TEXAS COUNTY, Okla. (KAKE) – One of five people accused in the deaths of two Kansas women last year has been convicted of murder and other charges as part of a plea deal.
Texas County, Oklahoma court records show Tifany Adams pleaded no contest on Tuesday to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of unlawful removal of a dead body and two counts of desecration of a corpse. Two counts of child neglect and one count of conspiracy were dismissed. Her sentencing is scheduled for January 28.
Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley were reported missing on March 30, 2024. Their bodies were found two weeks later buried in a freezer in Texas County, Oklahoma. Both had been stabbed to death.
Veronica and Jilian were traveling together from Hugoton, Kansas to pick up Butler’s children when the two women went missing. Their car was found abandoned in a remote part of northern Oklahoma near the Kansas border.
Court documents stated that Cole and Cora Twombly were the lookouts the day of the murders and confided in their daughter in the hope of receiving an alibi for the morning of the murders.
Paul Grice in part, allegedly stabbed and killed Butler, sliced his hand “badly” with the knife and accompanied the bodies of both victims to their burial site. The document says Grice threw off his clothing, stun device and the knife used to kill Buter into the burial site. His clothing found in the burial site contained his and Butler’s DNA.
Tad Cullum in part, got permission from the landowners to dig the hole for the burial site and dug the whole with his skid steer the day before the murders.
Cullum is accused of fatally stabbing Kelley and driving the bodies to the burial site. He put his clothing in the burial site, in addition to Butler and Kelley inside a freezer in the previously dug hole. His clothing, found at the site, also contained his and Kelley’s DNA. The accessories to the knife, found at the burial site, were found in his home.
The document said Adams purchased burner phones from Walmart which were used by the conspirators to communicate. She purchased the stun devices at Standard Supply, one of which was found at the burial site. She also bought the yellow straps that were placed around the freezer containing the bodies of Butler and Kelley at Tractor Supply.
