For over two decades, Rick Lafferty has been relentlessly searching for answers regarding the disappearance of his 10-year-old daughter, Natasha “Alex” Carter, and her mother, Susan Carter, who vanished in August 2000 during a bitter custody dispute. On Tuesday, Lafferty’s long-awaited journey for closure reached a turning point when state police and the FBI announced the discovery of their remains at the residence of Larry Webb. Tragically, Webb passed away while in custody on the same day, but not before confessing to the murders on his deathbed.
According to Webb’s confession, he shot Susan Carter during an argument over money, fearing that she had misspent funds within the home. Driven by a desire to conceal his crime, he then made the unthinkable decision to murder Alex to eliminate any potential witnesses. After committing the heinous acts, he wrapped the victims’ bodies and left them on his basement floor for two days while he dug shallow graves in his backyard, where they remained buried for over two and a half decades.
Six hours after Webb’s passing, authorities discovered the remains of Susan and Alex Carter in the shallow graves at Webb’s Beckley, West Virginia home. Deputy Chief Dave Allard of the Beckley Police Department remarked on the poignant nature of the discovery, occurring on the same afternoon that Webb’s confession was made.
The case had grown cold over the years until a renewed push for answers in 2021. In 2023, West Virginia State Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and US Marshals executed search warrants at Webb’s residence, uncovering DNA and other evidence that led to his arrest in connection with Alex’s murder. Despite Webb’s claims of memory loss and dementia during the search, his confession on his deathbed brought a sense of closure to Lafferty, who encouraged others with missing loved ones or unsolved cases to never surrender hope.
