A missing Kansas woman who vanished this year and was discovered in a freezer buried in a cow pasture in the Oklahoma Panhandle was slain in a stabbing attack that left her with hundreds of wounds, according to a medical examiner’s findings.
Veronica Butler, 27, died of sharp force trauma and had 30 wounds, 10 of which were consistent with her attempting to defend herself, according to a report from the state chief medical examiner’s office.
Butler and Jilian Kelley, a 39-year-old court supervisor in a child custody dispute, went missing on March 30. Their corpses were discovered in Texas County, Oklahoma, on April 14, fewer than ten miles from where they went missing, according to an affidavit filed by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Butler, who had a laceration on her skull perhaps caused by a stun gun, was most likely dead when she was placed in the freezer and buried, according to the medical examiner.
Tifany Adams, her lover Tad Bert Cullum, Cole Earl Twombly, Cora Twombly, and Paul Grice have all been charged with murder, conspiracy to conduct first-degree murder and kidnapping.
The Oklahoma Indigent Defense System represents four out of the five. The agency’s executive director, Tim Laughlin, declined to comment on Thursday.
An attorney thought to be defending Cullum could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.
According to court records, Cullum rented the farm where Butler and Kelley were located for cattle grazing.
The custody battle between Butler and Adams began in February 2019, according to the affidavit. According to the court records, Adams is the mother of the children’s father.
Butler had requested prolonged visitation, and her lawyer informed the State Bureau of Investigation that she would most likely receive unsupervised visitation at a court hearing on April 17, according to court documents.
According to the inquiry bureau document, the children’s father stated that Adams did not always allow him to have his children, even though he had legal custody.
Butler had intended to take her daughter to a birthday party on the day she went missing, which was also a visiting day.
Source: Kansas woman found buried in a freezer in Oklahoma died from 30 stab wounds, report says
