A convicted sex offender and 2 teenage girls believed among 7 bodies found at his Oklahoma home
By Tina Burnside, Caroll Alvarado and Eric Levenson, CNN
A convicted sex offender and two missing teenage girls were believed to be among seven bodies found at the man’s Oklahoma home on Monday, authorities said.
Jesse L. McFadden, the 39-year-old offender, was found dead at his home in Henryetta, about 90 miles from Oklahoma City, just hours after records show he missed a scheduled court appearance.
The missing teens, 14-year-old Ivy Webster and 16-year-old Brittany Brewer, were believed to be among the bodies, Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice said, noting the medical examiner would provide a final confirmation of their identities.
Webster and Brewer had been the subject of an endangered/missing advisory issued by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, which said they were last seen early Monday in Henryetta and could have been traveling with McFadden.
The seven bodies were found at a property where McFadden lived and was listed as his home in the Oklahoma Sex Offender Registry. The bodies were found “not in the residence, but just on the property,” Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Gerald Davidson said Monday.
McFadden was set to stand trial on charges of solicitation of a minor at 9 a.m. Monday but failed to show up, according to court records. A bench warrant for failure to appear was issued, the records show, and authorities then discovered the bodies while executing a search warrant.
The court date stemmed from charges filed in 2017, when McFadden was accused of using a cell phone to exchange nude photos and videos with an underage girl while he was serving time for a 2003 rape conviction, according to CNN affiliate KOKI.
Ivy Webster’s mother, Ashleigh Webster, told CNN they lived on the same block as McFadden and that their families had been friends since December 2020. She said she didn’t know about McFadden’s criminal history.
“All the kids spent time together. We never had any issues with the family. His wife seemed nice and would even drop off anything she baked,” Ashleigh Webster said.
She said she received a Snapchat message from Ivy around midnight on Saturday and then another Snapchat message around 10 a.m. on Sunday. Webster also said she received a call from McFadden later in the day saying they were in a nearby town.
“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 said.
Webster said she and her husband began to worry when the hours passed, and Ivy still didn’t return home even though she had school the next day.
School system is grieving ‘several of our students’
Ivy went to Henryetta Middle School and played softball and was set to start high school in the fall.
“I know it’s common to say that your loved one lights up a room, but she really did,” Ashleigh Webster said. “We went to her school today to clean out her locker and we found notes her classmates left on her locker. They wrote about how she was a friend to everyone. It makes me feel I wasn’t the only one who saw those things in her.”
Henryetta Public Schools said it is “grieving over the tragedy of the loss of several of our students,” in a message on its website addressed to parents and guardians.
“Our hearts are hurting, and we have considered what would be best for our students in the coming days,” the school system said.
The system added that classes would not be canceled and that students would have access to mental health professionals and faith-based clergy.
“We understand if you feel it is more appropriate to keep your student at home,” the message continued. “Please continue to keep these families in your thoughts and prayers.”
Located in central Oklahoma, Henryetta had a population of 5,640 at the 2020 US census.
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CNN’s Raja Razek and Zoe Sottile contributed to this report.
