Exclusive: Kansas moms murder suspects kept apart in jail
- Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley disappeared March 30
- Butler in bitter custody dispute with children's grandma, Tifany Adams
- Four suspects, including Adams, were denied bond at arraignment
Tad Bert Cullum, 43, Tifany Machel Adams, 54, Cole Earl Twombly, 50 and Cora Twombly, 44, were arrested in Texas and Cimarron Counties, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Saturday.
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(NewsNation) — The four suspects jailed in the killings of two Kansas mothers are being kept apart from one another at Oklahoma’s Texas County jail, the county sheriff told NewsNation’s “Banfield.”
Tifany Adams, 54; her boyfriend Tad Cullum, 43; Cora Twombly, 44; and her husband Cole Twombly, 50, have each been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39.
Texas County Sheriff Matt Boley provided details on procedures at the 96-bed facility, which currently houses 47 inmates — 36 men and 11 women.
The jail features separate sections for men and women, with the men’s side consisting of six pods, each with varying numbers of beds, while the women’s side comprises two pods. Women inmates have access to both dormitory-style accommodations and individual cells, with shared shower facilities.
Cullum and Cole Twombly are deliberately held on opposite sides of the men’s section, separated by four pods, to prevent any potential contact between them. Similarly, one of the women, either Tifany or Cora, is housed in a holding cell typically reserved for temporary stays during processing, while the other resides in a designated women’s pod, ensuring they do not interact.
No visitors are allowed except for attorneys and spiritual advisers. Family and friends must communicate through video calls on provided iPads.
The jail provides three meals per day, which Boley described as really good quality. Inmates can also purchase snacks, hygiene items, board games and office supplies from an online commissary service.
Recreational time is limited to an indoor “cement room” with a metal grate roof allowing views of the outdoors. The jail lacks an exercise facility.
The suspects arrested were officially arraigned in an Oklahoma court Wednesday, when a judge denied each of them bond. The quartet, allegedly part of an anti-government religious group called “God’s Misfits,” have become central figures in the investigation.
The four suspects lived in the Oklahoma Panhandle, a thin strip of land with a history of lawlessness and criminality in the 1800s. The area where the suspects lived and where the two bodies were found had historically been known as “No Man’s Land.”
All four suspects are expected back in court sometime next month.