Two Kansas mothers who went missing two weeks ago were killed over a custody dispute involving members of a small anti-government group who called themselves "God's Misfits," Oklahoma authorities allege, revealing details around a sinsiter plan to kill the two women.
Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, had arranged with the grandmother of Butler's two children to meet at a highway intersection and pick up the 6- and 8-year-old on March 30. The children were supposed to attend a birthday party.
Their abandoned vehicle was found a few miles from the meet-up spot.
Police arrested 54-year-old Tifany Adams, who was the children's grandmother, and three others who call themselves "God's Misfits," according to their arrest affidavits.
Adams, 43-year-old Tad Bert Cullum, 50-year-old Cole Earl Twombly and 44-year-old Cora Twombly are charged with felony first-degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder charges.
Butler was in a long-running custody battle with Adams. Her son, the father of Butler's two children, was in a rehabilitation facility in Oklahoma City, the Associated Press reported.
Butler was allowed supervised visits with the children each Saturday.
Kelley, the wife of a pastor, was Butler's court-authorized choice to supervise visitations.
Adams told investigators she had left the children in the care of another couple on the morning of March 30. That couple was also reportedly part of God's Misfits, her arrest affidavit said. Authorities say the children are now safe.
A teenage witness told authorities that Cora Twombly said that she and her husband Cole Twombly blocked the road to stop Butler and Kelley and divert them to where Adams, her boyfriend Cullum and another person were waiting for them.
The teen reportedly asked why Kelley had to die and was told that "she wasn't innocent either" because she supported Butler," court papers said.
State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Hunter McKee called it an "absolutely brutal crime."
