Revealed: The extremist views of fifth ‘God’s Misfits’ murder suspect who believes he is a ‘bloodline American’
Paul Grice, 31, and four others have been charged in the murders of two women who police believed were lured to their deaths during a pre-arranged child custody visit
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The extremist views of the fifth “God’s Misfits” murder suspect have been revealed in unearthed court documents which show he believes he is a “bloodline American” who is not subject to the laws of the United States.
Paul Grice, 31, was arrested 24 April, for the kidnapping and murders of two mothers in rural Oklahoma who police believe were lured to their deaths during a pre-arranged child custody visit.
The bodies of Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were found buried in a hole underneath a dam on 14 April, two weeks after they went missing after going to pick up Butler’s children from a birthday party. The car they’d been driving in had been found abandoned, with signs of a struggle, including blood and bullets (but no weapon).
Four people were arrested and charged with murder the day before the bodies were found: Tad Bert Cullum, 43; Tifany Machel Adams, 54; Cole Earl Twombly, 50, and Cora Twombly, 44.
Cullum had done some concrete work on the dam around the time the women went missing. Adams, his partner, was the paternal grandmother of Butler’s children — and they, along with Grice, went to the Twomblys’ home regularly for “God Misfits” meetings.
Although Grice’s name had been mentioned in arrest affidavits from the start, he was not arrested until weeks after his four friends. He made his first appearance in court this week alone, his wife and children reportedly having left town after news of his involvement in the murders.
“Sorry for their loss,” he told reporters asking if he had a message for the victims’ families as he walked into the courtroom.
Months before the murders, Mr Grice made several bizarre statements, including claiming his children as his property and that he is not a US citizen, according to court records from 2023, obtained by The Independent.
“I am not a sovereign citizen. I am not a resident, employee or citizen of the United States government,” the court document read. “My relationship to that Federal entity as far as jurisdiction is that of a non-resident alien to the Corporate United States government, also known as an American State National, or Lawful Bloodline American.”
“I am a free and natural man, described by the Lord God in Genesis 2:7 as a living soul, living under God’s law and his grace alone,” the document continued.
“I claim my children,” it reads, listing their names and birthdates, as he adds they are his “God-given property and subject to none other.”
It continued with, “there is a maximum law that says ‘what one creates one controls’: the government did not create my children and therefore does not control my children. God created my children in their mother’s womb with my sperm and are my creation, my property, and I waive none of my God-given rights or duties in the upbringing of my offspring.”
All are believed to be part of an anti-government, religious group calling themselves “God’s Misfits”.
Investigators said that Mr Grice had been arrested “based on the evidence and information gathered from the case”.
Mr Grice then admitted to investigators that he was part of the planning, killing and the burial of both Butler and Kelley, according to his arrest affidavit.
Mr Grice had been named in the first arrest affidavit released a week ago relating to the other suspects, obtained by The Independent, along with couple Barrett and Lacy Cook, a couple who also have ties to the “God’s Misfits” group.
But at the time Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) spokesman Hunter McKee told The Independent that “there are no other suspects at this time.”
Days before Mr Grice’s arrest, his landlord told NewsNation that he’s a “good man” with a young family who works hard and is the kind of guy to just come up and shake your hand. “He’s not in custody so I have no reason to believe that he had anything to do with it.”
Investigators interviewed Ms Twombley’s 16-year-old daughter, identified as “CW,” who described her mother, and the other four suspects, including Mr Grice — as being part of the group “God’s Misfits.”
Investigators found that “God’s Misfits” held regular, weekly meetings at both the Twomblys’ and Cooks’ homes.
Social media searches have revealed no online presence of the Oklahoma-based God’s Misfits group.
There is another group called “God’s Misfits” on Facebook but they sought to distance themselves from the Oklahoma murder case this week, and said they had nothing to do with it.
The group did not appear to be mentioned in 2023 court documents, but seemed to outline Mr Grice’s beliefs in which he slams the government and compares America to a frog being boiled to death.
“Our educational propaganda system is a joke, our children are taught only what the fraud of the government wants known and nothing more,” according to the court documents.
“The awful knowledge and horror of betrayal by my own government of which I was once so proud, is now unbearable sorrow that I must now carry to my grave; but I shall do as a free man.”
