An Oklahoma sex offender who was released from prison shot his wife, her three children and their two friends in the head and then killed himself, authorities confirmed as concerns grew about why he was free as his trial on new sex charges loomed, the Associated Press reports. Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice said the victims had each been shot in the head one to three times with a 9 mm pistol when they were found Monday near a creek and in a heavily wooded area in rural Oklahoma. The bodies apparently had been moved there from where they were killed, the scene “staged” before Jesse McFadden, a 39-year-old convicted sex offender, killed himself, Prentice said. The discovery of the bodies near McFadden’s home in Henryetta, a town of about 6,000 about 90 miles east of Oklahoma City, came on the day that he was to stand trial on charges that he solicited nude images from another teen while he was imprisoned for rape.
Authorities have not discussed a motive for the shootings, but McFadden had vowed not to return to prison in a series of ominous messages with his young victim. According to screen grabs of the messages, forwarded to KOKI in Tulsa by the now 23-year-old woman McFadden allegedly groomed from prison, he said he was having success at a marketing job and “making great money.” His “great life” was now crumbling, he wrote, because of the charges of soliciting and possessing images of child sex abuse. A solicitation conviction can mean a 10-year sentence; the pornography charge could mean 20 years behind bars. Authorities began a search after 14-year-old Ivy Webster and 16-year-old Brittany Brewer, who were visiting the family over the weekend, were reported missing. Concerns grew when McFadden failed to appear at his long-delayed jury trial. McFadden had been sentenced to 20 years in 2003 for first-degree rape in the sexual assault of a 17-year-old and was freed three years early, in part for good behavior, despite facing new charges that he used a contraband cell phone in 2016 to trade nude photos with the woman, then 16. He was released in 2020 after serving 16 years and nine months, even though the new charges could have sent him back to prison for many years if he were convicted.
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