The four suspects in the murders of two southwest Kansas women made their first court appearances Wednesday in an Oklahoma panhandle courtroom.
The suspects, 54-year-old Tifany Adams, 50-year-old Cole Twombly, 44-year-old Cora Twombly, and 43-year-old Tad Cullum, were taken to district court in Texas County, in Guymon, Oklahoma. They are each charged with two counts first degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree. Adams and Cullum are from Keyes, Oklahoma and the Twomblys are from Texhoma, Oklahoma.
The four are accused in the deaths of 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley, both of Hugoton, Kansas. The women were reported missing on March 30th after they had gone to Oklahoma to pick up Butler’s two children for a birthday party, but they never arrived at their destination. Their bodies were later found in a rural area of Texas County.
The four suspects were brought out of the Texas County jail, one at a time, in handcuffs and with heavy security. Texas County Associate District Judge Clark Jett denied bond for all four, and he entered not guilty pleas. He also ordered the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System to provide public defenders for them.
Officials said Tifany Adams was involved in a custody dispute with Butler over the two children, ages 6 and 8. The other suspects are known to be part of a small anti-government group known as “God’s Misfits.”
[photo: Top row, left to right – Tad Cullum, Cole Twombly. Bottom row – Tifany Adams, Cora Twombly ]