He continued: “Perhaps the American people are like the frog that is heated slowly to a boil in a pot of water. If we had detected the heat sooner, we could have jumped out, saving both the Republic and ourselves.”
“Will the American people just sit back like the frog and let the water boil, letting the government sacrifice their children’s lives and futures to benefit some foreign slaves and aborigines?” he asks per the documents. “I don’t think so, and i for one, in the capacity of a Citizen, want no part of this moronic agenda with that insane policy.”
One of his last statements claims that, “above all, the vilest evil is the destruction of our unborn children – a thing so horrible vile that even maggots in filth do not do.”
Investigators learned that Mr Grice, Ms Adams and Mr Cullum had phone conversations in the early morning hours of March 30 – the day the women vanished. Mr Grice and Mr Cullum were together at Mr Grice’s home later that same day, according to the affidavit.
Arguments over the custody of Veronica Butler’s children appear to have been at the heart of the slayings, according to prosecutors, with one of the suspects – Ms Adams – being the grandmother of Ms Butler’s children.
Court filings revealed that a “problematic” custody battle had raged since 2019 between Ms Butler, Ms Adams, and her 26-year-old son, Wrangler Rickman, over two children aged six and eight.
Ms Adams is the children’s paternal grandmother and they had been staying with her, investigators said, while her son Wrangler Rickman, 26, is in a rehab facility.
Ms Butler was allowed supervised visits on Saturdays. The day before she disappeared, Ms Butler was told by Ms Adams that her usual, paid supervisor was not available, and she should bring her own chosen person.
Ms Kelley, a preacher’s wife, was that chosen person.
On 30 March, the pair were driving towards the agreed pick-up point for the children on Highway 95 when they were allegedly diverted from the road by two members of the “God’s Misfits” group, according to police.
The Twomblys allegedly blocked the road so that the two victims would be directed to where Ms Adams and Mr Cullum were positioned at a desolate crossroads.
Their car was later found by Ms Butler’s relatives with signs of a “severe injury”. Police found blood on the ground, along with Ms Butler’s glasses and a broken hammer. In Ms Kelley’s purse, they found a pistol magazine but no firearm.
When the other four suspects were arrested, investigators alleged that the group had plotted for weeks to kill Ms Butler, stating that they “lured” the two women to the point where they vanished.
Ms Twombley’s daughter “CW,” told investigators that her mother named five people — the four arrested suspects, including herself, and then also Mr Grice — as being involved in the deaths of Butler and Kelley.
She alleged that the group, “God’s Misfits” had tried more than once to kill Ms Butler in February. One plan had been to throw an anvil through the woman’s windshield in order to make her death look like an accident.
On 29 March, Mr and Ms Twombly told their daughter that they were going on a “mission” the next day, so likely would not be there when she woke up, according to the affidavits. The couple returned home at around noon and told the girl to clean the interior of their Chevrolet pickup.
Ms Twombly told her daughter that “things did not go as planned, but that they would not have to worry about her [Butler] again,” the court documents said.
CW alleged that she had asked why Ms Kelley had to die and her mother told her that she wasn’t innocent because she had supported Butler, the documents said.
Searches of Ms Adams’ phone showed that she had looked up “taser pain level, gun shops, prepaid cellular phones and how to get someone out of their house”.
Three prepaid phones, purchased by Ms Adams, pinged at the location where the women’s car was later found.
Two of those phones were found in a pasture below a dam, around eight miles away, where a hole had recently been dug and then filled back in. Those devices had shown up close to the Twomblys’ residence and another home, a police affidavit said.
Ms Adams had provided “burner” phones for the suspects to use so they could communicate without using their personal devices and CW saw two “burner” phones charging on her mother’s bedroom nightstand.
It is unclear what happened following the apparent abductions or how the victims died. The Medical Examiner’s Office is yet to release its report.
Ms Adams, who served as a GOP chair in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, and her boyfriend Mr Cullum, and Mr and Ms Twombly, appeared at the Texas County Courthouse in Oklahoma, on 17 April, wearing bullet-proof vests, to hear the charges against them.
Their next court date is set for May.