By Sean Murphy —
The Associated Press
A woman said Tuesday that her daughter and three teenage grandchildren are among seven people found shot to death on a rural Oklahoma property during a search for two missing teenage girls and a convicted sex offender.
Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice said Monday that the seven bodies found near the town of Henryetta were believed to include those of 14-year-old
Ivy Webster
and 16-year-old
Brittany Brewer
;
along with
Jesse McFadden
, the delinquent
with which, according to the authorities, the adolescents had traveled.
But Rice said the state medical examiner would have to confirm it.
“We are no longer looking,” Rice said, “our hearts go out to families and friends, schoolmates and everyone else.”
[Intoxicated driver hits golf cart after South Carolina wedding, kills bride, injures groom]
Janette Mayo, 59, of Westville, Oklahoma, said she was notified by the Sheriff's Office late Monday that the other four victims were
her daughter, Holly Guess,
35;
and
her grandchildren, Rylee Elizabeth Allen,
17;
Michael James Mayo,
15;
and
Tiffany Dore Guess,
13.
Mayo said that Tiffany Guess was close friends with Webster and Brewer, who were spending the weekend with the family.
Rice declined to give details of how they died, but Mayo said the Sheriff's Office told her her daughter and her grandchildren were shot and killed.
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Neither Mayo nor her family knew of McFadden's criminal record until a couple of months ago, the woman said.
"She tricked my daughter into convincing her it was all a big mistake," Mayo told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
"He was very demure. He was very distant, very quiet, but he kept my daughter and the kids basically under lock and key.
He had to know where they were at all times, which set off alarm bells," he added.
["They were friends and he killed him": the boy killed in the massacre in Texas was riding a bicycle with the son of the attacker]
Macabre discovery in Oklahoma keeps America's mass shootings fast paced
in
2023
and could bring the number of people killed to over 100 for the year.
The four people found shot to death in a trailer in a small community in California's Mojave Desert over the weekend marked the 19th mass murder of the year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today. in collaboration with Northeastern University, the highest number for the first four months of the year since the data was first recorded in 2006.
A reporter hugs Ashley Webster and Justin Webster, the parents of Ivy Webster, who was killed along with six other people by a convicted sex offender in Henryetta, Oklahoma, on May 2, 2023. Nick Oxford / REUTERS
Until the Mojave shooting, 97 people had died in the 19 mass murders this year, surpassing the record set in 2009, when 93 people died in 17 through the end of April.
The number of fatalities is a fraction of the total number of people killed by homicide during the year.
The database counts murders with four or more fatalities, not including the perpetrator, the same criteria as the FBI, and keeps track of a series of variables for each of them.
Notice published by Oklahoma authorities about the disappearance of two teenagers and one adult. Oklahoma Highway Police
The bodies were found in Oklahoma on Monday during a search near Henryetta, a town of about 6,000 about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Oklahoma City, according to Gerald Davidson, a spokesman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
An endangered missing person notice issued Monday indicated that Webster and Brewer had been seen traveling with McFadden, who was listed on the state's sex offender registry.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections records show
McFadden was convicted of first-degree rape in 2003
and released in October 2020.
Court records show McFadden was scheduled to appear in court Monday for the start of a trial on charges of soliciting sexual conduct with a minor and possession of child pornography.
A message left Monday night with McFadden's attorney in that case was not immediately returned.
Brittany Brewer's father told local station KOTV in Tulsa that one of the bodies discovered was his daughter's.
“Brittany was an outgoing person.
In fact, she was selected to be Miss Henryetta... coming up in July for this Miss National pageant in Tulsa.
And now she's not going to do it because she's dead.
She's gone," lamented Nathan Brewer.
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At a vigil Monday night, Brewer told hundreds of people: "This is a parent's worst nightmare, and I'm living it."
He added that his daughter had aspired to be a teacher or a veterinarian.
“I'm just lost,” he sobbed.
Mayo described her daughter, Holly Guess, as a loving mother who cared deeply for her children.
She “she was a fantastic mother.
She loved her children madly
, "Mayo assured her," she supported them if they wanted to do something.
She was going out 100%”.
His granddaughter Rylee Allen “had a talent with a brush,” he stated, “Rylee wanted to be an artist and he wanted to be a doctor so he could help people.”
Michael Mayo ran track and cross country, and when he wanted to play soccer, his mother went out to buy the family T-shirts and sweatshirts to support the team, Mayo said.
Tiffany Guess also ran cross country, was in chorus, and had just tried out for the cheerleading squad.
“She was the sweetest, most loving girl you have ever met,” Mayo said.
“We called her
Tiffasaurus
because when she got mad at you, she would growl.”
Henryetta Public Schools posted on Facebook and on its website that they are mourning the loss of several of their students.
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“Our hearts are heavy, and we have considered what would be best for our students in the days ahead,” the note read.
Officials said school would be in session, and mental health professionals and clergy would be on hand to help counsel students.
But they said they would understand if families want to keep their children home from school.
In another case in Okmulgee County, the bodies of four men were found Oct. 14 in the Deep Fork River in Okmulgee, a town of about 11,000 located 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Henryetta.
Joseph Kennedy, 68, faces four counts of first degree murder.
