After 24 years, deathbed confession leads to bodies of missing girl, mother in West Virginia

A deathbed confession has closed a nearly quarter century-old double missing persons case involving the fatal shooting of a 10-year-old West Virginia girl and her mother, state authorities announced Tuesday.

Natasha Alexander Carter was 10 when she disappeared from her home in Beckley, along with her mother Susan Carter. The pair was last seen on Aug. 8, 2000, according officials with the FBI Pittsburgh.

Beckley is in Raleigh County in Southern West Virginia.

During a news conference Tuesday, FBI Special Agent Tony Rausa told reporters the bodies of the mother and daughter were located Monday in the backyard of the home where they lived before they vanished, following a confession from Carter's ailing husband.

Raleigh County court records show Larry Webb, Susan Carter's husband, was indicted on a first-degree murder charge in October 2023, in connection to the girl's death. At the time, neither of the victim's bodies had been located.

Webb was arrested on April 12 in connection to the crime and was being held at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex, WVNS-TV reported.

"Eventually, they were able to get Larry Webb to confess to the murder," Rausa told reporters during this week's news conference.

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How did Larry Webb kill Alex and Susan Carter?

According to Rausa, Webb told investigators he shot both women, wrapped their bodies in bed linens and how they spent two days on the basement floor of their house "while he dug a shallow grave in his backyard."

Raleigh County Prosecutor Benjamin Hatfield said Webb confessed he shot Carter during an argument over missing money and then shot her daughter to avoid detection.

Webb was at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex when he, “suffered a medical episode and was pronounced dead at Montgomery General Hospital late Monday morning," officials reported.

Officials said the victims' bodies were recovered at the home where they lived on Monday afternoon.

"A bit of a poetic ending that not even I could write," Hatfield said, according to WSAZ-TV.

The Beckley Police Department, U.S. Marshals, and K9 Search & Rescue Services of West Virginia Inc added troopers and the FBI in the case.

Officials initially reported Alex Carter was likely abducted by her mother

After the girl was reported missing, state police initially reported the girl may have been abducted by her mother.

"At the time of their disappearance, Susan Carter and Alex’s father were having a custody dispute and Alex moved in with her mother and mother’s new husband," the FBI Pittsburgh wrote in a press release in December 2021. The release goes onto say that not long after the girl moved in with her mother, the two vanished.

When asked by a reporter about the initial investigation into the missing persons report in 2000, Rausa responded, "Let's call that ongoing at this time. But some mistakes were made upfront that we are looking into."

After the news conference, the girl's father, Rick Lafferty offered advice for those missing a loved one.

"Never give up," Lafferty told WSAZ-TV. "Just never give it up."

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.