Investigators ‘working round the clock’ to find missing pastor’s wife and her friend

Their car was found abandoned and the women were nowhere to be found

Missing split (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation/Facebook)

Oklahoma authorities are continuing to investigate the “suspicious disappearance” of two women who never turned up to collect children last week.

Veronica Butler, 27, and Jilian Kelley, 39, were on their way together to pick up children last week but never made it to the pickup location.

Their car was found abandoned on the side of the road near Highway 95 and Road L, south of Elkhart, Kansas in rural Texas County, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a release.

It is unclear whose children they were on their way to collect, but an OSBI spokesperson Hunter McKee told NBC that it is presumed the two women are friends.

The women were on their way to “pick up children” (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation)

While the disappearance of the two women has been branded as suspicious by the agency, Mr McKee added that there are currently no suspects in the investigation, and no threats against the women have been reported.

Despite this, Mr McKee told ABC News that “there’s every reason to believe that they could be in danger.”

“It was a very rural area. They’re nowhere to be found. ... The fact that we’ve had no contact with them for this long,” he added.

The Texas County Sheriff’s Department requested the assistance of the state’s agency in trying to locate the two women.

"Agents are still working around the clock on this to try to find where these women are, what may have occurred," Mr McKee said to NBC.

An OSBI spokesperson has said that ‘there’s every reason to believe that they could be in danger.’ (Texas County Sheriff’s Department)

Ms Butler has red hair, green eyes and several tattoos, including a Chinese symbol on her left forearm and a sunflower on her left shoulder, according to an endangered missing advisory posted by the Texas County Sheriff’s Department.

She was wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt, denim shorts and Hey Dudes.

Ms Kelley has brown hair, blue eyes and a butterfly tattoo on her left forearm.

Her clothing consisted of white-washed blue jeans, a long-sleeved shirt and tan or beige shoes.