Editor’s note: There has been an update in this story.
(NewsNation) — In an exclusive interview with NewsNation, a friend of one of the suspects charged with the murder of the missing Kansas moms said he was shocked by the killings.
Grandmother Tifany Adams, 54; her boyfriend Tad Cullum, 43; Cora Twombly, 44; and her husband Cole Twombly, 50, are each charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder of Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley, who vanished March 30 while en route to pick up Butler’s children for a supervised visit.
Vincent Forbes, a local municipal court judge who says he’s a friend of Cullum, expressed disbelief at the unfolding events. Forbes revealed that he had been in regular contact with Cullum and was even present at his residence during the police raid.
“I’m blown away that this even happened,” Forbes stated. “Tad was a very good friend of mine. I’m not gonna say he was a very good friend of mine. He is a good friend of mine.”
The quartet, allegedly part of an anti-government religious group called “God’s Misfits,” have become central figures in the investigation. The mothers’ vehicle was discovered abandoned on a desolate Oklahoma road.
“The way I understand it, is they got God behind them, and they make their own laws. But now, again, that’s hearsay. I never knew about them,” Forbes said.
Over the weekend, investigators unearthed two bodies in a remote area near where the car was found. The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the identities of the bodies as Butler and Kelley on Tuesday.
The four suspects lived in the Oklahoma Panhandle, a thin strip of land with a history of lawlessness and criminality in the 1800s. The Oklahoma Panhandle, where the suspects lived as well as where two bodies were found, had historically been known as “No Man’s Land.”
NewsNation learned that the property owner, who had leased the land to Cullum, was in disbelief when investigators showed up at his property and started digging.
Authorities have revealed that the disappearance is believed to be linked to a violent escalation in a custody dispute between Butler and her children’s grandmother, Adams.