Father of Henryetta massacre victim: crime scene burning not impactful, focus remains on changing laws

HENRYETTA, Okla. (KFOR) — After the home where a convicted child sex offender killed five teens and his wife in a mass murder-suicide last year burned down on Tuesday, the father of one of the victims says his focus is not on what happened to the house but is instead on the lack of action he’s seen from Oklahoma leaders and law enforcement to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again.

For Justin Webster, the wound is still fresh.

“We were waking up this morning, getting ready for work, we noticed a bunch of sirens and fire trucks driving down the road,” Webster said. “Just seeing that, it's triggering to us, because it brings back that day.”

For the better part of two years, the house down the street from Webster's on Holly Road — where convicted child rapist Jesse McFadden stole the life of Webster's 14-year-old daughter, Ivy, and five others in May 2023 – has stood.

McFadden had been released from prison in 2020, several years before his 20 year sentence actually ended.

“That's a house that a monster lived in,” Webster said.

The house stood wide open less than a week after the murders, when Webster gave News 4 a tour of the evidence left inside that he said Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office investigators didn’t think to collect.

"I feel Okmulgee County Sheriff's Office is not on par with what needs to be done as far as checking on these child sex predators,” Webster said. “And that was clear and evident when KFOR and prior-reporter Kaylee Olivas went into the house with us and a deputy sheriff was there."

It stood as that prompted the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) to take over the investigation.

It stood through Webster’s grief, through his anger.

“None of this should have happened if the state of Oklahoma did what they were supposed to do with child sex predators,” he said.

It stood through his rage, as his pushes for changes to sex offender laws got the full government treatment.

“We got Knight's Law, HB 3992, passed through the House 84-8 vote supermajority,” Webster said. “It was awesome, and we had high expectations for it to go to Senate and pass. It didn't even get out of the Appropriations Committee. Why? All I heard was budget restraints. Okay, so we care more about money instead of protecting kids. It's disheartening. It's frustrating.”

But early Tuesday morning, as Webster awoke to those passing sirens outside his house, something changed.

“We got a message from one of our churchgoers saying, Hey, did you know the house of horrors burned down,” Webster said.

The house that stood through so much, finally fell.

Investigators with the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office believe it was possibly arson.

“That was shocking, but it made sense,” Webster said.

But, if you ask Webster, it should have fallen long ago, to make way for a memorial.

“That's what the state should do,” he said. “Give something back to us parents that lost everything because of their incompetence and neglect. They can turn it into a park, or turn it into something. Just do the right thing. And it's been two years this and they still can't they can't figure it out.”

But if you think he’s rejoicing in Wednesday’s turn of events, you’d be wrong.

“As far as the house down there, I don't care,” he said. “That has nothing to do with anything that we're trying to accomplish.”

After all, the wound is still fresh.

“I'm scared to death to go into my daughter's room,” he said. “We haven't been in my daughter's room since.”

There’s no time for rejoicing, not until someone hears him.

“It seems like we’re standing on top of a mountain with the biggest bullhorn yelling,” Webster said. “And why is there no federal investigation going on? Why is the FBI not in these small towns, especially Okmulgee County, doing what needs to be done? Find out why these sheriff's offices are not doing what they need to be doing as far as child sexual criminals.”

Not until he can guarantee the ‘house of horrors,’ just down Holly Road from his own, will be last to host such horrors.

“I cry almost every day. And today I'm angry. I'm angry again because, everything that's going on, it just brings it all back up,” Webster said. “Nothing else matters but bringing [Ivy] here. So the only justice that they can get is protecting other kids.”