Fifth suspect arrested in Texas County
TEXAS COUNTY, Okla. (KFOR) — The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has made a fifth arrest in connection to the deaths of two Kansas women in Texas County.
27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jillian Kelley reportedly went missing on March 30, and were later found dead in rural Texas County on April 14.
According to OSBI, 31-year-old Paul Grice was arrested and 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.
During an interview, Grice admitted that he was a part of the planning, killing and subsequent burial of Butler and Kelley, according to the probable cause affidavit for his arrest warrant.
Grice was allegedly involved in other attempts to kill Butler, the affidavit states. One attempt was reportedly in February when Grice, along with Tifany Adams, Tad Cullum, and Cole and Cora Twombly, went to Hugoton to get Butler to leave her house, but she never did. The plan was to make her death look like an accident by throwing an anvil through Butler’s windshield while she was driving “because anvils regularly fall off of work trucks.”
The affidavit of probable cause for an arrest warrant for Grice revealed he had a cell phone conversation with Cullum and Adams prior to the disappearance of Butler and Kelley on Saturday, March 30. After their disappearance, Grice was at his home with Cullum.
Complete Coverage of the Texas County Murder investigation
Tifany Adams, 54, and her boyfriend, Tad Cullum, 43, both of Keyes, Oklahoma, as well as Cole and Cora Twombly of Texhoma, Oklahoma are also in custody in connection to the deaths.
According to an affidavit, Veronica Butler was on her way to a supervised visit with her two children when she and Jillian Kelley went missing.
Kelley was a court appointed supervisor for the visitation. Family got concerned with the two did not return home and went looking for them.
They found Butler’s car on Highway 95 and Road L, south of Elkhart, Kansas.
Court documents revealed the attack was planned. It also stated all four were part of an anti-government, religious group called “God’s Misfits.”
The punishment for first-degree murder in Oklahoma can be death, life in prison or life without parole.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KFOR.com Oklahoma City.
