Pastor’s wife among 2 missing women who Oklahoma investigators now believe are ‘in danger’

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The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that it believes two women who vanished over the weekend while traveling to pick up children are “in danger” as it’s now been days since they were last seen. 

The vehicle that Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were driving in was found abandoned Saturday in a remote part of the state near the Kansas border. The women were “traveling together to pick up children” but they “never made it to the pickup location,” according to the Texas County Sheriff’s Office.   

“We believe they are in danger because we have not heard from them in, coming up on three days now,” OSBI public information manager Hunter McKee told Fox News Digital. “Where their vehicle was last seen was a very rural area of the state as well. We have not found them yet. We are doing everything we can.” 

The OBSI earlier described the situation as a “suspicious disappearance case.”  

OKLAHOMA POLICE INVESTIGATING ‘SUSPICIOUS DISAPPEARANCE’ OF 2 WOMEN WHO VANISHED WHILE HEADING TO PICK UP KIDS 

Veronica Butler, left, and Jilian Kelley were last seen Saturday while driving to pick up children, police say. (Oklahoma Highway Patrol)

A Facebook profile purportedly belonging to Kelley lists her as the secretary of Hugoton First Christian Church in Hugoton, Kansas.  

Her mother told KSNW that she runs children’s programs there and is heavily involved with volunteer work in the community. Kelley has four children, the station reports. 

Kelley is also the wife of current Hugoton First Christian Church Pastor Heath Kelley, who is set to become the new minister at the Willow Christian Church in Indianola, Nebraska, according to the McCook Gazette. 

“We believe in the power of prayer and we believe God will bring them home safely,” Willow Christian Church wrote in a Facebook post Sunday ahead of a planned “time of prayer for Jilian Kelley and Veronica Butler and their families.” 

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Jilian Kelley and Veronica Butler “never made it to the pick-up location” on Saturday, the Texas County Sheriff’s Office says. (Texas County Sheriff’s Office )

An individual who identified themselves as a close friend of Butler told KSNW that she is good with children and enjoys gardening, cooking and baking. 

“Veronica has several tattoos, a Chinese symbol on her left forearm, a sunflower on her left shoulder,” says a missing persons advisory from the Texas County Sheriff’s Office. “Jilian has a butterfly tattoo on her left forearm.”  

The alert describes Butler as being 5-feet 4-inches tall with red hair and green eyes, last seen wearing a blue short-sleeve shirt and denim shorts.  

Kelley has brown hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing a long-sleeve shirt, blue jeans and tan or beige shoes, the alert adds. 

The area near the Oklahoma-Kansas border where the vehicle the two women were traveling in was found abandoned on Saturday, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. (Google Maps)

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The vehicle they were traveling in was “found abandoned near Highway 95 and Road L, south of Elkhart, Kansas, in rural Texas County,” according to the OSBI. 

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.