The bodies of two missing Kansas women were found in a freezer in Oklahoma, officials and news agencies reported.
Court documents filed May 15 and recently unsealed show the bodies were found buried in a freezer on April 14 in a rented cow pasture in Texas County, Oklahoma, NBC News and the Associated Press report.
Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were “driving together to pick up children” in March, according to a March 30 post from the Texas County Sheriff’s Department. Authorities later found their vehicle abandoned on the side of the road near the Kansas-Oklahoma border, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations (OSBI).
Five people were burdened in connection with her death: Paul Grice, 31; Tad Bert Cullum, 43; Tifany Machel Adams, 54; Cole Earl Twombly, 50; and Cora Twombly, 44, according to OSBI.
Cullum had rented the cow pasture where authorities said Butler and Kelley were found, the Associated Press reported, citing court documents.
Cullum’s attorney did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment. Information on attorneys for the other four defendants was not listed. The Associated Press reported that attorneys are not allowed to comment publicly on the case due to a news blackout.
According to the Associated Press, the affidavit said the five suspects belonged to an anti-government religious group called “God’s Misfits.”
According to court documents, Butler has been involved in a “troublesome” custody battle with Adams over Butler’s children since 2019, NBC News reported. According to court documents obtained by the news channel, Adams is the children’s grandmother.
Butler had asked for expanded visitation rights for her children, and a hearing was scheduled for April 17, according to USA Today.
Butler was supposed to attend a birthday party with her children, the news agency reported. However, according to USA Today, she never showed up at the party.
According to NBC News, authorities said three prepaid cell phones purchased by Adams were found near where Butler’s car was found after she went missing.
“The evidence discovered inside and around the abandoned vehicle helped our investigators determine that a crime had occurred,” OSBI spokesman Hunter McKee said, according to a report in the Wichita Eagle.
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