Suspects in death of missing Kansas moms ID’d as members of anti-government group ‘God’s Misfits’
The four suspects in the brutal killing of two Kansas women who vanished last month are members of an anti-government group known as ”God’s Misfits,” according to authorities.
Tifany Adams, 54, her boyfriend Tad Cullum, 43, Cora Twombly, 44, and her husband Cole Twombly, 50, were arrested Saturday and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder of Veronica Butler, 27, and her 39-year-old friend Jilian Kelley.
All four suspects regularly meet with several other Oklahomans in the “God’s Misfits” group, according to their arrest documents.
“This case is tragic,” said Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Hunter McKee.
“You have two people who are dead and four people who committed an absolutely brutal crime.”
Adams is the paternal grandmother of Butler’s 6- and 8-year-old children, and the women were locked in a “problematic custody battle,” police noted.
A few days before the two women vanished, Adams allegedly purchased five stun guns and a set of prepaid burner cell phones, the court docs said.
Her internet search history also brought up inquiries about the pain levels inflicted by different weapons.
On March 29, Cullum supposedly dug a deep hole in his rented pasture, not far from where Adams planned to meet up with Butler and Kelley to exchange the children the next day.
According to a teenage witness, Cora Twombly let slip that “the plan was to throw an anvil through Butler’s windshield while driving, making it look like an accident because anvils regularly fall off of work vehicles.”
Butler and Kelley, of Hugoton, were en route to pick up Butler’s kids from Adams for a birthday party when they vanished.
The children’s father was in rehab, and Butler was only allowed supervised visits with her kids on Saturdays.
Kelley, a pastor’s wife, was the court-authorities supervisor for the visits.
In 2022, the Oklahoma Court of Appeals had declared Butler and the children’s father “very young and immature parents” who pointed fingers at one another over “inappropriate behavior and choices.”
The court did note that the youngsters were “the children are nurtured and comforted by Mother” and ”happy and excited to be with Father.”
Shortly before she was killed, Butler filed for more time with her children and unsupervised visitation.
A court date was set for April, when the judge was likely to rule in the young mom’s favor, her attorney said.
Butler and Kelley’s car was found abandoned on March 30, and blood evidence at the scene indicated there was a violent confrontation, police revealed.
Their remains were found and identified earlier this week, with authorities describing the killings as an “absolutely brutal crime.”
While police have not revealed exactly where the women’s bodies were found, the affidavits stated that some of the burner phones stopped working on the morning of March 30 in the area near the rented pasture.
Evidence also indicated that “a hole had been dug and filled back in and then covered with hay” in the field.
It was not clear where Butler’s children were during the initial investigation, though Adams claimed that she left them with another couple from God’s Misfits on March 29 and 30.
“I don’t know a thing about her business. All I can tell you about her is she was a wonderful step-daughter to me,” Adams’ stepmother, Elise Adams, said.
The arrest affidavits were not unsealed until the two children’s safety was guaranteed, authorities explained Monday.
“We were successful. No shots were fired and the children were kept out of harm’s way,” said District Attorney George Leach III.
All four suspects are being held without bond in Texas County Jail pending court appearances on Wednesday, according to Texas County Court Clerk Renee Ellis.
With Post wires
