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

GUYMON, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma prosecutors charged a fifth member of an anti-government group Wednesday with 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 bail 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 could speak on his behalf.

Four other people 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, from Texhoma, Oklahoma.

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

A witness who spoke to Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents said the five suspects were part of an “anti-government group with a religious affiliation,” according to the affidavit. Investigators learned the group called themselves “God’s Misfits” and met regularly at the home of the Twomblys and another couple.