New Information Released in Hugoton Women’s Case

TEXAS COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) – Newly-filed Texas County court documents are shedding light on the investigation into the murders of two Kansas women.

State investigators announced in April the search for Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley had ended in tragedy.

The two women had been missing since March 30 after a trip from Kansas to Oklahoma to visit Butler’s children.

Investigators announced last month Tifany Adams, Tad Cullum, and Cole Twombly and Cora Twombly had initially been arrested in connection to the murders. A fifth suspect, Paul Grice, was arrested later and booked in connection to the crimes as well.

Adams is the paternal grandmother of Butler’s children, and court documents allege the group murdered the two women because of a child custody dispute.

Search warrants filed in court May 15 detail that, after a two-day excavation of a burial site in a cow pasture, the bodies of the two women were found in a chest freezer. The documents do not, however, provide further detail on the manner in which the two women were killed.

A motion filed to have the contents of the search warrants and what was obtained during the search was denied in Texas County district court.

Warrants further state that several items of note were found at the burial site with possible blood on them: jeans, sweatshirts, T-shirts, a black jacket, cloth gloves, ball caps, duct tape and a sheathed black knife.

Search warrants filed also describe how Grice allegedly handled the aftermath of the other four suspects’ arrests.

According to documents, Grice asked a witness how long DNA would last on clothing in the dirt a hole 15 feet deep. It said Grice also asked the same witness if the witness knew “how to get a guy and his family” to Mexico.

https://www.ksn.com/news/state-regional/court-documents-say-bodies-of-murdered-kansas-women-found-in-freezer/?nxsparam=1