Two bodies found in search for missing mums who went to pick up children but never made it
Topics: True Crime, Crime, US News
Ella Scott
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Veronica Butler/Jillian Kelley
Topics: True Crime, Crime, US News
Two bodies have been discovered in the search for a pair of Kansas mums who've been missing since March, officials have revealed.
Veronica Butler, 27, and Jillian Kelley, 39, were reported missing on 30 March when their car was discovered abandoned on the side of the road near the Kansas border in Texas County.
According to Texas County Sheriff's Department, the pair had been travelling into Oklahoma to pick up children - believed to be Veronica's kids - with their missing person's alert saying that 'neither made it to the pick up location'.
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They were also presumed to be friends, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Hunter McKee said.
At the time of the initial discovery, neither Veronica nor Jillian could be located and special agents immediately began investigating, according to Koco News.
In a new update, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation took to social media to reveal that they had recovered the remains of two deceased persons.
Posting to X (formerly known as Twitter) on Sunday, (14 April), a spokesperson wrote: “Today, the OSBI [Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation], @FBI, and the Texas County Sheriff's Office recovered two deceased persons in rural Texas County.”
“Both individuals will be transported to the Office of the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner to determine identification and cause and manner of death.”
However, officials are yet to confirm whether the newly found remains are those of Veronica and Jillian.
On Saturday (13 April) four suspects were taken into custody in connection with the investigation.
Tad Bert Cullum, 43, Tifany Machel Adams, 54, Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44, are the quartet who face two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.
As per the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the four were arrested in Cimmaron County and Texas County.
The individuals have since been booked into the Texas County Jail.
Authorities didn't provide any further information about potential motives, the group's connection to the women or any evidence that led to their arrest.
A few days after the car's discovery, OSBI said that 'investigators believed there was evidence to indicate foul play', but did not clarify what that evidence was.
In a statement, McKee admitted that the investigation has been ‘challenging’ due to the 'rural area' where the car had been parked.
Speaking to NBC News, he said: “There are not a lot of homes, no businesses, no other buildings.
"And usually you can use cameras and footage to see maybe what had occurred, or what had led up to that.”