New Charges Added For Three Defendants in Kansas Mom Murders

news1@ulyssesnews.com

GUYMON, Okla. — The case of five individuals charged in the March murder of two Hugoton moms took a twist on Oct. 3 when additional charges were added for three of the five defendants in the case.

As reported previously, Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39 - both Hugoton - went missing on March 29 and were found deceased in rural Texas County on April 14. Butler was traveling to an abandoned gas station in Eva, Okla. for a child custody exchange and Kelley was a court-appointed liaison for Butler to oversee the exchange. The vehicle they were traveling in was found abandoned on Oklahoma Highway 95 just south of the Kansas state line near Elkhart.

Cole Twombly, 50; Cora Twombly, 44; Tad Cullum, 43, and Tifany Adams, 54, were arrested in early April and charged with two counts of Kidnapping, two counts of First-Degree Murder – deliberate intent - and one count of Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the First Degree. A fifth suspect, Paul Grice, 31, of Keyes, Okla. was later arrested on two counts of First-Degree Murder – deliberate intent - two counts of Kidnapping, and one count of Conspiracy to Commit Murder in the First Degree.

In the state’s brief for consolidation, District Attorney George H. Leach III laid out the facts of the case. Tad Cullum, Tiffany Adams, Cole Twombly, Cora Twombly and Paul Grice are accused of conspiring to murder Butler and Kelley, and ultimately committing the crime.

The Twomblys were allegedly the lookouts on the day of the murders and confided in their 16-year-old daughter in hopes of receiving an alibi for the morning of the murders.

Additional charges have since been added for Cullum, Cole Twombly and Adams to include two counts each of unlawful removal of a dead body from original place of death without authorization, and two counts each of desecration of a human corpse by tampering with evidence of a crime scene. The kidnapping charges were removed. Cullum allegedly stabbed Kelley to death and Paul Grice allegedly stabbed Butler. Cullum, Adams and Cole Twombly allegedly moved the bodies to a location eight miles away from the abandoned car, put the bodies in a freezer and buried the freezer.

No new charges have been added for Grice and he has been moved from Texas County to Woodward County with a February court date set back in Guymon.

Additionally, Adams is charged with two counts of felony child neglect.

According to the State of Oklahoma, on or about March 23, 2024, Adams willingly or maliciously neglected both of Butler’s children - her own grandchildren - to illegal activity by having each of them carry a ratchet strap purchased at Guymon Standard Supply, which was later used to strap shut the freezer containing the deceased bodies of Butler and Kelley.

In addition, the scheduled October hearing was stricken. The preliminary hearings for all but Grice will take place Dec. 18 at the Texas County Courthouse in Guymon.