In a rural Oklahoma county, two bodies were discovered after a day four individuals were charged with murder and kidnapping related to the disappearance of two women from Kansas in March. The bodies were found in Texas County and will be taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office to identify them and determine the cause and manner of their deaths, according to a statement from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
The two missing women, Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, from Hugoton, Kansas, were on their way to pick up Butler’s children for a birthday party on March 30 but never arrived. Their vehicle was later found abandoned on a rural highway in Texas County, Oklahoma, approximately 11 miles south of Elkhart, Kansas, near the Oklahoma-Kansas state line.
The area where the vehicle was discovered is about 260 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. The Texas County Sheriff’s Office asked for assistance from the state bureau of investigation, which quickly suspected foul play based on undisclosed evidence found in the vehicle.
On Saturday, Oklahoma authorities announced the arrest and charging of four individuals with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree. The investigation into the disappearance and deaths of Butler and Kelley is ongoing.
Authorities have not disclosed any further details about the suspects or the evidence leading to their arrest. The community is shocked and saddened by the tragic turn of events, and many are awaiting further developments in the case.
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