Two teenagers went missing in Oklahoma after failing to return home on April 30. An Amber Alert was issued the next day, May 1, around 10:30 am CST, for Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 15, which quickly ended after authorities made a heinous discovery. This tragic story occurred in Okmulgee County, where the girls' bodies were found on a ranch in the McAlester area. There are many horrific endings to stories that begin with young teenage girls being last seen in the early morning hours—this was no exception. Brewer and Webster were reportedly last seen Monday, May 1, around 1:30 AM. Later that afternoon, the Amber Alert was rescinded as Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice announced they had recovered the bodies on the property, though several other bodies were also discovered.
The search for two teens led to a killing field. As more details were released, the odds of a happy ending decreased rapidly. The two teenagers were with a convicted rapist, whose body was among those found on the ranch. While it may sound like a "Texas Killing Fields" case, where a killer, or killers, dumped the remains of their victims outside of Houston for years, this discovery was quickly pieced together by police.
Jesse McFadden, 39, is the main culprit, recently released from prison in 2020 after being given a 20-year sentence for rape in 2004. McFadden's wife and her children, Brewer and Webster, were the other victims. The two teenage girls were visiting the family over the weekend. All investigative roads led to McFadden, as the girls were last seen on his ranch, and he had skipped a preliminary court date for a new child sex abuse trial that was set to begin. McFadden shot the girls, his wife, her children, and then himself in a brutal murder-suicide (via CBS News):
Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice said that the victims all sustained between one and three wounds to the head. He said that Jesse McFadden, 39, then shot himself.
"The evidence is that Jesse McFadden murdered six people and then killed himself. Beyond that, I don't know what his thought process was," Prentice said. "I'm not going to express a theory because I follow the evidence, and I don't have any evidence about what the motive was."
The six victims were identified as Ivy Webster, Brittany Brewer, Rylee Allen, Tiffany Guess, Michael Mayo and Holly McFadden.
Authorities began a search after Jesse McFadden failed to appear at his long-delayed jury trial on Monday in Muskogee County. The victims included his wife, her son and daughters, and two other teens who were visiting the family over the weekend.
Authorities discovered the victims Monday after going out to the McFadden property, which is located near the city of Henryetta, about 90 miles east of Oklahoma City.
The bodies of Webster, Brewer and Allen were found separately, about 150 yards from each other, Prentice said in the news conference, and about a quarter-mile from the McFadden residence.
Prentice said the other four bodies were discovered together, about 450 yards from the other three victims.
The weapon used in the shooting was a 9mm handgun purchased by Jesse McFadden's wife Holly in January of 2022, Prentice said.
McFadden was slapped with new sex crime charges after it was discovered he allegedly groomed a 15-year-old girl (other reports list her age at 16) while in prison. The suspect had a long history of sexual violence. The woman who McFadden reportedly tried to groom, Kaitlyn Babb, 23, received this eerie message from McFadden before he committed suicide (via NBC News):
The Facebook message arrived Sunday night. Jesse McFadden wrote that he was doing well at a marketing job and had made a great life, just “like I promised I would do with you.”
“Now it’s all gone,” he said in his message, which he sent with a photo of himself staring directly at the camera. “I told you I wouldn’t go back.”
“This is all on you for continuing this.”
Hours later, authorities found the bodies of McFadden, his wife, her three teenage children and two other teens who were at the McFadden home for a sleepover. On Wednesday, the police chief leading the investigation into the killings in rural Oklahoma said that McFadden — a convicted rapist who spent nearly 17 years in prison before his 2020 release — had likely shot all six in the head before killing himself.
The woman, Kaitlyn Babb, 23, provided the message to NBC News. It was sent from an account with the name "Holly Days," and the police chief leading the investigation just outside Henryetta, Okla., Joe Prentice, said he had reviewed the message and wasn't sure if it was sent before or after the killings.
A tragic ending to a story that's shattered multiple families and this community.
