Four people have been charged with kidnapping and murder in connection with the March disappearance of two Oklahoma women who are still missing.
The four arrested, charged Saturday, are Todd Bert Cullum, 43; Tiffany Mahele Adams, 54; Cole Earl Twombly, 50; and Cora Twombly, 44.
They were booked into the Texas County Jail in Oklahoma on suspicion of first-degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement Saturday.
State court records do not show charges have been filed, and the suspects' names are not yet listed among the active inmates. It is unclear whether the suspects have legal representation.
Authorities have not said what might be behind the disappearances, and four people were arrested in Texas and Cimarron counties in the western Oklahoma panhandle.
“OSBI and local law enforcement are still working to locate the two victims,” the Bureau of Investigation said.
Veronica Butler, 27, and Jillian Kelly, 39, were the subject of a “dangerous missing persons advisory” issued by Texas County authorities on March 30 after the vehicle they were traveling in was abandoned in a rural area of Texas County south of Elkhart. Kansas, the bureau said.
“OSBI special agents immediately began investigating the vehicle and determined there was evidence indicating foul play,” it said in a statement Saturday.
Bureau spokesman Hunter McGee said Texas County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived in the vehicle first. They approached the vehicle, but “these women were gone, they were nowhere to be found,” he said.
The investigation was challenged by how remote the area was, with only a few homes and businesses where officers could typically locate security cameras.
Investigators haven't revealed exactly what the likelihood of a crime was.
Although it is not clear whether the children belonged to one, two, or both women, both were on their way to pick up the children. Bureau spokesman Hunter McGee said investigators believe the two were friends.
Guadalupe Torres, Butler's stepmother, said in an interview that Butler was in a bitter custody dispute. Court records show he is a party to a custody claim first filed in 2021.
Authorities have so far stopped short of saying they are looking for bodies, despite allegations of homicide in bookings linked to the investigation.
Anyone with information on the girls' whereabouts is asked to contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation at [email protected] or 1-800-522-8017.
