ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The preliminary hearings of four of the five suspects accused in the deaths of two Hugoton women earlier this year will be consolidated.
Hearings for 54-year-old Tifany Machel Adams and 43-year-old Tad Bert Cullum, both of Keyes, Okla., along with 50-year-old Cole Earl Twombly and 44-year-old Cora Gayle Twombly, both of Texhoma, Okla., are now scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 17 in Texas County District Court.
A fifth suspect, Paul Jeremiah Grice, 31, has waived his right to a preliminary hearing and a speedy trial, and the matter is set for further proceedings Feb. 19, 2025, also in Texas County District Court.
Each suspect is charged with two counts first degree murder with deliberate intent, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit first degree murder.
In April, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation issued a press release, saying four individuals, Adams, Cullum and the Twomblys, had been arrested after agents investigated an abandoned vehicle found in late March south of Elkhart.
The investigation, OSBI said, determined there was evidence to indicate foul play in the suspicious disappearance of 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelly, both of Hugoton.
April 24, OSBI said evidence and information gathered from the case gave agents cause to arrest Grice and book him into the Texas County Jail
Butler and Kelly went missing March 30 and were found deceased April 14 in rural Texas County.
