Grisly autopsy reports have revealed how two Kansas mothers were murdered during a road trip to Oklahoma, allegedly at the hands of a ruthless “religious gang.”
Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were stabbed to death on March 30 while on their way to pick up Butler’s children, ages six and eight. Their bodies were found two weeks later, buried in a freezer.
According to new autopsies by state investigator Dr. Celia Cobb, Kelley suffered nine stab wounds and seven lacerations to the back of her neck and head.
She also suffered a broken vertebra and spinal cord damage when she was killed, numb gun marks on her neck and cuts on her hand, indicating she was trying to defend herself.
Butler was tragically murdered in a similar manner, and both women were reportedly found in “pools of blood.”
She suffered a total of 30 sharps injuries, including cut fingers consistent with ‘an attempt to defend herself’, and was also found with stun gun marks on her neck.
The autopsies revealed that both women were believed to have been murdered before being placed in the freezer, which was found under a concrete slab and buried eight feet underground.
Shortly after the bodies were found, police arrested the grandmother of Butler’s children, Tifany Adams, 54, and her boyfriend Tad Cullum, 43, along with 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 blows to the neck with stun guns and cut hands as they tried to defend themselves
Jilian Kelley, 39, one of the supervisors who oversaw visits to Butler and her children, was found dead next to Butler in the chest freezer in April
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 first released Kelley’s autopsy, she said that “her death, in my opinion, was very rapid.”
Cobb listed the women’s time of death as “unknown” but said she believes they were dead before they were placed in the freezer because their bodies appeared to have remained in the same place after burial.
Police also released new information about the freezer the women were placed in, saying it had been secured with yellow straps and buried under a concrete slab.
Under the freezer, investigators found a stun gun, clothing, a roll of tape and a knife in its sheath, reports KSN.
After the freezer was released and sent for examination, the women’s bodies were then also found alongside dirt, hay, an Apple watch, a pair of shoes and two gloves, one leather and one cloth.
Tifany Adams (bottom left), the grandmother of Butler’s children, her boyfriend Tad Cullum (top right), Cole Twombly (bottom right), and Cora Twombly (top right) were involved in an anti-government religious group known as “God’s Misfits.” They were all arrested for the possible kidnapping and murder of both women
The women’s bodies were found eight feet underground, in a freezer covered with a concrete slab on this deserted stretch of Oklahoma.
The gruesome murders shocked the Midwest earlier this year when the women’s bodies were discovered, leading police to launch an urgent investigation to find their killers.
According to court documents, detectives focused on the “God’s Misfits” gang after suspect Cora Twombley’s teenage daughter overheard the group talking about 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. Officers discovered that Adams had purchased three prepaid phones at a Walmart in February.
Authorities said all three phones were discovered near Butler’s car around the time she and Kelley disappeared. A hole with hay was also discovered next to 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 stated that the group’s original plan was to throw an anvil, or the head of a large hammer, through Butler’s car to kill her.
They wanted to make it look like an accident, “because anvils fall from work vehicles on a regular basis,” the documents say.
The teen also told officers that Cora and Cole told her they wouldn’t 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 teen that even though the “mission” didn’t go as planned, they didn’t have to worry about Butler anymore, according to court documents.
The gang reportedly often gathered at the Twombley household for their meetings, and the girl allegedly told officers that they had previously tried to kill Butler.
She explained to officers that the group had hatched a plan to take Butler’s life in February, but she would not leave her home. Officers later discovered that Adams had searched the Internet for ways to get someone out of a home.
Butler’s mother-in-law had also searched for Taser pain levels, prepaid phones and gun stores, the affidavit said.
Agents discovered that in addition to purchasing 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, while Butler and her husband, Wrangler Cole Rickman, who was in a rehabilitation facility at the time, were going through a divorce and custody battle.
On March 20, ten days before they went missing, Butler filed a petition with the court allowing her to spend more time with her children, seeking full custody.
Butler had weekly, court-mandated visits with the children every Saturday, while Kelley, one of the four people named, supervised the visits, as the two women did the day they were killed.
It was Butler’s six-year-old daughter’s birthday and they planned 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 pools of blood were found near the vehicle in Oklahoma’s deserted 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 on 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 all involved. We appreciate everyone who shared the prayer requests. We are receiving messages from across the country from people praying for these two women and their families.”