Seven bodies were found in Okmulgee County on Monday. The grieving families want answers.

HENRYETTA — A small community of fewer than 6,000 residents in eastern Oklahoma is shaken after the bodies of seven people, including two missing girls, were found in Okmulgee County on Monday.

While searching for 14-year-old Ivy Webster and 15-year-old Brittany Brewer, both of Henryetta, the Okmulgee County sheriff's office found the girls dead at a rural property, along with 39-year-old convicted sex offender Jesse McFadden and four other victims whose identities have not been released by law enforcement.

No cause of death has been given by law enforcement, but one of the victims’ mother said she was told the victims were shot to death.

Janette Mayo, 59, of Westville, Oklahoma, told The Oklahoman on Tuesday the Okmulgee County sheriff’s office notified her late Monday that the other four victims were her daughter, Holly McFadden, 35, and her grandchildren, Rylee Elizabeth Allen, 17, Michael James Mayo, 15, and Tiffany Dore Guess, 13.

Justin and Haydon Webster, the father and brother of Ivy Webster who was found dead Monday, visit the site Tuesday where Ivy’s body was found in Henryetta.
Justin and Haydon Webster, the father and brother of Ivy Webster who was found dead Monday, visit the site Tuesday where Ivy’s body was found in Henryetta.

Lynn Wyatt, Janette Mayo’s sister-in-law, also told The Oklahoman that investigators had determined McFadden had shot himself, although The Oklahoman could not verify McFadden’s manner of death Tuesday.

“Holly was a loving, forgiving person,” Mayo said. “She gave second chances when she shouldn’t have, and (McFadden) was one of those. She gave second chances to him and believed what he said, and she shouldn’t have.”

Ashleigh Webster said she received a text message from Ivy on Sunday morning that she was going to accompany Guess' family to McAlester so McFadden could do some work at his ranch. Ivy had been before, so the Websters didn't think anything of it.

Ashleigh Webster then got a call from McFadden about 5 p.m. Sunday, the time Ivy was supposed to be home, during which he told her they were still in McAlester.

“I believe the girls were already gone at that point,” Ashleigh Webster said.

More: What we know about the victims, including two teens, found dead in Henryetta

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When asked why he thought his daughter was killed, Justin Webster said he believed it was because “the evil in (McFadden) wanted to get back at the world.”

“He wanted to hurt the people that he loved most,” Justin Webster said. “And our daughter was best friends with Tiffany, his daughter. They were inseparable, they did everything together. And I think he just wanted to act out at the world and take as many as he possibly can.”

Court records show McFadden was due Monday in Muskogee County District Court for a jury trial on one count of soliciting sexual conduct with a minor by use of technology and one count of possession of child pornography.

McFadden failed to appear in court. The judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest.

Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice, acting as a spokesman for investigators in the case, issued a statement Tuesday, saying that a news conference would be held once all autopsies are finished and all of the victims have been positively identified.

“No other details will be released until that press conference,” Prentice wrote. “No date or time has been selected as we do not know when the examinations will be completed.”

'My daughter was there for everything'

Mayo described McFadden as a “monster” who was very controlling toward her daughter and grandchildren, and implored the public to remember that her family was just as much victims of McFadden as Ivy Webster and Brittany Brewer.

“Holly was the most loving person on the planet,” Mayo said. “She was an overprotective mother, but if my grandchildren needed anything, she made sure they had it. She was at every event they had, every track meet, every cross country meet, every choir concert — my daughter was there for everything.”

Granddaughter Rylee Allen “was into art and painting,” Mayo said, and she wanted to go to college to be a doctor “so that she could help people.”

Michael Mayo “loved video games,” but also ran track and cross-country, Mayo said, with a particular interest in football.

More: Parents of Henryetta victim Ivy Webster speak out about her death

Ashleigh Webster shows a photo of Ivy Webster and Tiffany Guess on Tuesday at her home in Henryetta.
Ashleigh Webster shows a photo of Ivy Webster and Tiffany Guess on Tuesday at her home in Henryetta.

Tiffany Guess also ran cross-country, performed in the choir and had just tried out for the cheerleading squad.

“The kids were all really into their friends,” Mayo said. “They’d come over to Holly’s house and spend the night. They did camping trips, they did kayaking, they did trips to the river, they would go swimming, they went skating together — they would take their friends with them everywhere, all of the time.”

The Websters said the trust they’d felt they had in Holly and Jesse McFadden had betrayed them in the worst way possible, and the betrayal, they say, extends to local law enforcement and the judicial system.

They “were not aware of McFadden’s past history,” they told The Oklahoman, and called for officials with Okmulgee and Pittsburg counties and Henryetta and McAlester police “to be held accountable.”

“There’s no reason monsters should be let loose like that,” Justin Webster said. “It’s disgusting. Our government needs to make changes. We don’t need this to happen to any other family, and that’s the justice that we are going to push for.”

More: Who was Jesse McFadden and what was his criminal history? What we know after 7 found dead

Records show McFadden was accused of the solicitation and child pornography crimes while he was a state prisoner serving a 20-year sentence for first-degree rape, which he was convicted of in 2003.

The Muskogee Phoenix previously reported McFadden was accused of having a cellphone while an inmate at Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Taft in July 2016.

He was accused of using the phone to communicate with a 16-year-old girl in Muskogee, the newspaper reported.

Oklahoma Department of Corrections records show McFadden was discharged Oct. 30, 2020.

'I don't have the answers'

Ivy Webster had just celebrated her 14th birthday on April 23 with a “Hawaiian-style” sleepover and watching her favorite movie "It," the Websters said.

“I don’t even know what we’re supposed to do next,” Justin Webster said. “I don’t even know if we’re going to bury our daughter. I don’t have these answers.”

Ivy Webster. Photo via GoFundMe Fundraiser.
Ivy Webster. Photo via GoFundMe Fundraiser.

A vigil was held Monday night in the Henryetta Knight Center New Gym, which was attended by hundreds, including Nathan Brewer, father of victim Brittany Brewer.

“It's just a parent's worst nightmare, and I'm living it,” Brewer said. “She was my right-hand person, and she's gone.”

Brewer described his daughter, who he said had recently celebrated her 15th birthday, as outgoing and compassionate, with aspirations to be a teacher or a veterinarian.

“I am just lost,” Nathan Brewer said. “I'm really lost at words for now. I still keep thinking she's going to run up behind me.”

Ryan Wells, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dewar, helped rally a local faith coalition Monday evening at the high school, supporting the families of the victims, who were identified by residents as belonging to the school district.

Brittany Brewer. Photo via GoFundMe Fundraiser.
Brittany Brewer. Photo via GoFundMe Fundraiser.

“Our goal is to just let this family, multiple families, know that we're going to be there for them and with them and not let them slip through the cracks,” Wells said. “The reality is, they're just beginning a journey that's going to be very difficult.”

Another local minister, Marcus Whitworth Sr., said the small community was no stranger to tragedy, but that the residents were going to persevere together.

“There's strength in numbers,” Whitworth said. “This tragedy is not going to define us as a community. It's the unity that's going to define this community. We're going to stand firm.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Families share grief, frustration after 7 found dead in Henryetta