On March 30th 2024, Jillian Kelley and Veronica Butler went missing after not appearing to a child’s birthday party. Butler’s family located Butler’s abandoned vehicle in a rural area of Texas County near the Kansas and Oklahoma border. An examination of the car was performed along with the area surrounding the abandoned vehicle showing evidence of severe injury. The investigation was ongoing but had no leads until Sunday April 14th when two bodies were found buried in cattle pasture which were confirmed to be the two missing women. Meanwhile the four suspects, Tiffany Machel Adams, Tad Bert Cullum, Cole Earl Twombly, and Cora Gayle Twombly were arrested and now face felony charges.

According to Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt, Eric Levenson, and Elizabeth Wolfe at CNN, “The documents allege Adams and her significant other, Cullum, engaged in a killing plot with the Twomblys that was motivated by a custody battle between Butler and Adams, who is the grandmother of Butler’s two children. The group is also accused of unsuccessfully attempting to kill Butler in February, the documents state” (April 18th).

Adams was found to have purchased three burner phones before the incident took place, all of which were pinged near the last known location of the two women and where their car was ultimately found. The authorities used the burner phone’s data which led them back to the pasture in which they were found. A stun gun was also found near the site.

According to Rosa Flores, Sara Weisfeldt, Eric Levenson, and Elizabeth Wolfe at CNN, “State investigators extracted information from Adams’ phone that showed web searches for “taser pain level, gun shops, prepaid cellular phones and how to get someone out of their house,” the probable cause documents show. Adams also purchased five stun guns in the months and days leading to the women’s disappearances, according to the documents” (April 18th). 

The four suspects each face murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy charges.