How a deathbed confession and lone bullet finally solved 24-year-old missing persons case

A murder case that had gone unsolved for over two decades came to a sensational conclusion on Tuesday, when detectives discovered the bodies of a 10-year-old girl and her mother buried at the home of their killer – hours after he gave a deathbed confession.

Larry Webb, who was in his 80s, suffered a medical episode at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex in West Virginia, and died at around 10.30am on Monday 22 April. As he was dying he finally revealed how he had murdered Alex and Susan Carter, wrapped them in bed linen and kept them in his basement for days before burying them.

Webb also told investigators where the bodies of the mother and daughter could be found.

The two bodies were recovered from his backyard in Beckley, West Virginia, at around 4.30pm on Monday.

Detectives had also previously linked a lone bullet, found in the child’s bedroom, to the octogenarian.

Susan Carter and her young daughter had been missing for almost 24 years, having last been seen on around 8 August 2000 in Beckley, West Virginia. According to the FBI, Carter and her then-husband Rick Lafferty had been in a “contentious” custody battle over their child, which resulted in her finding lodgings at Webb’s home.

Despite Mr Lafferty alerting authorities to the pair’s disappearance, the case went cold for years until 2021 with a renewed push for answers.

In 2023, West Virginia State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and US Marshals executed search warrants at Webb’s house, where they uncovered DNA and other evidence which led them to charge him with Alex’s murder.

Investigators recovered a lone bullet embedded in the wall of the youngster’s bedroom. The bullet, found embedded behind a baseboard, was sent to the FBI lab where results confirmed the blood on the bullet belonged to Alex.

In October of 2023, Webb was indicted for Alex’s murder, though he was not taken into custody until early April 2024. At a press conference on Tuesday, Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield said that earlier this month Webb had made an “undeniable, unconflicted confession” to the killings.

“That confession aligned with exactly the investigative efforts and the evidence collected,” Mr Hatfield said.

“It was then that we were able to independently vet that confession due to its matching the evidence that Larry Webb really didn’t know the depths and breadth of the evidence that we had at that point.”

Webb admitted to shooting Carter during an argument over cash inside the home that he believed she had spent. He reportedly told investigators that immediately after doing so he “knew he had ruined his life forever”.

He then decided he also had to shoot and kill her 10-year-old daughter Alex to avoid detection, prosecutors said.

Webb detailed how after he murdered the girl and mother, then wrapped up their bodies in bed linens, and “cried himself to sleep” that night. For two days, their bodies were left on his basement floor while he dug shallow graves in his backyard, where they remain buried for over two and a half decades.

Six hours after Webb was pronounced dead, the remains of the mother and daughter were discovered in the graves in the backyard of his home in Beckley, West Virginia, Mr Hatfield confirmed on Tuesday.

“[It’s] a bit of a poetic ending that not even I could write,” he said.

“I applaud all the efforts of the community partners [and] all our partners in law enforcement because this was certainly not the effort of any one person, but as collaborative of an effort as you’ll see in law enforcement.”

It was a bittersweet day for Rick Lafferty, who also spoke to reporters at Tuesday’s press conference.

“It’s kind of a sad day, but also a happy day because I can finally bring my baby home,” Mr Lafferty said. “After 24 years, and after this case went cold so many times, I almost lost hope several times.”

He continued: “I would just say to anyone in my position, never give up. Never give up hope of finding your child.