OK OK, Veronica Butler 27 & Jilian Kelley 39, Vehicle Abandoned, Texas County, 30 Mar 2024

[Betty P]

The building posted on X looks like an abandoned gas station with two car bays. I think that's the general location, but the house and farm might be across the street.

It's an unusual place for a hand-over given that Veronica Butler requested police attendance for hand-over of children in 2021-22.

Why didn't they meet at a populated location?

JMO, she may not have been given a choice about where to meet.

 

[Trino]

Why didn't they meet in a public place at Elkhart, rather than Veronica doing all the driving? Curtesy of sharing some of the driving, and having the children dressed, packed, and ready-to-go goes a long way in calming custody upheaval.

The children hand-over, per earlier X photos, seems to be 18 miles south of Elkhart. The total trip is 45 miles. The hand-over location looks like an abandoned gas station. Why an isolated building rather than their custodial home or a public place?

View attachment 495107
Google Map

Why an abandoned place? People are naive. J seems like she had a positive outlook on life/people, did not suspect a problem. Would like to know more about her.

 

[Trino]

About 3:49 in this video, NewsNation’s Brooke Shafer says she spoke with a witness who saw the car on Saturday morning. He didn't get close enough to notice if there were any broken windows or anything like that, but he said the car was parked sort of in the brush right off the highway, not necessarily a normal spot that you would pull over...

Oklahoma missing moms foul play evidence found near abandoned car | On Balance​

@otto, see map at about 3:37

Thanks for sharing. The video doesn't offer a lot because there's not a lot known. Why won't investigators talk about possible blood? How could that interfere with an investigation? How would items left in the car hinder such? Seems like a vs the public mindset.

 

[Dargon335]

This is where Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley were supposed to show up to pick up kids, but they never made it.

<modsnip>Granted, it may be a 'half way point' geographically, but IMO anything could happen at this location without any public visibility whatsoever.

 

[Dargon335]

The building posted on X looks like an abandoned gas station with two car bays. I think that's the general location, but the house and farm might be across the street.

It's an unusual place for a hand-over given that Veronica Butler requested police attendance for hand-over of children in 2021-22.

Why didn't they meet at a populated location?

Still catching up on this thread from overnight but I agree. Seems like a very odd and potentially dangerous place for the hand-over. MOO

 

[LetsSolvIt]

I suspect it may have been dismissed since neither of these women fit the (generally agreed, in any case) common criteria for a trafficked person. They weren't engaged in high risk behavior or lifestyles (runaways, s*x workers, homeless, etc.), and it was in the middle of nowhere, basically, where they went missing. Traffickers hit up areas where young women engaging in high risk behavior would be super easy to find, manipulate and take advantage of.

jmo

Gotch’a.

 

[Gae]

From the news video posted above, the lady searching the area on horseback had a couple of very interesting comments.
She said no one was out there searching so they decided to come search for them.
She also said she called the Sheriff's Dept there and asked if they could come help in the search and was told to please come on down, they could use all the help they could get.
So there's no organized search groups combing that area? Only two people on horses have volunteered to help look for the women or evidence? People aren't out there with their drones - looking for clues? Friends and families aren't organizing search groups at nearby lakes, fields, abandoned buildings? What's going on here?

 

[Cecelia]

From the news video posted above, the lady searching the area on horseback had a couple of very interesting comments.
She said no one was out there searching so they decided to come search for them.
She also said she called the Sheriff's Dept there and asked if they could come help in the search and was told to please come on down, they could use all the help they could get.
So there's no organized search groups combing that area? Only two people on horses have volunteered to help look for the women or evidence? People aren't out there with their drones - looking for clues? Friends and families aren't organizing search groups at nearby lakes, fields, abandoned buildings? What's going on here?

That reminds me, whatever happened to Texas EquuSearch? This seems like the exact kind of situation that would be ideal for them to get involved in.

 

[Eli9]

Still catching up on this thread from overnight but I agree. Seems like a very odd and potentially dangerous place for the hand-over. MOO

The thing is when you are used to small town rural living you sometimes don't see the dangers. I don't know about this particular area and what the crime rate is but having lived in a much, much smaller town years ago I often did drop off/pick up at our Four Corners Market after closing hours. MOO

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Kelley is the wife of a minister and the sister-in-law of a church member, according to a post on Facebook from the McCook Christian Church in Nebraska, near the border of Kansas.

“Please pray that Jillian and her friend Veronica are safe and that they are found quickly,” the post said. “God please bring these women home to their families that are so worried about them.”

Foul play suspected in disappearance of minister's wife, friend traveling to pick up children

Two women vanished as they were traveling from Kansas to Oklahoma to pick up children this past weekend, and authorities suspect foul play after finding their abandoned vehicle on the side of a road.

lawandcrime.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

From the news video posted above, the lady searching the area on horseback had a couple of very interesting comments.
She said no one was out there searching so they decided to come search for them.
She also said she called the Sheriff's Dept there and asked if they could come help in the search and was told to please come on down, they could use all the help they could get.
So there's no organized search groups combing that area? Only two people on horses have volunteered to help look for the women or evidence? People aren't out there with their drones - looking for clues? Friends and families aren't organizing search groups at nearby lakes, fields, abandoned buildings? What's going on here?

The only time authorities don’t ask for help is when they don’t need it. They must have their answer and are waiting for the kidnapper or murderer to make a wrong play or for the women to reveal themselves somehow.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=664954052381954

 

[PommyMommy]

I suppose it's helpful to know where she worked, but it seems unlikely that her abduction is related to work.

