Woman gets life in prison for role in deaths of 2 Kansas women found buried in freezer
By KAKE Staff
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GUYMON, Okla. (KAKE) — One of five people accused in the deaths of two Kansas women in 2024 has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Texas County, Oklahoma court records show that Tifany Adams was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She pleaded no contest in October to two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of unlawful removal of a dead body and two counts of desecration of a corpse. Two counts of child neglect and one count of conspiracy were dismissed. Her sentencing is scheduled for January 28.
Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley were reported missing on March 30, 2024. Their bodies were found two weeks later buried in a freezer in Texas County, Oklahoma. Both had been stabbed to death.
Adams and four others were charged in connection with the case: Paul Grice, Tad Cullum, Cole Twombly and Cora Twombly.
Tad Collum and Cole Twombly have pleaded not guilty, and the district attorney said he will seek the death penalty. Their trials are scheduled for October 19, 2026 and February 22, 2027, respectively. Grice and Cora Twombly have already taken plea deals to testify for the state.
Veronica and Jilian were traveling together from Hugoton, Kansas to pick up Butler’s children when the two women went missing. Their car was found abandoned in a remote part of northern Oklahoma near the Kansas border.
Court documents stated that Cole and Cora Twombly were the lookouts the day of the murders and confided in their daughter in the hope of receiving an alibi for the morning of the murders.
Paul Grice in part, allegedly stabbed and killed Butler, sliced his hand “badly” with the knife and accompanied the bodies of both victims to their burial site. The document says Grice threw off his clothing, stun device and the knife used to kill Buter into the burial site. His clothing found in the burial site contained his and Butler’s DNA.
Tad Cullum in part, got permission from the landowners to dig the hole for the burial site and dug the whole with his skid steer the day before the murders.
Cullum is accused of fatally stabbing Kelley and driving the bodies to the burial site. He put his clothing in the burial site, in addition to Butler and Kelley inside a freezer in the previously dug hole. His clothing, found at the site, also contained his and Kelley’s DNA. The accessories to the knife, found at the burial site, were found in his home.
The document said Adams purchased burner phones from Walmart which were used by the conspirators to communicate. She purchased the stun devices at Standard Supply, one of which was found at the burial site. She also bought the yellow straps that were placed around the freezer containing the bodies of Butler and Kelley at Tractor Supply.
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