WASHINGTON, May 2, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Seven bodies were found in the US state
of Oklahoma on Monday during a police search for two missing teenagers, US
media reported.

The victims were not identified and authorities did not say whether they
included the missing 14-year-old and 16-year-old girls, who were said to have
been seen with a convicted sex offender, The New York Times reported.

But authorities had called off their search for the teens after the bodies
were found in the city of Henryetta, Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice told
the newspaper.

"We believe to have found everything that we were seeking this morning," Rice
said, adding that the case was being investigated as a homicide.

The Tulsa World reported Rice as saying officials believed two of the seven
bodies found were those of the missing girls.

The bodies were found on a property where registered sex offender and
convicted rapist Jesse L. McFadden resided, according to the newspaper.

The state highway patrol had issued a missing persons notice earlier Monday
saying the two girls were last seen at 1:22 am (0622 GMT) in Henryetta and
were both possibly traveling in a white Chevrolet Avalanche with McFadden,
39.

He was due to go on trial Monday in Muskogee County on several charges,
including "child pornography and soliciting sexual conduct or communication
with a minor using technology," the Times reported.

A warrant for his arrest was issued after McFadden failed to appear in court
on Monday morning.