A man who served a 17-year-long sentence for rape is believed to have shot and killed six people on a rural Oklahoma property before turning the gun on himself, police said Wednesday.
Their bodies were discovered while police were searching for two missing teens who were last seen travelling with the convicted sex offender, 39-year-old Jesse McFadden. A missing endangered person advisory that had been issued for them was cancelled Monday afternoon when police discovered the grim scene outside the small town of Henryetta.
Among the victims were McFadden’s wife, Holly Guess, 35, whom he married last year, and her three children, Rylee Elizabeth Allen, 17; Michael James Mayo, 15; and Tiffany Dore Guess, 13. The other two victims were Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 16, who were the two teens reported missing with McFadden.
Webster and Brewer were close friends with Tiffany, and were staying at the family’s property that weekend for a sleepover.
All of the victims had been shot in the head one to three times with a 9-mm pistol, said Okmulgee police Chief Joe Prentice during a Wednesday press conference. McFadden was also killed by a gunshot wound to the head.
The bodies were found in two groups on the large wooded property, with Webster, Brewer and Allen’s bodies being found about 400 metres away from the home. Their bodies were spread out in a scene that Prentice described as “staged,” though he declined to elaborate further.
McFadden’s wife and her two other children were found in a heavily wooded part of the property.
The gruesome scene was discovered on the same day that McFadden was to stand trial for charges of soliciting sexual conduct with a minor and possession of child pornography.
McFadden was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in 2003 for first-degree rape. During his sentence, he was accused of using a contraband cellphone in 2016 to trade nude photos with a 16-year-old girl. Court records show McFadden was charged with the new crimes in 2017, during the prison sentence, after a relative of the victim alerted authorities.
Yet he was still freed in 2020 for the rape charge, three years early, in part for good behaviour.
McFadden was rearrested a month after he was released in October 2020 for the child pornography and solicitation charges, but was released on US$25,000 bail.
The mother of McFadden’s wife claims he kept the family in the dark about his past, and they only learned about his criminal history a few months ago as his trial date on Monday loomed.
“He lied to my daughter,” said Janette Mayo. “He convinced her it was all just a huge mistake.”
McFadden had vowed not to return to prison in a series of ominous messages with the teenager whom he had allegedly been texting while behind bars. According to screen grabs of the messages, forwarded to KOKI in Tulsa, McFadden said his “great life” was crumbling and blamed the teenager for the latest set of charges against him that could put him back in prison for decades.
“Now it’s all gone,” he texted. “I told you I wouldn’t go back.
“This is all on you for continuing this.”
Relatives of the victims were in disbelief by McFadden’s early release, especially in light of the seriousness of the new charges against him.
“And they rushed him out of prison. How?” Mayo wondered.
“Oklahoma failed to protect families. And because of that my children — my daughter and my grandchildren — are all gone.”
Webster’s father said he allowed his 14-year-old to sleep over at the McFadden home not knowing anything about the man’s past. He was also shocked to hear that McFadden was let out of prison early.
“There needs to be repercussions and somebody needs to be held accountable. They let a monster out,” Webster said.
A spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections said in a statement that McFadden was able to earn credits for things like behaviour and attitude and completing program and education assignments that were then applied after he served 85 per cent of his sentence.
The statement did not address why McFadden was released despite facing new felony charges.
Spokeswoman Kay Thompson added that registered sex offenders are allowed to live with their own children and stepchildren as long as they are not a victim of the offender.
— With files from The Associated Press
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