Four people were arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping over the weekend in connection with the disappearances of two Oklahoma women.
Veronica Butler, 27; and Jilian Kelley, 39, of Hugoton, Kansas, were driving through the Oklahoma panhandle to pick up Butler’s children for a March 30 birthday party in Kansas but never showed up. Their vehicle was later found abandoned on a rural highway in Texas County, Oklahoma, about 11 miles (18 km) south of Elkhart, Kansas, on the Oklahoma-Kansas state line. The area is about 260 miles (418 km) northwest of Oklahoma City.
The Texas County Sheriff’s Office requested help from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations, which said its officers immediately suspected foul play, based on undisclosed evidence found in the vehicle.
On Saturday, Oklahoma authorities said they arrested and charged four people: Tad Bert Cullum, 43; Tifany Machel Adams, 54; Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44. All four were charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.
Authorities are still searching for the victims, Oklahoma investigators said in their statement.