Two Kansas women were found dead in Oklahoma's panhandle, and the cause of their deaths has now been revealed. News Channel 10 reports that Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley, last seen on March 30, were the victims of "multiple sharp force trauma" according to the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. A summary report indicates that other conditions may have contributed to their deaths, but were not the underlying cause.
The disturbing circumstances of the case became clearer when court documents stated, the two women were stabbed to death before being buried inside a chest freezer. The intensity of the violence is echoed in the report from Fox News, which details that Paul Grice allegedly killed Butler, and Tad Cullum is accused of killing Kelley. The documents further allege accessories to the knife used in the murder were found at Cullum's home, while DNA from both victim and suspect was found on their respective clothing, tossed into the grave. The bodies were discovered on April 14, in a cow pasture inside a chest freezer in rural Texas County.
Five suspects are currently facing charges in connection to these gruesome murders, according to OKC FOX. Tad Bert Collum, Tifany Machel Adams, Cole Earl Twombly, Cora Twombly, and Paul Grice face allegations including two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. In an added twist, three of these individuals also face charges of removal of a dead body and desecration of a human corpse.
In a further revelation, Adams, 54 is reportedly Butler's children's grandmother, implicating a motive steeped in familial discord. The case takes a darker turn with its connection to a group named "God's Misfits," described as a religiously affiliated anti-government group by Fox News. A plan, steeped in calculated cruelty, proposed to make Butler's murder appear as an accident, the court documents describe.
The state, contending the depth of the conspiracy and its ghastly outcome, argues for a collective preliminary hearing for all defendants involved. The full autopsy report is set to be released by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office on November 15.
