WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Oklahoma authorities will wait another six months before releasing the medical examiner’s report detailing the death of Veronica Butler. Butler and Jilian Kelley were murdered earlier this year after they traveled from Hugoton to pick up Butler’s children in Oklahoma.
The women never made it to the children. They disappeared on March 30, and their bodies were found buried in a freezer about two weeks later.
Officials arrested and charged the children’s grandmother, Tifany Adams, and four other people, Tad Cullum, Cole and Cora Twombly, and Paul Grice.
The medical examiner released the autopsy report for Jilian Kelley on Nov. 5, as attorneys for Adams, Cullum and Cole Twombly were asking the court to delay the release of the autopsy reports. The Texas County, Oklahoma, district attorney said Kelley’s autopsy report was released in error.
A judge has agreed to delay releasing Butler’s report for six months. The earliest it could be released is May 13, 2025, more than a year after she was murdered.
Meanwhile, defendant Grice is back in the Texas County jail where the other four defendants are being held.
He had been in jail in neighboring Woodward County but was moved Thursday night. The DA said Grice’s transfer had nothing to do with the investigation.