Johnathan McFarland beamed as he cuddled up to his dad on the far end of a wholesome holiday snap of their blended family.
Now the 22-year-old student is the sole survivor of those eight grinning faces – the rest gunned down in shocking massacre.
His father Ryan Willis McFarland, 52, found them one by one amid a rampage across the small Iowa town of Muscatine, then turned the gun on himself.
McFarland killed his wife Lesa, 51, daughter Ryle, 20, and sons Mark, 16, and Ryan Jr, 13, at the family home on Park Street just after noon on Monday.
Earlier he hunted down Lesa’s two sons from her previous relationships, apparently trying to leave no trace of her entire family line.
Austin Harris, 29, was shot dead in his home on Mill Street, and Lena’s eldest, Dakota Whitlow, 32, murdered as he worked at his late father’s shop, Willits Metalworks.
The killer dad was finally cornered by police on Riverfront Trail near the Park Street home before he could find Johnathan and finish his twisted plan.
As police tried to talk him down, McFarland shot himself dead in front of them.
Johnathan McFarland beamed as he cuddled up to his dad on the far right of a wholesome holiday snap of their blended family. Now he is the only survivor after his father Ryan Willis McFarland, 52, murdered all the rest then killed himself
McFarland, his wife Lesa, 51, with their children Ryan Jr, 13, Ryle, 20, Mark, 16, and Johnathan, 22, at Ryle’s high school graduation in 2023
Johnathan, grieving and traumatized by losing his entire family in one morning, is now the key police witness.
Muscatine Police Chief Anthony Kies said he spent the morning with Johnathan as they both searched for answers.
‘As this is also very overwhelming for him, while he and his family and friends navigate this horrific incident, he is open and welcome to the prayers for him and his family,’ he said.
Kies branded McFarland’s final acts on Earth as ‘evil’ and said the investigation would take as long as it took to get answers for Johnathan.
Friends, family, and locals in the shellshocked town on the Illinois border reacted with outrage, shock, and grief as news spread.
Ryle had just graduated the University of Northern Iowa and secured a job as a third-grade teacher at McKinley Elementary School in autumn.
Her close school friend Drake Edwards mourned her on social media on Tuesday, declaring ‘I will love you in every lifetime’.
‘I don’t know how I will continue to live my life knowing I can’t call you or talk to you ever again. You have made such an impact on my life,’ he wrote.
Proud parents McFarland and Lesa with Ryle and Johnathan as they both graduated community college in 2025
McFarland killed Ryle, Mark, Lesa, and Ryan Jr at the family home on Park Street just after noon on Monday. Only Johnathan (second from left) was left alive
Ryle had just graduated the University of Northern Iowa and secured a job as a third-grade teacher at McKinley Elementary School in autumn
‘You are someone I could always rely on and go to when I needed advice and I needed strength or reassurance in what I was wanting to do.
‘I will never fully be able to understand why this happened to you and your family but you have no idea how much I will always be thinking about you and I truly believe you are still by my side in another life guiding me on the right path.’
Tragically, Ryle had nothing but praise for her beloved dad every Father’s Day, as recently as last year.
‘Happy Father’s Day to my supportive, hilarious, and loving dad! Thank you for everything you’ve done for me! I am truly so grateful for you. I hope you enjoy the day and feel extra special! I love you forever and always!’ she wrote.
Austin Mills, who was friends with both Harris and Whitlow, lamented that he didn’t ‘have any words for this insanity’.
‘All I have is an unfinished car built by two legends who are no longer around, hoping I can finish it the way we all wanted… on my own,’ he wrote.
Whitlow was planning a wedding with his fiancee Audrey Perdue, who said she was suffering too much grief to speak about her loss.
His stepmother, on his father’s side, Vicky Whitlow, paid tribute to both him and Lesa.
‘Dakota you were a great stepson. I am devastated that you’re gone. You were to do a lot of great things in this life, and it was all stolen from you yesterday,’ she wrote.
‘Lesa you and your children came into my life at a time when I needed you. You were a very lovely and kind lady. I loved you and your children. You will be greatly missed all of you.’
Whitlow was planning a wedding with his fiancee Audrey Perdue, who said she was suffering too much grief to speak about her loss
Austin Harris, 29, was shot dead in his home on Mill Street
McFarland had four children with Lesa, who had two other children from a prior marriage. Earlier this week, Muscatine police said McFarland killed six family members before taking his own life
Ryan Jr’s classmate Keith added: ‘I can’t believe that would happen to you, you were as nice as ever and I was lucky to have you as a best friend to me.
‘It’s gonna be different without you next year. I’m sorry that you won’t be about to be with us in person, but you will be with us and in our minds and our hearts.
‘I’m sorry you weren’t able to live a long and happy life.’
Johnathan made a surprise admission when he spoke at a vigil for his family on Tuesday night.
‘It’s hard to think this is even real, I’m still in denial,’ he said.
‘This might hurt some people to say… no matter what is being told to me, I will always love and miss my dad.’
Neighbor Melissa Weggen told the Muscatine Journal that about 10 minutes before the massacre began, she heard McFarland say: ‘Don’t worry about money. Everything goes away when you die.’
Cash appeared to be a concern, with Weggen saying McFarland and Lesa held weekly yard sales.
But McFarland also had a dark past encompassing incidents far worse than mere money troubles. Fifteen years earlier, in August 2011, he was blamed for the death of a baby in his care.
The tragedy unfolded when McFarland left an eight-month-old boy called Charles Negus sleeping on a crib at Little People.
Charles was placed on his stomach, with his head propped up by a soft pillow. He ended up smothering himself.
In August 2011, McFarland was blamed for the death of an eight-month-old boy that was in his care. He ended up striking a plea deal that dismissed a child endangerment resulting in death charge
The McFarlands said they started their own daycare center when they were looking for affordable options for Lisa’s sons from her previous marriage
Tragically, Ryle had nothing but praise for her beloved dad every Father’s Day
Ryan Jr in a photo shared by his sister on his 10th birthday
McFarland struck a plea deal the following year, which saw a child endangerment resulting in death charge being dismissed.
He was sentenced to a year on probation, two years of unsupervised probation and a $625 fine.
Alan Ostergren, the Muscatine County Attorney at the time, said the evidence was not enough to conclude McFarland had caused the eight–month–old’s death.
The state pathologist testified in court that he was unable to ‘state to a reasonable degree of medical certainty’ if Charles died from positional asphyxia or from sudden unexplained infant death, per the Muscatine Journal.
Iowa court records viewed by the Daily Mail showed McFarland’s charge was ultimately adjudicated as an aggravated misdemeanor of child endangerment with no injuries.
The prosecutors said the plea deal where McFarland admitted he endangered the baby’s safety, but did not require him to admit that he caused the death.
‘This disposition was made after consultation with the victim’s family,’ Ostergren said at the time.
‘In the end, we chose the certain outcome of a negotiated guilty plea over the uncertainty outcome of a jury trial,’ he added.
McFarland could have faced up to 50 years in prison had his original felony charge stuck.
McFarland with Ryle as a toddler two decades before her murdered her
McFarland and his wife Lesa were praised in several articles in the early 2000s for the daycare facility they operated from their clapboard home in Muscatine, Iowa
Authorities said McFarland’s license to operate a childcare service had been previously revoked by the state because he had lied on his application about not having prior felony convictions.
McFarland had been convicted in September 1994 in Illinois of burglary and attempted armed robbery.
In 2010, he was also found guilty of third–degree theft in Muscatine.
The Department of Human Services had specifically prohibited McFarland from operating the business out of his home, according to the outlet.
Few would have guessed just how dark McFarland’s past was from the way he marketed his business.
When the McFarlands opened their daycare, he was an aspiring teacher, while his wife Lesa was a physical therapist for Muscatine Physical Therapy.
The couple was looking for affordable daycare options for Lisa’s two sons from a previous marriage but had struggled.
This gave the McFarlands the idea to start their own center, which they would repeatedly tout in local press over the years.
‘It is difficult to trust anyone with your children, but when things happen with people you trust, that’s when we decided to open our daycare,’ McFarland told the Quad–City Times in October 2004.
McFarland was convicted in September 1994 in Illinois of burglary and attempted armed robbery. He was then found guilty of third-degree theft in Muscatine in 2010
Before starting the daycare with his own family in mind, McFarland was an aspiring teacher who had graduated from Western Illinois University and had a master’s degree in education
Authorities said they believed this week’s massacre had been caused by a domestic dispute, though it was still being investigated
McFarland said he had researched daycare curriculums and discussed them with Muscatine County’s Department of Human Services.
Lesa quit her job in 2000 and McFarland followed suit a couple of weeks later once their daycare service had grown from two children to five.
The McFarlands also moved from a small apartment into a four–bedroom house around the same time to accommodate their expanding business.
Lesa said the environment inside the home was ‘like a family setting’ for the children.
‘When they know what to expect, it helps them,’ she told the Muscatine Journal in March 2003.
McFarland added: ‘With us, you have two people watching the children all the time. There are two different role models. We complement each other very well.’
One of the parents who dropped her children off at the McFarlands’ home at the time, Shanna Arnold, described the couple as ‘very dependable’ and ‘very open.’
‘If anything happens, they inform me right away,’ Arnold, 21, told the outlet.
The children were taught to write their names and learn their addresses at the daycare.
Lesa added that the couple also sought to instill the principles of good citizenship in them.
McFarland, who graduated from Western Illinois University and has a master’s degree in education, began teaching preschool at the daycare in January 2004.
