervisors.
• 9:40 a.m. Butler and Kelley arrived at Highway 95 and Road L, about five miles north of the expected meeting place at Highway 95 and U.S. 64.
• 9:42 a.m. Butler and Kelley’s cell phones stop transmitting signals.
• Three pre-paid cellular phones purchased by Adams were at the location of Butler’s car at the time of Butler and Kelley’s disappearance.
• 10:05 – 10:16 a.m. Two of the pre-paid cellular phones were at Cullum’s residence.
• 10:16 – 10:35 a.m. Two of the pre-paid cellular phones were at a property rented by Cullum for cattle grazing about 8.5 miles away from where Butler’s car was found.
• Investigators later found fresh dirt work done by a skid steer owned by Cullum on the property where the two phones had transmitted signals.
• All three of the pre-paid cellular phones stopped transmitting March 30.
• 12:09 p.m. Butler’s family members contacted police after finding her car abandoned on the side of Highway 95. When Butler didn’t arrive at the birthday party, her family became worried and went to look for her.
• The Texas County Sheriff’s Office “found evidence of a severe injury” after examining the vehicle and the area surrounding it. They found blood on the roadway, Butler’s glasses in the road near a broken hammer, and a pistol magazine was found inside Kelley’s purse but no pistol was found.
• 7:25 p.m. An Endangered Missing Persons Alert went out via the Texas County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page

March 31, 2024

• The OSBI requested via social media that anyone with relevant information contact their tip line.

April 1, 2024

• OSBI obtained a search warrant for Adams phone. Investigators found web searches for taser pain level, gun shops, pre-paid cellular phones and how to get someone out of their house.

April 3, 2024

• OSBI interviewed the 16-year-old daughter of Cora Twombly. The daughter told investigators she had been told Adams, Cullum, Cora Twombly and Cole Twombly were involved in killing Butler and Kelley. She named one other person who has not been arrested or charged in relation to the case.
• She also told OSBI that Adams and the other suspects had “burner phones” to communicate with each other, and that they were part of an anti-government religious group they called God’s Misfits.
• She was told by Cora and Cole Twombly they would be gone when she woke up on March 30, that they were going “on a mission.” She told investigators Cora and Cole returned home around noon March 30 in two pickup trucks, and she was told they wouldn’t have to worry about Butler anymore.
• The daughter asked if the bodies were put in a well and Cora responded “something like that.” She also told investigators there was an earlier attempt on Butler’s life in Hugoton, Kansas, but that Butler would not leave her house. She said the group had planned to throw an anvil into Butler’s windshield.

April 4, 2024

• OSBI requested assistance in the investigation from the FBI.

April 12, 2024

• Tad Bert Cullum, 43, Tifany Machel Adams, 54, Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44, were charged in Texas County District Court with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
• The charges and arrest affidavit were filed under seal to protect the children and arresting officers.

April 13, 2024

• Cullum, Adams, Cole Twombly and Cora Twombly were arrested without incident.

Five individuals, Tifany Adams, Tad Cullam, Cole Twombly, Cora Twombly, and Paul Grice, have been arrested and charged with murder.

Tifany Adams, who is the grandmother of Butler’s children, had custody of the children and was involved in a contentious dispute with Butler over their custody. The bodies of Butler and Kelley were found buried on a farm leased by Tad Cullum.

April 14, 2024

The remains of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jillian Kelley, 39, both from Hugoton, were discovered Sunday in a “very rural area” near where their abandoned blood-soaked vehicle was found in Texas County, Oklahoma. Medical Examiner Report

• Kelley has 16 sharp force injuries, with nine of those being deep stab wounds and seven shallower stab wounds and also had defensive wounds to her hands and possible stun gun marks to the back of the neck and shoulder. After her attack, Kelley, along with Veronica butler, was concealed inside a freezer that was then buried.
• Inside the freezer were clothing, a stun gun, a roll of tape and a knife.
• Veronica Butler’s full medical examiners report has not yet been released

April 15, 2024

• OSBI held a press conference along with the FBI, Texas County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas County District Attorney, where each agency offered their condolences to the victims’ families.
• During the press conference, the OSBI confirmed the women are dead, despite not having the bodies officially identified.

April 16, 2024

• OSBI confirmed the bodies were positively identified as Butler and Kelley.

Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley went missing while on a trip to pick up Butler’s children for a scheduled visitation. Kelley, who was married to a minister in Indianola, Nebraska, had been authorized to supervise Butler’s visits with her children.

Tragically, their bodies were later discovered in a freezer, buried on a property rented by one of the suspects involved in the case.

Those charged in connection with the case include Tifany Adams, the grandmother of Butler’s children, along with Cole and Cora Twombly, Paul Grice, and Tad Cullum. Prosecutors have filed a motion to consolidate the cases against all five defendants for an upcoming preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors allege that Tifany Adams harbored deep resentment toward Veronica Butler and wanted her dead, motivated by an ongoing custody dispute between Butler and Adams’ son. Tiffany Adams is accused of orchestrating the logistics for the murders, including purchasing burner phones, stun devices, yellow straps found around the freezers containing the victims’ bodies, and even the pants Tad Cullum wore on the day of the murders.

Cullum is alleged to have dug the burial hole a day before the murders using skid steers, and he is accused of stabbing Jilian Kelley to death.

Paul Grice is accused of murdering Veronica Butler. Grice stabbed Butler to death, cutting his hand badly in the process, while Cullum stabbed and killed Kelley. The women’s bodies were then placed in the freezer and driven to the burial site. Prosecutors claim that DNA evidence links the victims to their assailants’ clothing.

After the murders, the men reportedly transported the bodies to the burial site, disposing of them along with the clothing they wore during the murders, the knife used to kill Butler, and a stun device. Cullum tossed his clothing into the freezer with the bodies and that his and Kelley’s DNA was on the clothing as well. Accessories to the knife were also found at Cullum’s home.

Cora and Cole Twombly are accused of acting as lookouts on the day of the murders. They allegedly confided in their 16-year-old daughter, hoping she would provide an alibi for that morning.

Prosecutors argued in court to combine the cases of all five defendants, arguing that separate hearings would be inefficient and place an undue burden on the Twomblys’ teenage daughter, who would otherwise need to travel to Oklahoma to testify multiple times.

Authorities believe Adams’ hatred toward Butler drove the murders, with all five suspects reportedly members of a religiously affiliated, anti-government group called “God’s Misfits,” which held regular meetings at the Twomblys’ residence.