Murdered Kansas moms: Motion filed to hold fifth person arrested without bail
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – New court documents have been released in the death investigations of Jillian Kelley and Veronica Butler.
On Thursday, the Texas County District Attorney filed a motion to hold Paul Grice, the fifth person arrested in connection to Butler and Kelley’s death, without bail.
The motion provides three reasons: Proof of guilt is evident, violent offenses are believed to have happened, and he’s facing a maximum sentence of life or life without parole.
The DA claims Grice is a “continuing threat to society” for plotting to kidnap and murder Butler and Jillian so Veronica could not get custody or unsupervised visitation of her children.
Court documents say Grice is “therefore willing to take any extreme, violent measure to protect himself and thwart the criminal justice process,” and “no conditions exist which would effectively assure the safety of the community or any person involved in this case, including court officials” if he was released.
Celebration of Life service planned for Veronica Butler
Grice was arrested nine days after arrest affidavits for the other four suspects named him and said he was involved in the deaths of Butler and Kelley.
KSN reached out to the Texas County Sheriff’s Office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to ask why Grice was not arrested sooner but they would not give us an answer.
Grice’s first court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday. That is when the judge will decide whether to give him a bond.
The judge denied the bonds for the other four suspects: Tifany Adams (the grandmother of Veronica’s children), Tad Cullum, Cole Twombly, and Cora Twombly. All were members of the self-proclaimed anti-government group “God’s Misfits.”
Timeline:
Butler and Kelley went missing on March 30. They were on their way to Oklahoma from Hugoton to pick up Butler’s children, but they never arrived. Their vehicle was found abandoned on the side of the road with “evidence of foul play.”
On April 13, it was announced that Adams, Cullum and the Twomblys were arrested.
On April 14, the OSBI announced that two bodies were found 8.5 miles from where the women went missing. Two days later, they were identified as Butler and Kelley.
Court documents state that the women were found on a pasture below a dam that Cullum rents for cattle grazing. The property had fresh dirt work done. While it has not been announced how the women were killed, it is believed that they were shot.
Celebration of Life service planned for Jilian Kelley
According to court documents, Adams “did provide a recorded statement to law enforcement indicating her responsibility for the death of the deceased.” The documents also revealed that Adams was in a custody dispute with Butler that involved death threats.
Adams, Cullum, and the Twomblys were charged on April 17 with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
Grice was arrested on April 24. The motion states that he “admitted to OSBI that he was part of the planning and killing of both Butler and Kelley and their subsequent burial.”
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