Bodies found, four are arrested in missing women case

Four people were arrested and charged with murder and kidnapping in connection to the disappearance of two Kansas women in a rural Oklahoma county, where two bodies were found over the weekend.

All four were booked into the Texas County jail Saturday, each for two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said. Official charges have not been filed.

Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were on their way to pick up children but never made it to the location March 30, according to a missing person’s poster from the Texas County Sheriff’s Office.

It’s unclear what the connection is between the two women. Investigators have said they suspected foul play in their disappearance.

“They never made it to the pickup location. Their car was located abandoned on the side of the road,” according to the Endangered Missing Advisory from the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The agency said Sunday that two bodies were recovered in rural Texas County. The bodies will be taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine identification and cause and manner of death.

“This is still an ongoing investigation,” the Oklahoma investigation bureau said in a post on Facebook.

Officers found the car the two were last seen in near Highway 95 and Road L, south of Elkhart, Kansas, in Texas County, Oklahoma, the bureau said.

The bureau began investigating the disappearances after the Texas County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance.