HENRYETTA, Okla. (KFOR) – It’s been just over a month since Henryetta made national headlines for a murder-suicide that took the lives of five children and a mother.

The Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has publicly released all seven summarized autopsy reports this week, but it was before the victims’ families had the chance to see it first.

Ivy Webster’s dad, Justin, said Tuesday was one of the best days his family has had since Ivy’s murder on May 1.

He and his family were sitting in a garden they built in Ivy’s memory when they received a text message from News 4 Reporter, Kaylee Olivas.

“Hi! I just wanted to check in on you and Ashleigh (Ivy’s mom), see how you’re feeling with Ivy’s medical examiner report being released. I’m always here for you guys!,” said Olivas.

Justin replied by saying they hadn’t received the report and wanted to know where they could find it.

“I found out from you when you texted me to be honest and it was a shock,” said Webster. “I was in shock that, that would even be released to you guys. No offense to you guys. I’m not angry at that. I’m angry at the [Medical Examiner] and the law allowing them to be able to do that. You know, my daughter, she was probably one of the most modest and prudish little girls ever and hated talking about anything to do with even kissing a boy. And for that to go out, it’s embarrassing to her. And I know it is. It’s frustrating to us as parents. We don’t want that out. We don’t want people to see that. That’s our baby girl,” explained Justin.

Justin told KFOR Tuesday night felt like they were back in week one of Ivy’s murder.

“I felt like it was just a gut punch and we had to relive it all over again. It scares me because this is what’s next. You know, if this is just the summary and they released the whole report, it’s going to devastate and traumatize a lot of people what we read in the report, and we don’t want that out,” added Justin. “If there’s a way we could stop it, we want to do that for sure.”

Justin feels as if the family was entitled to Ivy’s autopsy report before it landed in the hands of the media.

“The state should have somebody come out to us, bring us the report and actually explain it to us and not have that happen of ‘Let’s just get it out to the media. The parents will get it that way,'” stated Justin.

The seven summarized autopsy reports provided to News 4 contain grim details.

The reports for Ivy Webster and Brittany Brewer reveal injuries that point to sexual assault.

Brewer and Holly Guess’ toxicology results came back positive. Brewer had ethanol in her blood, indicating alcohol was in her system. Guess had depression medication in her system.

News 4 has decided not to reveal any other details in this report out of respect for the family and their privacy.

The Webster family attorney, Cameron Spradling, told News 4 on Wednesday he was left with the unpleasant task that morning in reading the summarized report to the family over the phone.

Spradling said he had to explain medical terminology. He added in doing so was “wrong.”

“We are deeply saddened and frustrated that the Oklahoma Medical Examiner would release this report to the public without first sharing the results with the family.  It is yet another example of the utter lack of sensitivity that the State of Oklahoma has evidenced to victims and the families of victims,” stated Spradling.

Under current Oklahoma state law, there’s a 10-day window where law enforcement, District Attorneys and immediate family members can have access to the full autopsy before the public.

However, there isn’t the same time frame for a summarized autopsy.

“The summary report of investigation shall be made available for public inspection and copying without delay,” the statute reads.

The OCME’s Office has confirmed with KFOR parental consent is not needed when releasing a minor’s autopsy report. The ME is also not a “covered entity” under HIPAA standards.

The OCME has no legal obligation to alert families once the autopsy is complete.

“The autopsy/summary report will be provided to immediate family members when requested. A representative from the decedent’s families was contacted by the OCME post examination and reports were submitted to those families who requested them,” said OCME’s media team.

OCME will only provide a copy of the autopsy/summary if a written request is submitted.

“Copies of the Medical Examiner’s reports are available upon written request, once the case is completed. Immediate family members, law enforcement and media outlets will receive a complimentary copy by written request only,” according to the current statute.

Victims’ families are also not able to request that the autopsy be withheld from public inspection. State law claims law enforcement and District Attorneys may request it’s withheld if the report would materially compromise an ongoing criminal investigation.

U.S. Congresswoman, Stephanie Bice (R-OK) used to be an Oklahoma State Representative.

Rep. Bice was the author of SB 207 which outlines these rules and regulations for the release of autopsy reports in Oklahoma. It was signed into law in 2017.

She told KFOR she wrote the legislation because of a situation where a family was not given their loved one’s autopsy report days in advance of the media receiving it.

A news outlet was provided with the autopsy report within the same week OCME mailed the family’s copy.

Instead of reading the copy firsthand, the family read it in a news article, according to Rep. Bice.

“Look, the reason that I filed the original legislation was to protect families. I’m a mother myself. My husband and I have two daughters and I can’t imagine having to read about the details of their deaths in the paper before I have an opportunity to know that information and be able to process it myself. So this bill was all about families, protecting Oklahoma families, and especially during a very difficult, vulnerable time for them,” said Rep. Bice. “It’s just disappointing that this has happened. Once again, the media has received information, very detailed graphic information about the manner of death of these individuals and the family didn’t have time to see it first.”

News 4 pointed out there is no wait time for the summarized autopsy report and asked if it was something that Rep. Bice believes should have been included in the initial bill.

“It should have been part of the original conversation and I think that is certainly a loophole. I now serve in Congress so I don’t have the opportunity to address that issue. But I think it’s incredibly important that we look at protecting families from really difficult information that’s contained within those reports, allowing for the time to process the information before the media has the opportunity to see it,” added Rep. Bice.

She encourages those still in the Oklahoma legislature to consider taking up the issue during the 2024 session.

News 4 has reached out to Scott Fetgetter (R-Okmulgee) about the possibility of modifying the law regarding the release of autopsy reports. He is the State Representative over the Henryetta area. We’re waiting to hear back.

Justin wants the legislation to include parental consent, a waiting period between when a family receives the summarized autopsy and when the public receives it, and for the family to receive courtesy notice of when the reports are completed.

“The interesting part about this situation is that the family is not going to know when the Medical Examiner’s reports are completed, so how are they supposed to know to ask for that information? I think it is incumbent upon the Medical Examiner’s Office to reach out to the family and let them know the status of these reports,” added Rep. Bice. “I’m really very surprised and quite frankly, appalled that they didn’t reach out to the family and let them know this information first and foremost. I mean, I think that’s a misstep on their part and should be rectified now. Maybe it was an internal miscommunication. Maybe someone inadvertently dropped the ball, but that can’t happen again.”

News 4 asked the OCME’s Office if all immediate family members in the Henryetta murder-suicide have been provided with the summary/autopsy reports so far.

“Not at liberty to answer questions about decedent’s families and their requests,” said the OCME media team.

Justin has since spoken with the OCME’s Office. He was able to obtain Ivy’s full, 12-page autopsy.

“Believe it or not, it’s something that the parents of the victim have to request. And I had to send an email of request for them to email it back to me and I was able to get it. But it’s just baffling, the whole system that they have in place to be able to get the autopsy report. Why does a parent even have to request it and why does the public get it before the parents?,” said Justin.

Justin said there has been a lack of human decency in his daughter’s case and he feels like the state has continuously failed his family.

“I’m frustrated because not once, but twice, three times, four times. I don’t know how many times the state has messes up or messed everything up in the last month,” stated Justin. “I’m sick of it and I’m hoping that everybody else is sick of it too, and is angry and uses what happened here to change the laws substantially because everything here in Oklahoma is backwards and it needs to stop.”

In addition to modifying the state law regarding the release of autopsy reports, Justin said he is adding more requests to the ‘Knights Law’ petition.

The petition is asking for harsher sentencing and probationary terms for convicted sex offenders.

“We also are adding into the ‘Knights Law,’ the Raptor system. We want to make sure that every school here in Oklahoma is protected not only with our camera system and I know a lot of schools, especially Henryetta here, is investing some money into a facial recognition camera system and whatnot. But we also need that Raptor system and we need to have policies in place for these schools to protect these students and these children. And in saying that, you know, every adult who ever walks on the school grounds needs to have their ID scanned to be able to show if you’re allowed to be on that school grounds or not. And if you’re not, then guess what? The resource officer is right there. You on the spot, you go to jail,” said Justin.

If you’re interested in signing the petition, you can do so online.

Justin is pleading with Oklahomans who are registered to vote to sign their petition.

The OCME’s Office has confirmed with KFOR the full autopsy reports will be released on June 20.

“It’s gonna break my heart because I feel for my daughter. She wouldn’t want any of that out there. And as parents, we don’t want that for our minor child. It’s disgusting and it shouldn’t be out there and I’m hoping every news media outlet doesn’t share it, doesn’t make a story out of it because it doesn’t need to be out there. The ME owes us an apology, owes the Brewers an apology, owes all the victims’ families an apology. It shouldn’t be done like this and we’re going to work on changing it,” explained Justin.