Tifany Adams, pictured, and three others are accused of killing two moms in Oklahoma. Adams, a self-proclaimed member of an anti-government group called “God’s Misfits,” was GOP chair in Cimarron County in the far western part of the Sooner State’s panhandle. (Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation)
One of the people accused of murdering two women — including the mother of her grandchildren — was previously elected by a “handful” of people as Republican chairperson in a county in the far western part of Oklahoma’s panhandle, officials said.
Tifany Adams, 54, and three others are facing charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree. They allegedly killed Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, while the women were on their way to pick up Butler’s kids.
Butler and Adams, the children’s paternal grandmother, were locked in a bitter custody dispute. Cops say Adams and her co-defendants on March 30 intercepted Butler and Adams on the highway and kidnapped them. Authorities searched for more than two weeks before finding the victims’ bodies Sunday in rural Texas County.
Family members said Adams, along with her boyfriend, 43-year-old Tad Bert Cullum, 44-year-old Cora Twombly and her husband, 50-year-old Cole Earl Twombly, were self-proclaimed members of an anti-government group called “God’s Misfits.” They met weekly at each other’s houses.
Adams’ political affiliations didn’t end there. She also was the Republican Party chair in Cimarron County in the far western part of the Sooner State’s panhandle, according to State Sen. Nathan Dahm, who is the chairman of the Oklahoma State GOP.
“This is a tragic situation, with innocent children being at the center of this still-developing situation. While we at the Oklahoma Republican Party have no personal relationship or knowledge of the individuals who have been accused in this senseless crime, we have been made aware that Ms. Adams was previously elected by a handful of people to the role of Chair in her county. We ask everyone to join us in praying for the family and most especially the children devastated by this horrible tragedy,” Dahm said in a statement to Oklahoma City ABC affiliate KOCO.
Cimarron County has a population of about 2,200 people.
Veronica Butler, left, and Jilian Kelley were reported missing March 30 in Texas County, Oklahoma, when they were on their way to pick up Butler’s kids. Four people are facing murder and kidnapping charges. (Texas County Sheriff’s Office)
Meanwhile, friends are remembering Butler and describing her “terrible” custody battle. In an interview with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation, Buffie Schooley said Butler was “fighting for her children.”
“Like the day before she disappeared, I saw her. She was headed out of town to get some groceries because they were going to have a little birthday party on the boat, I believe, for the child,” Schooley said. “And she was so excited to go see them and be with them and I knew she had a court date coming up, and she was really thinking that she was going to be able to be getting her children back here with her all the time.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, Butler and Kelley were traveling from their homes in southern Kansas to meet Adams to pick up the two kids. Butler had court-ordered visitation with her children each Saturday and Kelley was one of the people selected the court approved to supervise the visit. Kelley stepped in after the regular supervisor was unavailable, investigators say. The two set out around 9 a.m. to pick up the kids but the pair never made it to their destination.
Butler’s family members searched for her vehicle and found it abandoned shortly after noon March 30 along Highway 95 and Road L in Texas County near the border with Kansas. According to the affidavit, cops found “evidence of severe injury,” including blood surrounding the vehicle. Officers also recovered Butler’s sunglasses, a broken hammer and a pistol magazine without a pistol in Kelley’s purse.
Investigators with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) quickly zeroed in on Adams after learning of the custody dispute, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit. Adams’ son, the children’s father, had full custody of the kids but she often took care of them.
“I think from the get-go once we arrived on scene and gained a little bit of information started coming in we felt that this wasn’t a random deal,” said Texas County Sheriff Matt Boley at a Monday press conference. “We felt that it was more targeted and we started to look in those areas that we were pointed to.”
Boley said his agency allowed the OSBI to take the lead on the case. Detectives spoke with Adams who claimed she had spoken with Butler around 9 a.m. the day of the disappearance. She allegedly said Butler told her that her plans had changed and she would not be picking up the kids. But cops determined that was not true because they knew Butler and Kelley were en route to the kids.
Agents also talked with Butler’s attorney who said a judge was about to issue extended visitation to Butler. This apparently didn’t set well with Adams. Cops found recordings of Adams and Cullum allegedly making death threats toward Butler. Adams allegedly told family members that the custody battle wouldn’t last much longer because she “had it under control” and knew “the path the judge walked to work.” She also is accused of saying “we will take out Veronica at drop off.”
Detectives on April 3 interviewed a teenage family member of the Twomblys. The girl said Cora Twombly told her that she, her husband, Adams and Cullum, plus another man yet to be arrested, were involved in the murders. She said Adams had provided her co-conspirators with the burner phones to communicate without using their own phones, the affidavit said.
Clockwise from top left: Tad Bert Cullum, Tifany Machel Adams, Cora Twombly, Cole Earl Twombly. The four are facing murder and kidnapping charges in the disappearance of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley in rural Oklahoma. (Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation)
The Twomblys allegedly told the girl on the day of the murders that they were going on a “mission,” the affidavit said. The pair returned home around noon on March 30 and told the girl “things did not go as planned, but that they would not have to worry” about Butler again, investigators wrote.
Cora Twombly allegedly told the teenager how the plan was for her and her husband to block the road and throw an anvil through Butler’s windshield to divert them to where Adams, Cullum and the man who has not been charged were waiting. They allegedly wanted to make it “look like an accident” because anvils fall onto the highway all the time.
The teenager asked Cora Twombly why Kelley had to die and she replied that Kelley “wasn’t innocent” because she “had supported Butler,” the affidavit said. According to the affidavit, the suspects had tried to kill Butler outside her home in February but she refused to come out which explains the “how to get someone out of their house” search.
Investigators say data from the burner phones showed were in the location of where Butler and Kelley went missing. The phones also show they then traveled about eight miles to another area of rural Texas County. Agents found a freshly dug hole near a dam. The affidavit does not describe the discovery of the bodies, but OSBI said agents found the bodies Sunday. The Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner’s Office positively identified the women and will determine a cause and manner of death.
Adams, Cullum and the Twomblys were arrested Saturday.
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