Oklahoma officials are investigating after the “suspicious” disappearance of two mothers from Hugoton, Kansas, who vanished while en route to a birthday party.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, the Texas County Sheriff’s Department said Saturday that 27-year-old Veronica Butler and 39-year-old Jilian Kelley were en route to meet Butler’s children for a birthday party in Eva, Oklahoma, on Saturday, but never made it.
Investigators then discovered their SUV at around 10:30 a.m., deserted in a rural area near Highway 95 and Road L, south of Elkhart, Kansas. Police said the vehicle was found around three miles short of the destination the women were headed to, after a witness contacted police.
“Two young mothers on the way to throw a kid’s birthday party vanish just three miles before their destination,” Nancy Grace said during Thursday’s “Crime Stories” episode. “Our biggest clue right now is that abandoned blue SUV.”
Butler, who has reportedly been locked in a years-long battle with her ex, planned to drive 45 minutes from Elkhart to Eva to pick her children up. 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.
“It’s a very rural area,” CrimeOnline reporter Nicole Partin said. “It is Highway 95 but then you’re in a very rural two-lane area.
“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.”
Partin added that investigators said something found inside the vehicle led them to believe that something sinister happened. On Sunday, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) called the disappearance “suspicious.”
“We know these two women were low-risk victims and would have done everything they could, I believe, to protect themselves from the threat that came to them,” Former Police Chief Dan Corsetino added.
Butler’s former husband, according to Partin, has a criminal history of substance abuse and domestic violence but has not been named a suspect. There is also evidence that he may have been in rehab when they vanished.
Butler is described as a white female who stands 5 feet, 4 inches tall, and has red hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing denim shorts, a blue short-sleeved shirt, and HEYDUDE shoes.
“Veronica has several tattoos, a Chinese symbol on her left forearm, and a sunflower on her left shoulder. Jilian has a butterfly tattoo on her left forearm,” OHP said.
Kelley is described as a white female with brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a long-sleeved shirt, white-washed jeans, and tan or beige shoes.
Anyone with information on the case should contact the OSBI at 800-522-8017 or by email at tips@osbi.ok.gov.
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[Feature Photo: Veronica Butler and Jilian Kelley/Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation]
