An Oklahoma grandmother, who masterminded the double murders of a Kansas pastor’s wife and her friend 18 months ago in the famous “God’s Misfits” case, pleaded no contest on Wednesday.

Tifany Adams entered pleas 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.

Texas County (Oklahoma) District Judge Jon Parsley found her guilty of murdering Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, both of Hugoton, Kansas. According to prior reporting by The Roys Report (TRR), Kelley was the wife of Pastor Heath Kelley of Willow Christian Church in Indianola, Nebraska.

On March 30, 2024, the women were traveling to Oklahoma for a supervised visit of Butler’s children, who are also Adams’ grandchildren. The children lived with Adams, while their father was in a rehabilitation facility in Oklahoma City. According to an affidavit, Adams and Butler were engaged in a custody dispute, which provided motive for the murders.

Butler and Kelley never arrived at their destination. Instead, they were ambushed by five members of an anti-government Christian prayer group, calling themselves “God’s Misfits,” according to a long profile in the Kansas Reflector. One of the members of the “Misfits”—Tad Bert Cullum, 44—was romantically involved with Adams.

After the two women went missing, their car—with blood next to it—was found abandoned by the side of the road in a rural area in the Oklahoma panhandle. A massive manhunt took place to find the missing women. Two weeks later and about eight miles away, investigators found Kelley’s and Butler’s bodies in a freezer, according to  Wichita-based television station KSNW-TV Ch. 3. Butler’s body was stacked on top of Kelley’s body.

KSNW reported a lasso-style rope was found loosely wrapped around Butler’s waist. Butler had 30 cuts and stab wounds to her head, neck, shoulder, back, torso, hands, arm, and thigh.

The medical examiner’s report stated that a third of the cuts indicated the young mother was trying to defend herself. There was also one blunt force injury to the top of her head and possible stun gun marks to the lower neck.

The freezer itself was under a concrete slab buried up to eight feet below ground in a farm pasture. Under the freezer, investigators found a stun gun, a roll of tape, and a sheathed knife. The station reported that they also found dirt, hay, an Apple watch, a pair of soiled shoes, and two soiled gloves.

Also arrested as part of the custody dispute and murder plot were Cullum, Cole Earl Twombly, 51, Cora Twombly, 45, and Paul Grice, 31.  They each are charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, online records show.

According to the Reflector, Cullum and Grice did the actual killing, but Adams purchased burner phones, stun guns, and other items necessary to carry out the deed. Police got a vital lead in the case when the Twombley’s 16-year-old daughter leaked them details she had heard from her parents.

According to plea documents, Adams is scheduled to be sentenced in January. Oklahoma prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty against Adams.

Prosecutors offered Grice and Cora Twombly plea deals in exchange for testifying against the other defendants, according to News Channel—TV Channel 10.

Online court records show that Cullum and Cole Twombly are due back in court on Nov. 5.

The death penalty was taken off the table in Grice’s case, and prosecutors offered Cora Twombly a life sentence with 30 years suspended, meaning she would have to serve 30 years before she is eligible for parole.

When Oklahoma prosecutors seek the death penalty against a defendant, they must file a Bill of Particulars that alleges the defendant should be punished by death. Specific crimes, such as first-degree murder with aggravating circumstances, qualify for the death penalty.

A Bill of Particulars can be filed at any time in a defendant’s case.  

Oklahoma has put four women to death since 1903.

Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.