Preacher's Wife and Her Friend Go Missing in 'Suspicious Disappearance,' Okla. Police Say
The women's car was found abandoned on the side of the road in a rural area of Oklahoma
Police are looking for two missing Kansas women whose car was found abandoned on the side of the road in Oklahoma.
On Saturday, the Texas County Sheriff's Department announced in a press release shared on Facebook that a search was underway to find 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley.
Authorities say Butler and Kelley were on their way to "pick up children," however, according to local Kansas station KWCH 12 News, the pair never arrived. 12 News added that the children they were supposed to pick up were Butler's.
The Sheriff's Department called in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) for assistance with the case. The OSBI described it as a "suspicious disappearance" in a statement on Sunday.
Investigators found the women's vehicle abandoned in a rural area near Highway 95 and Road L, south of Elkhart, Kan., the OSBI said Sunday. The area is south of the Oklahoma border.
Butler is described as being 5 foot 4 inches tall with red hair and green eyes, while Kelley is described as having brown hair and blue eyes, according to the Texas County Sheriff's Department. At the time of their disappearance, Butler was wearing a blue short sleeve shirt, denim shorts and HEYDUDE gym shoes, while Kelley was wearing white-washed blue jeans, a short sleeve shirt and tan or beige shoes.
They also each have distinctive tattoos, according to the advisory. Butler has "a Chinese symbol on her left forearm, a sunflower on her left shoulder" and Kelley has "a butterfly tattoo on her left forearm."
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According to the Kansas City Star, Kelley, of Hugoton, Kan., is married to Heath Kelley, the incoming minister at Willow Christian Church in Indianola, Neb. On Sunday, members at the church gathered to pray for the missing women, the Star reported.
"Please, please be in prayer for these women," the church's Facebook account shared in a post Sunday. "[Jilian] is the wife of our new minister, Heath Kelley, and the sister in law of church member Hillary Kennedy. Please pray that [Jilian] and her friend Veronica are safe and that they are found quickly. God please bring these women home to their families that are so worried about them."
Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the OSBI at 1-800-522-8017 or by email at tips@osbi.ok.gov.
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