Oklahoma prosecutors charge fifth member of anti-government group in Kansas women’s killings

GUYMON, Okla.– Prosecutors in Oklahoma on Wednesday charged a fifth member of an anti-government group in the murder and kidnapping of two Kansas women.

Paul Jeremiah Grice, 31, was charged in Texas County with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit murder.

Grice told an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent that he participated in the murder and burial of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, of Hugoton, Kansas, according to an arrest affidavit filed in the case.

Grice is being held without bond at the Texas County Detention Center in Guymon, a jail official said. Court and jail records do not indicate whether Grice has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

Four others have been charged in connection with the deaths and are being held without bail: Tifany Adams, 54, and her boyfriend, Tad Cullum, 43, of Keyes, and Cole, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44, of Texhoma, Oklahoma.

Butler and Kelley disappeared on March 30 while driving to pick up Butler’s two children for a birthday party. Adams, the children’s grandmother, had a bitter custody dispute with Butler, who was allowed only supervised visits with the children on Saturdays. According to the affidavits, Kelley was authorized to supervise the visits.

A witness who spoke with agents from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said all five suspects were part of “an anti-government group that had religious beliefs,” according to the affidavit. Investigators discovered that the group called itself “God’s Misfits” and held regular meetings at the home of the Twomblys and another couple.