Loved Ones In Shock After Daughters Found Among Dead at Sex Offender’s Home

Seven people were found dead in a Henryetta, Oklahoma home on Monday. Though authorities have only identified one of the deceased as sex offender Jesse McFadden, 39, families of the other suspected victims are speaking out about what they know in the wake of the tragedy.

One such person is Janette Mayo, who told the Associated Press that authorities informed her that her daughter Holly Guess, 35, and her grandchildren, Rylee Elizabeth Allen, 17; Michael James Mayo, 15; and Tiffany Dore Guess, 13, were among the dead. Mayo said that Guess had recently married McFadden but was unaware of his criminal background. 

It's believed that the two other victims are Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 16, who were friends with Guess' youngest daughter Tiffany. Webster and Brewer had been reported missing after they failed to return home, prompting a search for the girls, who were last seen in McFadden's white Chevrolet Avalanche around 1 a.m. Monday morning. 

Brewer's father, Nathan Brewer, told NBC News that his daughter and Webster had been having a sleepover with Tiffany this past weekend.

Ivy Webster and Brittany Brewer Were Reported Missing

The two teens were close to Holly Guess' daughter Tiffany, as well as 15-year-old Michael, and would routinely spend the night with the family, according to multiple reports. Ivy's brother, Parker, would sometimes join too, though he stayed back this time around.

"Almost every single weekend it was either Tiffany and Michael staying the night over here, or I mean they live maybe a quarter-mile down the road from us, and on some some weekends we would let Parker and Ivy go stay over there,” Webster's father Justin told TODAY.

Police began looking into Webster and Brewer's whereabouts after their parents reported them missing. Justin Webster said that he filed a missing persons report on Sunday when she failed to return home, while Brewer's father Nathan said he reported her missing after she didn't get on the bus for school on Monday morning, NBC News reported.

Nathan last heard from Brittany on Sunday morning, when she sent him a text that said they were going to a nearby ranch. Though the message was apparently oddly phrased, Nathan told the outlet that it didn't raise alarm bells because "they'd been there before."

The Websters later heard from McFadden. "Jesse also called me around 5 p.m. on Sunday and told me they were in McAlester but said he couldn’t talk because he had a bad signal. It was hard to hear him. The call kept breaking up,” Webster told CNN.

An Amber Alert for the girls indicated that they were last seen in Henryetta with McFadden.

Though authorities have not confirmed the names of the deceased, Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddie Rice  suggested that Brewer and Webster were among the dead, who were found on McFadden's Henryetta property around 3 p.m. on Monday.

"We are no longer looking. We believe to have found everything that we were seeking this morning," Rice said, according to Fox News. "Our hearts go out to the families and friends, schoolmates and everyone else."

How Were The Victims Killed?

Authorities told Janette Mayo, Nathan Brewer and Justin Webster that all the victims were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, though the sheriff's office has not made any official statements. Joe Prentice, a spokesperson for the task force investigating the murders told NBC News that his office will not be releasing further information until autopsies are completed.

Mayo and Webster told the AP that the bodies were found in different locations on the Henryetta property, which was listed as his residence in the Oklahoma Offender Registry.

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Gerald Davidson said Monday that the bodies were located "not in the residence, but just on the property," according to CNN.

What Was Jesse McFadden's Criminal Background?

Jesse Mcfadden Photo: Oklahoma Department of Corrections

The killings took place just prior to McFadden's scheduled jury trial on charges of child pornography and soliciting sexual conduct/communication with a minor, according to NBC News. McFadden had been accused of using a contraband cellphone to send and receive sexually explicit photos to a 16-year-old girl while incarcerated in 2017.

At the trial, the prosecution planned to present alleged evidence of McFadden grooming the girl, including letters and texts "in which he not only discussed their relationship but also discussed things of a sexual nature and was manipulative and controlling of the victim," NBC News reported, citing court documents. 

A bench warrant was issued when McFadden failed to appear for the trial.

McFadden previously served a 17-year sentence after being convicted of grand larceny and rape in 2003, according to the Oklahoma Offender registry. He was released from prison in 2020.

Brewer and Webster Families Were Unaware of McFadden's Criminal Background

Justin Webster told the AP that he had met McFadden and simply thought he was a "weird" guy. "He was always getting into his kids’ phones and reading all their snap messages and all that. It wasn’t in a way of a concerned parent. It was more of keeping tabs on the kids," Webster said.

He added in a separate interview with with local news outlet 4029 TV that McFadden didn't seem dangerous. 

"We always tell our kids that monsters don't exist under your bed and in your closet, they're people," Webster said. "He hid it well. He hid it very well."

For his part, Nathan Brewer thought McFadden seemed like a "nice, normal person," NBC News reported.

In the wake of losing his daughter, Justin Webster is calling on authorities to reevaluate the way sex offenders are handled. 

"The sexual (offender) registry doesn’t work,” he told the AP. “I think there needs to be action taken. There needs to be repercussions, and someone needs to be held accountable. They let a monster out. They did this."

Jesse McFadden Allegedly Sent Texts to Soliciting Victim Before Murders

The alleged victim at the center of McFadden's pending trial came forward in the wake of the murders and shared text messages McFadden purportedly sent the night before the bodies were found, according to Fox 23. In the messages, McFadden allegedly wrote, "I did exactly what I promised I would do when I got out I got a marketing job making great money and was being advanced been there 2 years now and made a great life like I promised I would do with you."

"This is all on you for continuing this," another text read, Fox 23 reported.

Jesse McFadden Accused of Controlling Behavior

Holly Guess' mother Janette Mayo described McFadden as "very standoffish, generally very quiet" to the AP.

She noted that she only found out about him being a convicted rapist a few months ago, after he had already married her daughter. "He lied to my daughter, and he convinced her it was all just a huge mistake," Mayo said. 

In a Facebook post, Mayo accused McFadden of killing everyone. "My daughter loved her children and yes she married the man who killed them but she was fooled by his charm," Mayo wrote. "I have a hole in my heart that he created by his actions."

McFadden's mother, Ladonna McFadden, expressed shock and sympathy when she spoke to NBC News. "I don’t understand it,” she said. “I never, ever, ever would have expected anything like this.”