State officials confirmed that during a search Monday in eastern Oklahoma, they discovered seven bodies, among them two missing teenagers.
Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 16, were found dead on a rural farm close to the town of Henryetta after they were reported missing, according to Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice in an interview carried live by News on 6. According to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the two youngsters were last seen earlier on Monday, and a missing and endangered person notice was issued at around 10:29 a.m.
Although the medical examiner has not yet assigned names to the bodies, Rice told reporters late Monday that his office thought it had discovered “everything that we were seeking this morning.” The authorities “believe there is no other threat to the community,” Rice added, declining to disclose any additional information on the case.
Along with four other unidentified victims, authorities believe they also discovered the body of Jesse McFadden, 39, a convicted sex offender who the teen girls were believed to be with, on the property, Rice said. Authorities claimed that Webster and Brewer might have been traveling with McFadden in the Amber Alert.
One of the remains found belonged to his daughter, according to Brewer’s father, who spoke to KOTV in Tulsa.
“Brittany was an outgoing person. She was actually selected to be Miss Henryetta … coming up in July for this Miss National Miss pageant in Tulsa. And now she ain’t gonna make it because she’s dead. She’s gone,” Nathan Brewer said.
Henryetta Public Schools posted on Facebook and its website that it is grieving over the loss of several of its students.
“Our hearts are hurting, and we have considered what would be best for our students in the coming days,” the district said. District officials said the school would be in session with mental health professionals and clergy on hand to help counsel students. But they said they would understand if families want to keep their children home from school.
Henryetta, a town of about 6,000, is located about 90 miles east of Oklahoma City.
Who was Jesse McFadden and what was his criminal history?
The Oklahoma Department of Corrections claims that McFadden is a sex offender who has been found guilty based on online data.
According to court records, McFadden was scheduled to appear in Muskogee County District Court on Monday for a jury trial on one count of possessing child pornography and one count of soliciting sexual activity with a minor through technology. McFadden did not show up in court. A bench warrant was issued by the judge for his arrest.
Records also reveal that McFadden was charged with the offenses while in a state jail where he was already serving a 20-year sentence for first-degree rape, for which he had been found guilty in 2004.
In July 2016, according to a prior story from The Muskogee Phoenix, McFadden was charged with using a cell phone while a prisoner at Taft’s Jess Dunn Correctional Center. According to the newspaper, he was charged with using the phone to speak to a 16-year-old girl in Muskogee. According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections’ records, McFadden was released on October 30, 2020.
First-degree rape is regarded as a “85%” felony in Oklahoma, which means that a person convicted of the crime must complete at least 85% of their sentence before being eligible for parole.
According to Rice, the Okmulgee County Sheriff who is looking into the circumstances surrounding the seven deaths at Henryetta, the county has not had anything “of this magnitude” in his nearly two decades as sheriff.
Okmulgee County Sheriff looking into circumstances surrounding seven fatalities at Henryetta
We’ve had our fair share of issues, but this one is particularly awful, Rice said.
Following the discovery of the bodies of four Okmulgee men who had been shot, dismembered, and dumped in a nearby river just seven months prior, Rice said his team is still investigating leads in an effort to determine what exactly caused these deaths.
