Seven bodies have been found on a property in a small town in rural Oklahoma during a search for two missing teenagers, authorities say.
Police said they believe the teenagers they were looking for, Ivy Webster, 14, and Brittany Brewer, 16, were among the dead.
The corpse of Jesse McFadden, a felon and registered sex offender who police said the girls were travelling with, was also found. Police did not list the cause of death.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued an endangered missing person advisory for the two teenagers on Monday. The girls had reportedly spent the weekend with McFadden, according to a local news affiliate of BBC’s US media partner, CBS, but never returned home.
A search warrant for McFadden’s home led police to Henryetta, a small town of about 6,000 people, where they discovered the bodies of seven people.
Okmulgee County, Sheriff Eddy Rice, said he believes Ivy and Brittany were found in the search, but said the state medical examiner will need to confirm the identities of the victims.The missing person advisory was cancelled by Monday afternoon.
“We believe to have found everything that we were seeking this morning,” Mr Rice said. “Our hearts go out to the families and friends, schoolmates and everyone else.”
No further details were given about the case or cause of death. Brittany’s father, Nathan Brewer, told local news he was in shock.
“I’m lost. I’m really lost. End of school’s fixing to be here, she ain’t gonna be there. I mean she’s gone,” he said. “I have five kids but she was like my sidekick.”
“Brittany was an outgoing person. She was actually selected to be Miss Henryetta … coming up in July for this Miss National Miss pageant in Tulsa. And now she ain’t gonna make it because she’s dead.”
At a vigil held on Monday night, Mr Brewer told the crowd gathered “it’s just a parent’s worst nightmare”.
Henryetta Public Schools posted on Facebook that it was mourning the loss of several of its students. It cancelled a graduation planned on Monday for its kindergarten students until further notice and said it will provide grief counselling and mental health professionals for students. -BBC
