Cause of death for murdered Kansas moms revealed in court documents
(NewsNation) – Prosecutors have revealed how they believe two Kansas women who went missing in March were killed by five suspects.
Police had been investigating the deaths of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39 and had charged five people with kidnapping and first-degree murder: Tifany Adams, 54; Tad Cullum, 43; Cora Twombly, 44; Cole Twombly, 50; and Paul Grice, 31.
Court documents filed Thursday asking the court to consolidate the cases set out a detailed timeline of the murders which included how the women allegedly died.
Prosecutors alleged that Grice stabbed Butler to death, cutting his hand badly in the process, while Cullum killed Kelley.
They said Cullum tossed his clothing into the freezer with the bodies and that his and Kelley’s DNA was on the clothing as well.
The women’s bodies were then allegedly placed in the freezer and driven to the burial site.
The clothing Grice was wearing when he killed Butler, as well as the murder weapon and a stun device, were thrown into the grave with her, according to the documents.
DNA recovered from the clothing contained both his and Butler’s DNA.
The Twomblys were the lookouts on the day of the murder and confided in their daughter, hoping she would provide them with an alibi, court papers stated.
Adams purchased the burner phones, stun devices, yellow straps found around the freezer, and even the pants that Cullum wore and buried with the victims, the filing alleges.
Butler and Kelley vanished while en route to pick up Butler’s children for a supervised visit in March. Adams is the paternal grandmother of Butler’s children.
Wrangler Rickman, the father of the two children, had legal custody but was in a rehabilitation facility so the children were living with Adams at the time of the disappearance.
The five suspects were arrested two weeks later and then charged with the murders.
The state is seeking a joint preliminary hearing for all five defendants as they all conspired and participated in the murders together, court papers stated.