WASHINGTON: At least seven bodies were discovered during a police search for two missing youths in the US state of Oklahoma on Monday, according to US media.
The New York Times reported that the authorities did not identify the bodies or confirm whether the bodies were among the missing 16-year-old and 14-year-old girls who were said to have been spotted with a convicted sex offender.
However, after the bodies were found in Henryetta, authorities ceased the search operation, said Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice while speaking to the newspaper.
He said, “We believe to have found everything that we were looking at this morning,” adding that the case was being probed as a homicide.
The Tulsa World quoted Rice, “Officials believed two of the seven bodies discovered were those of the missing girls.
According to the newspaper, the bodies were discovered on a property where convicted rapist and registered sex offender Jesse L. McFadden resided.
The two girls were reported missing by the state highway patrol earlier on Monday. They were last seen in Henryetta at 1:22 a.m. (0622 GMT) and may have been riding in a white Chevrolet Avalanche with McFadden, 39.
According to the Times, he was scheduled to go on trial in Muskogee County on Monday for several offences, including “soliciting sexual conduct and child pornography or communication with a minor using technology,”
In the wake of McFadden’s failure to attend court on Monday, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
