GUYMON, Okla.– An Oklahoma judge ordered public defenders to represent four members of an anti-government group who appeared in court Wednesday on charges of kidnapping and murdering two Kansas women.
The judge also entered not guilty pleas and denied bail for Tifany Adams, 54, and her boyfriend Tad Cullum, 43, both of Keyes, Oklahoma, as well as Cole and Cora Twombly of Texhoma, Oklahoma.
Texas County Associate District Judge Clark Jett has assigned the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System to represent all four defendants, OIDS Director Tim Laughlin told The Associated Press. Laughlin declined to comment on details of the case or the defendants, citing his office’s policy.
“The reason we are not commenting is to protect our client’s privileges and our client’s interests throughout the litigation process,” Laughlin said.
All four are charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and conspiracy in the killings of 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley of Hugoton, Kansas, who disappeared on May 30 while driving to Oklahoma to retrieve Butler’s belongings to get. children and attending a birthday party.
Authorities say Adams, the children’s grandmother, and Butler were in the middle of a bitter custody battle. Kelley, a pastor’s wife, accompanied Butler as a court-approved observer to oversee the visit. They never showed up at the party, sparking a two-week search that ended with the arrest of the two couples on Saturday and the discovery of the bodies on Sunday.
The arrest affidavits painted a gruesome picture of where the woman’s car was found, not far from the intersection on the rural highway where Butler had agreed to pick up her son and daughter from Adams. Investigators found blood on the road and Butler’s glasses near a broken hammer.
According to a witness who spoke with agents from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, all four suspects were part of “an anti-government group that had religious beliefs.” The affidavits said they called themselves “God’s Misfits” and held regular gatherings at the home. of the Twomblys and another couple who Adams said were watching the children the day the women disappeared.
Relatives of Tad Cullum and the Twomblys did not return phone messages seeking comment. Tifany Adams’ stepmother, Elise Adams, said she had no information to share.