A spokesperson for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said Monday there is “no” chance that Kansas women Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley are still alive following the discovery of two bodies in a rural part of the state.
OSBI public information manager Hunter McKee made the admission at a press conference after telling Fox News Digital earlier this morning that they “still have to wait for proper identification from the medical examiner’s office.”
Butler, 27, and Kelley, 39, were last seen on March 30 heading to pick up children before their car was found abandoned near the Oklahoma-Kansas border, with “foul play” suspected, police said.
“We have been working very diligently for the last two weeks to bring closure to the families. This has been challenging for everybody involved,” OSBI Director Aungela Spurlock said Monday. “This case did not end the way we had hoped. It has certainly been a tragedy for everyone involved.”
TWO BODIES RECOVERED IN OKLAHOMA, AS OSBI YET TO RELEASE IDS OR CAUSE OF DEATH
Veronica Butler, left, and Jilian Kelley were last seen March 30 while driving to pick up children, police say. (Oklahoma Highway Patrol)
McKee also told reporters, “We are extremely grateful that we were able to locate and arrest the four people that we believe are responsible for this crime.”
The OSBI confirmed Saturday that four individuals were in custody. One was arrested in Texas County while the other three were arrested in Cimarron County.
The suspects were identified as Tad Bert Cullum, 43, Tifany Machel Adams, 54, Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44.
MUGSHOTS REVEALED OF SUSPECTS IN CASE OF MISSING KANSAS WOMEN
The four suspects were arrested following the disappearances of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley. Shown clockwise are Tad Cullum, Cole Twombly, Cora Twombly and Tifany Adams. (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)
Officials said all four individuals were booked into the Texas County Jail on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree.
Tim Singer, a pastor at the Hugoton Assembly of God in Kansas, previously told Fox News that the women from Hugoton were driving to pick up Butler’s children to take them back to a birthday party when they vanished in late March.
The area near the Oklahoma-Kansas border where the vehicle the two women were traveling in was found abandoned, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. (Google Maps)
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The OSBI says their vehicle was found “abandoned near Highway 95 and Road L, south of Elkhart, Kansas, in rural Texas County” and investigators “determined there was evidence to indicate foul play.”
Fox News’ Stepheny Price and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
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