Two of the teens who were found shot to death on the property of an Oklahoma sex offender were there for a sleepover with the man’s stepdaughter — something they had done many times before, their parents say.
On Monday, authorities in Oklahoma were searching for missing teens Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 16, on a rural property near the tiny town of Henryetta, when they discovered seven bodies strewn on the ground — including those of the girls, the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office said.
Police also found the bodies of Holly Guess, 35, and her teenage children, Rylee Elizabeth Allen, 17; Michael James Mayo, 15; and Tiffany Dore Guess, 13, Mister Truth reports.
Authorities believe Guess’ husband since Jesse McFadden, 39, shot and killed them all before taking his own life in a murder-suicide.
Ivy and Tiffany had been friends for years and lived about a mile away from each other in Henryetta.
“We knew him just because our kids were close so we would communicate pick up, drop offs, stuff like that,” Ashleigh Webster told News during an interview that also included her husband, Justin Webster. “But we weren’t friendly outside of that but we had met him and Holly many times.”
But the Websters did not know that Guess’s new husband, McFadden, was a convicted sex offender who had recently been released from prison, they told News .
“We had no idea,” they both said.
They also didn’t know that he due in court Monday to answer to child pornography charges. Law enforcement went to his house to serve a warrant for his arrest when he failed to show up for court.
Justin said he and his family moved to the area two years ago. “Tiffany Guess and our daughter were best friends,” Justin said.
Holly Guess never said anything but “should have said something,” Justin said. “We didn’t really know anything about this guy.
“We had a read on him that he was a little weird but we felt comfortable, especially knowing several of our daughter’s friends would go over there all the time and hang out. They would go over there on the weekends. Tiffany would come over here at our house and stay here on the weekends,” Justin said.
He added, “We never suspected any sort of maliciousness.”
Ivy was supposed to sleep over Tiffany’s house Saturday night and be home by 5 p.m. Sunday, her parents said, Press reports.
When she failed to come home, they filed a missing persons report.
Nathan Brewer also filed a report for his daughter, Brittany.
An Amber Alert was issued Monday morning for the two girls, who were last seen around 1 a.m., that morning, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. At the time they were reported missing, the teens were believed to possibly be traveling in a white pickup truck with McFadden.
The Websters only learned that McFadden was a registered sex offender who had served time in prison for rape on Monday.
“We didn’t find out until we saw the Amber alert with his mug shot and our phone just started blowing up,” Ashleigh Webster told News .
Nathan found out about his daughter from Justin.
“I got out of the car and he had met me at the car and gave me a big hug and was crying and and he said, ‘She’s gone. They’re all gone.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re joking.’ He’s like, ‘No, they’re gone,'” Nathan told .
Justin told he cannot believe no one in the community was told that a sex offender was living in their midst — and he wonders why McFadden was even released from prison.
“I’m angry with the system and I think everybody in this whole country should be angry with the system,” he said,reported. “This is a man that had priors. He was a sex offender, and he was let loose on a sentence that he should have been in there longer. And if you ask me if you messed up one time, you should be in there for life.”
In 2003, McFadden pleaded guilty to first degree rape, News reports.
He was sentenced to 28 years in prison, but was released early, in 2020, after serving 17 years.
In 2016, he was accused of sending nude photos to a minor and using a contraband cell phone to communicate with that minor from prison. Those allegations led to charges of soliciting sexual conduct/communication with a minor by the use of technology and another count of possessing child pornography.
McFadden was supposed to appear in court Monday to face trial for those charges.
Holly Guess’s mother, Jan Mayo, said she and her family never liked McFadden, who she called a “con man” who lied about his past crimes, she told the Tulsa World.
Her daughter was a victim, she said.
“My daughter would never do anything to harm her children,” Mayo said, the Tulsa World reports. “She was not an accomplice in this.”
McFadden even went so far as to have a woman pretending to be the victim of the 2003 rape call to tell Mayo the “real story,” Mayo said.
“He even set up a fake Facebook page for this person,” Mayo said.
After learning about the deaths, the woman called the family to let them know she had posed as McFadden’s victim and that he had paid her to do so, Mayo said.