“Now faced with the consequences of a sentence of death or life in prison, the defendants would be willing to do anything since they have shown to be willing to commit capital murder in order to limit Veronica’s visitation,” court documents state.
March 30
9 a.m. According to court documents, Butler and Kelley leave Hugoton, Kansas Saturday morning to pick up Butler's children for her weekly supervised visit.
9:40 a.m. Butler and Kelley arrived at Highway 95 and Road L, about five miles north of the expected meeting place at Highway 95 and U.S. 64.
9:42 a.m. Butler and Kelley's cell phones stop transmitting signals.
Three pre-paid cellular phones purchased by Adams were at the location of Butler's car at the time of Butler and Kelley's disappearance.
10:05 - 10:16 a.m. Two of the pre-paid cellular phones were at Cullum's residence.
10:16 - 10:35 a.m. Two of the pre-paid cellular phones were at a property rented by Cullum for cattle grazing about 8.5 miles away from where Butler's car was found.
Investigators later found fresh dirt work done by a skid steer owned by Cullum on the property where the two phones had transmitted signals.
All three of the pre-paid cellular phones stopped transmitting March 30.
12:09 p.m. Butler's family members contacted police after finding her car abandoned on the side of Highway 95. When Butler didn't arrive at the birthday party, her family became worried and went to look for her.
The Texas County Sheriff's Office "found evidence of a severe injury" after examining the vehicle and the area surrounding it. They found blood on the roadway, Butler's glasses in the road near a broken hammer, and a pistol magazine was found inside Kelley's purse but no pistol was found.
7:25 p.m. An
Endangered Missing Persons Alert went out via the Texas County Sheriff's Department Facebook page.
The OSBI confirmed Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, are dead. Here's a timeline of the case based on available court documents.
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