Coincidences happen, but some people believe that there's no such thing as a coincidence. The fact that one of the women was picking up her children during an acrimonious custody dispute, the other woman was there by chance ... and they were abducted 5 miles from the children hand-over location? That seems like more than a coincidence.

Agreed. Just pointing out that the timing of the rehab is out there, in the event you hadn't seen it, but it is hard to discuss here with no POI(s) named. MOO

 

[MadMcGoo]

APR 4, 2024

Missing Mom and Preacher’s Wife Vanish, Picking up Kids: Car Just Found

CRIME STORIES with Nancy Grace

www.crimeonline.com

[...]

Investigators then discovered their SUV at around 10:30 a.m. ...

[...]

...The abandoned vehicle was found on the side of the road, reportedly with one of the windows smashed out, but no indication of car trouble, a little over an hour after she left.

[...]

"They were going to a location called Four Corners Trading Post, which is just south of Eva, Oklahoma. Four Corners Trading Post is in a very rural area of Oklahoma. Honestly, there isn’t much there." - CrimeOnline reporter Nicole Partin

[...]

This article describes the trip as being 45 minutes long. For the vehicle to be found abandoned a little over an hour after they (she, in this article) left and 3 miles short of their destination, makes me think whatever happened to them happened quickly and possibly close to where the vehicle was found.

If something took place somewhere closer to point A and the vehicle was left near point B by some other person(s), whoever discovered the vehicle must have missed that person(s) by 15 or 20 minutes ETA: or less. IMO

 

[imstilla.grandma]

This article describes the trip as being 45 minutes long. For the vehicle to be found abandoned a little over an hour after they (she, in this article) left and 3 miles short of their destination, makes me think whatever happened to them happened quickly and possibly close to where the vehicle was found.

If something took place somewhere closer to point A and the vehicle was left near point B by some other person(s), whoever discovered the vehicle must have missed that person(s) by 15 or 20 minutes. IMO

So that person: VB’s fiancé/husband, could have seen another vehicle driving in this rural area if these women were taken away from their blue KIA. I suppose OSBI are spending quality time with this man questioning his memory. Another car seen? Or a semi truck? Or perhaps a truck pulling a horse trailer where the women would be hidden from other travelers?

 

[Universecalling]

From the news video posted above, the lady searching the area on horseback had a couple of very interesting comments.
She said no one was out there searching so they decided to come search for them.
She also said she called the Sheriff's Dept there and asked if they could come help in the search and was told to please come on down, they could use all the help they could get.
So there's no organized search groups combing that area? Only two people on horses have volunteered to help look for the women or evidence? People aren't out there with their drones - looking for clues? Friends and families aren't organizing search groups at nearby lakes, fields, abandoned buildings? What's going on here?

They most likely have 99% of what they need. Would not be surprised those involved are being surveilled.

Few questions I have… is there a dirt backroad that could lead to the grandmother’s property? Since it’s farmland, seeing farm equipment with trailers (and away from the main road) wouldn’t be all that surprising. Easily hidden in plain sight, should you need to transport bodies.
I would think there are access roads to all those farming properties.

My other question is do we know if the children are with the grandmother? I could see LE telling her they need to put the kids in protective custody, while making her feel as if she isn’t a POI.

 

[lightofmine99]

My first assumption was that they probably have a good idea of what's going on, and they don't really want a hoard of volunteers to search the areas they have pinned down. Or what they need to search cannot be searched by volunteers.

But if volunteers want to comb through Four Corners on horseback they aren't going to tell them no, especially if it's no longer considered an active crime scene.

 

[PommyMommy]

This was thrown together pretty quickly, so please feel free to pick it apart. I'm off to work though. See you this evening.

Saturday, March 30:

• 9:30 a.m. - She/they leave Hugoton KS to pick up Veronica's children, with plans to return to Hugoton for her daughter's birthday party.
• X - Veronica and Jilian miss their return home.
• X - Pastor Heath Kelley and Pastor Tim Singer drive in the direction they believe the women traveled.
• 10:30 a.m. - Veronica's blue Kia SUV is found by investigators near Highway 95 and Road L, south of Elkhart, Kansas, in rural Texas County.
• X - Just three miles from the women’s destination, the pastors see LE surrounding Veronica’s vehicle.
• 6:15 p.m. - Veronica and Jilian are reported missing by Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

Sunday, March 31: Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation announced they were asked to assist, investigating “suspicious” disappearance in Texas County.

Wednesday, April 3: OSBI said that “based on the information obtained from the victim’s vehicle, our investigators believe there was evidence to indicate foul play.”

1. Missing Mom and Preacher’s Wife Vanish, Picking up Kids: Car Just Found
2. Missing Mom and Preacher's Wife Vanish, Picking up Kids: Car Just Found
3. Veronica Butler, Jilian Kelley case timeline: Kansas women missing
4. Police: Vehicle found, 2 Kansas women missing

 

[Valhall]

This was thrown together pretty hastily, so please feel free to pick it apart. I'm off to work though. See you this evening.

Saturday, March 30:

• 9:30 a.m. - She/they leave Hugoton KS to pick up Veronica's children, with plans to return to Hugoton for her daughter's birthday party.

I have not seen anything that indicates they were picking up at any time other than the designated time of 8:00 am in the custody papers. So they would have left Hugoton around 7 am.

 

[moonriverfarm]

There is a LOT of info on the official facebook page.