By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-23 17:36:28 | Updated at 2024-11-23 19:43:57
2 hours ago
Grisly autopsy reports have revealed how two Kansas mothers were killed while on a road trip to Oklahoma, allegedly at the hands of a brutal 'religious gang.'
Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were stabbed to death on March 30 while driving to pick up Butler's children, aged six and eight, and their bodies were found two weeks later buried in a freezer.
According to new autopsies from the state examiner Dr. Celia Cobb, Kelley suffered nine stab wounds and seven cuts to the back of her neck and head.
She also suffered a fractured vertebrae and damaged spinal chord when she was killed, stun gun marks to her neck, and cuts to her hand indicating she tried to defend herself.
Butler was tragically killed in a very similar manner, and both women were reportedly found in 'pools of blood.'
She suffered a total of 30 sharp force injuries, including sliced fingers consistent with 'attempting to defend herself', and she was also found with stun gun marks to the back of her neck.
The autopsies said both women were believed to have been killed before they were placed in the freezer, which was found under a concrete slab and buried eight feet below the ground.
Soon after the bodies were found, police arrested Butler's children's paternal grandmother, Tifany Adams, 54, and her boyfriend Tad Cullum, 43, alongside Cole Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44, and charged them with the murders.
New autopsy reports revealed that Veronica Butler, 27, (pictured) and Jilian Kelley, 39, were both brutally stabbed to death in March, and also suffered hits to their necks with stun guns and sliced hands trying to defend themselves
Jilian Kelley, 39, one of the supervisors that watched over visitations with Butler and her kids, was found dead next to Butler in April in the chest freezer
According to court documents, the four suspects are believed to be members of a religious gang called 'God's Misfits', and Adams was involved in a bitter custody dispute over Butler's children.
When Cobb released Kelley's autopsy first, she said that 'in my opinion, her death was very rapid.'
Cobb listed the women's time of death as 'unknown', but said she believes they were dead before they were put in the freezer, as their bodies appeared to have remained in the same place once buried.
Cops also released new information about the freezer the women were placed in, saying it was sealed with yellow ratchet straps and buried under a concrete slab.
Underneath the freezer, investigators found a stun gun, clothing, a roll of tape and a sheathed knife, reports KSN.
After the freezer was released and sent for examination, the women's bodies were then also found next to dirt, hay, an Apple watch, a pair of shoes and two gloves, one leather and one cloth.
Tifany Adams (bottom left), Butler's children's grandmother, her boyfriend, Tad Cullum (top right), Cole Twombly (bottom right), and Cora Twombly (top right) were involved in an antigovernmental religious group known as 'God's Misfits.' They were all arrested over the possible kidnapping and murders of both women
The women's bodies were found buried eight feet under ground in a freezer covered by a concrete slab on this desolate stretch of Oklahoma
The gruesome murders shocked the Midwest earlier this year when the women's bodies were discovered, leading cops to launch an urgent investigation to find their killers.
According to court filings, detectives zeroed in on the 'God's Misfits' gang after suspect Cora Twombley's teenage daughter overheard the group discussing Butler's murder.
Twombley then allegedly told her daughter that they were involved in the women's deaths.
The unnamed teen told authorities that the group also used burner phones to communicate with each other. Agents found that Adams purchased three pre-paid phones from a Walmart in February.
Authorities said that all three phones were discovered near Butler's car around the time she and Kelley disappeared. A hole filled with hay was also discovered near the car.
An affidavit revealed that Butler was going through a nasty divorce and custody battle with her husband Wrangler Cole Rickman, at the time. His mother is Tifany Adams, one of the suspects.
The affidavit said that the group's original plan was to throw an anvil, or head of a large hammer, through Butler's car to kill her.
They intended to make it look like an accident, 'because anvils regularly fall off of work vehicles,' records said.
The teen also informed agents that Cora and Cole told her that they would not be home the morning of March 29, a day before Butler and Kelley were last seen, because they were going on a 'mission.'
An affidavit revealed that Butler was going through a nasty divorce and custody battle with her husband Wrangler Cole Rickman (pictured). His mother is one of the suspects, Tifany Adams
The couple then told the teenager that even though the 'mission' did not go as planned, they didn't have to worry about Butler anymore, court documents said.
The gang reportedly often met at the Twombley's household for their meetings, and the girl allegedly told agents that they had previously attempted to murder Butler.
She explained to officers that in February, the group hatched a plan to take Butler's life, but she wouldn't leave her home. Agents later found that Adams had searched for ways to get someone out of a house on the internet.
Butler's mother-in-law had also searched for taser pain levels, pre-paid phones and gun shops, the affidavit said.
Agents found that in addition to buying burner phones, Adams also purchased five stun guns on March 23, according to the affidavit.
Butler's children were reportedly staying with their grandmother, Adams, as Butler and her husband, Wrangler Cole Rickman, who was in a rehabilitation center at the time, were going through a divorce and custody battle.
On March 20, ten days before they went missing, Butler filed a petition in court that would grant her more time with her children, with her goal being full custody.
Butler had weekly, court-mandated visits every Saturday with the kids, while Kelley, one of four people listed, supervised the visits, as the two women were doing on the day they were killed.
It was Butler's six-year-old daughter's birthday and they were planning to celebrate.
Kelley is the wife of Pastor Heath Kelley (pictured), who serves at two churches in Kansas and Nebraska
The women's bodies were discovered when puddles of blood were found near the vehicle in the desolate Oklahoma panhandle, near a school Butler attended and graduated from in 2015.
Kelley is the wife of Pastor Heath Kelley, who serves at two churches in Kansas and Nebraska.
On April 3, Kelley's Willow Christian Church in Nebraska posted to Facebook: 'We ask that you continue to pray for Jilian and Veronica and their families as the search and investigation continue.'
'Pray for strength, wisdom and faith for everyone involved. We appreciate everyone who has shared the prayer requests. We are getting messages from all over the country of people praying for these two women and their families.'
