Two of five defendants in the murders of two Kansas women last year were rearraigned and pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.
Cole Twombly and Tad Cullum were rearraigned after Texas County District Attorney George H. Leach III filed paperwork last month saying he would seek the death penalty against the two men, KAMR reported.
The bodies of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were found on April 14, two weeks after they disappeared while traveling to pick up Butler’s children from their grandmother’s home in Texas County, Oklahoma, as CrimeOnline reported. The grandmother, Tifany Adams, and four other people — her boyfriend Cullum, Twombly, his wife Cora Twombly, and Paul Grice — were later charged with multiple counts related to the murders.
The defendants were accused of ambushing the two women as they travelled to Adams’ home in Oklahoma from their homes in Kansas. After they were killed, their bodies were placed in a freezer and buried in a spot secured and prepared by Cullum.
Adams has since pleaded no contest to two counts of first degree murder, two counts of unlawful removal of a dead body, and two counts of unlawful desecration of a human corpse, according to KSN. She is scheduled to be sentenced on January 28, 2026.
Cora Twombly and Grice, who have taken plea deals that took the death penalty off the table for them in exchange for their testimony, appeared in court for a procedural hearing on Wednesday.
A judge set the trial dates for the remaining two defendants — Cullum for June 1, 2026, and Twombly for October 19, 2026.
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[Featured image: Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley/Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation]
