UPDATE, NOON TUESDAY: Law enforcement officials still have not confirmed that the bodies found Sunday are the women who went missing March 30. News media who have reviewed court documents are reporting that Tifany Machel Adams, 54, had been involved in a battle with Veronica Butler, 27, for the custody of Butler’s two children. Adams, who is charged with five felonies, including murder and kidnapping, is the grandmother of the children. Butler is believed to be dead. Jilian Kelley, 39, who is also believed to be deceased, was supervising Butler’s court-ordered custody exchange the day the women went missing.
UPDATE, NOON MONDAY: During a morning press conference, OSBI public information officer Hunter McKee said he didn’t believe there is any chance Jilian Kelley and Veronica Butler are still alive. Law enforcement officials have not confirmed that the bodies found Sunday are the women who went missing two weeks ago.
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Law enforcement officials in Oklahoma recovered two dead bodies Sunday amid the investigation of two women missing since March 30. Both of those missing are moms from Hugoton, Kan.; one of them is the wife of the minister of Hugoton First Christian Church.
“On April 14, the OSBI [Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation], FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation, Texas County Sheriff’s Department, and the Office of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner recovered two deceased persons in rural Texas County,” the OSBI shared via their Facebook page late Sunday night.
“Both individuals will be transported to the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine identification, as well as cause and manner of death,” the release said.
Jilian Kelley, 39, and Veronica Butler, 27, have been missing for just over two weeks. They had been traveling together from Hugoton into Oklahoma to pick up Butler’s children. They never reached their destination. Their vehicle was found abandoned along a rural highway in northwest Oklahoma, about 40 miles from Hugoton, and the OSBI reported evidence of “foul play.” Kelley is the wife of Heath Kelley, a Christian church pastor in Hugoton.
The recovery of the bodies came a day after four people were arrested in connection with Jilian Kelley and Veronica Butler’s disappearance. Among those arrested and booked into the Texas County Jail (in Oklahoma) on two counts each of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree were: Tifany Machel Adams, 54; Tad Bert Cullum, 43; Cole Earl Twombly, 50; and Cora Twombly, 44.
The OSBI announced the arrests Saturday but still have not provided a motive. According to KWCH.com, law enforcement plans to provide an update on the case Monday morning.
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