(PatriotWise.com) — Authorities in Oklahoma said the four people arrested in connection to the disappearance and murder of two Kansas women in late March belonged to an anti-government group called “God’s Misfits,” the Associated Press reported.
Hugoton, Kansas residents Jilian Kelley, 39, and Veronica Butler, 27, disappeared over two weeks ago when they went to pick up Butler’s children for a birthday party. The pair had arranged with the children’s paternal grandmother, Tifany Adams, to meet on the morning of March 30 at an intersection near the Oklahoma-Kansas border.
Butler’s family found the vehicle later that day on a rural highway in Oklahoma, just miles from where the women were to meet Adams. Significant blood evidence was found at the scene, along with a broken hammer and Butler’s broken glasses, prompting a multi-agency search.
Inside Kelley’s purse was a magazine for a handgun but the weapon was not found.
Four individuals were arrested on April 13 and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder: Adams, her 43-year-old boyfriend Tad Cullum, Cole Twombly, 50, and his wife Cora, 44.
All four regularly met with other people who call themselves “God’s Misfits,” according to the arrest affidavits.
Evidence suggested that the murders were planned. Tifany Adams purchased five stun guns and prepaid burner phones. A search of her computer turned up an internet search history that included a query on pain levels using stun guns.
According to the arrest affidavits, Butler and Adams were locked in a custody battle for Butler’s children, whom she could only see on supervised visits every Saturday. The father of the children, Adams’ son, was in an Oklahoma rehab facility. Jilian Kelley was the court-authorized supervisor chosen by Butler to attend the visits.
At a press conference on Monday, law enforcement officials would not say where the bodies of Butler and Kelley were found. However, the arrest affidavits said some of the burner phones purchased by Adams stopped transmitting on March 30 near a pasture where there were signs of recent digging.
The children were recovered from a couple who regularly hosted meetings for “God’s Misfits.”
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