Two Oklahomans accused of a massive murder conspiracy that claimed the lives of two mothers are providing crucial information to authorities about the bizarre and heinous crime.
The case against the alleged members of the anti-government group known as “God’s Misfits” is currently in the pre-trial stage.
Paul Grice, 32, and Cora Twombly, 45, faced numerous charges but agreed to plea bargains for their testimony in December 2024. However, if the defendants do not cooperate with prosecutors as expected, the judge overseeing the case may deny the plea deals.
Transcripts of Grice and Twombly’s court testimony were recently made public in a related wrongful death civil case filed by the heir and estate of one of the victims.
“Will you tell the court what your understanding is of what you’re receiving in exchange for being here and testifying today for the State,” the judge asked Grice during the hearing.
“To abolish the death penalty,” Grice responded.
Twombly’s time on the dais revealed a similar bargain: she will serve at least 30 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
The pair described how the five charged defendants began as “just friends hanging out” before meeting on a regular basis as members of a prayer group that evolved into a private member association.
Over time, they claimed, co-defendant Tifany Adams, 55, began to complain about the custody situation involving her grandchildren, complaining that the minors were around drugs because of her son and casting doubt on the “parenting abilities in general.”
That custody dispute eventually led to the bloody and brutal murders of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39.
The slain Kansas women left home in late March 2024 to pick up Butler’s children in rural Oklahoma, but they never returned. Their bodies were discovered buried in an underground freezer on April 14, 2024.
Grice explained how Adams allegedly approached him.
“This initial – this meeting where she came over to your house in February in your opinion what was the purpose of that meeting?” replied a prosecutor to Grice.
Grice is said to have responded, “Well, she – after our talk, she pointed blank asked me if I would kill Veronica.”
“What was your response?” the prosecutor inquired.
“Told her I would think about it,” Grice continued. “I had let her story instill a lot of bitterness and hatred in me. And I had no proof of it, which was my fault.”
The defendant also claimed that Adams used religion, specifically the Christian Bible, to justify the planned violence.
“She had a couple of verses,” Grice told the state.
The prosecutor then inquired about the general outline of the plan to murder the two women; again, Grice identified Adams as the leader; he also mentioned a prominent role for Tad Bert Cullum, 44, Adams’ boyfriend.
From the transcript, in length:
Q. Okay. Who was explaining the plan to you?
A. Tifany.
Q. Okay. And what did she you tell the plan was?
A. She said she was going to have a pickup and a trailer with a freezer in it and she would come with a way to lure the women to the trailer. Told me that my job was to kill Veronica and that Tad would handle the supervisor, Jilian. And that Tad had a place to bury the bodies and the evidence.
Q. Okay. Where was the murder supposed to take place?
A. The corner of road L and was it Highway 95.
Q. Ask you a different way. Was it supposed to take place inside the trailer?
A. Yes, that was our hope and plan.
Q. Why was it supposed to be in the trailer?
A. I don’t really know why. It’s just what we come up with.
The defendants went on to describe the various other roles that each defendant was alleged to play on that particular day.
Twombly stated that her role was to sit outside the trailer and wait for the victims to arrive before departing with any cellular phones that had been brought to the scene of the crime, along with Adams, and later destroying the cellphones at another location. Cole Earl Twombly, 50, was to serve as the lookout.
But in the end, “things hadn’t gone the way she planned,” Twombly testified, referring to Adams. “And there was a lot of blood.”
Twombly stated that she arrived at a more chaotic crime scene than expected, as one of the co-defendants was chasing one of the victims. She said she saw Grice pleading for help as he killed the women.
Grice, for his part, admitted to killing Butler with a hammer and then Kelley with a knife, but told prosecutors that he believed he had been set up to be the only one “with blood on [his] hands.”
A prosecutor inquired about the aftermath of the first murder: “Returning to Tifany coming over there while you have Veronica on the ground.” “What’s Tifany doing?”
Grice reportedly responded, “Walking a circle around us laughing.” “It was the most evil laugh I had ever heard.”
The case’s next hearing is scheduled for July 30 and will concern evidence testing that could destroy or damage specific materials.
