The father of a 10-year-old girl who disappeared with her mother without a trace 24 years ago finally got answers after their killer loosened his tongue on his deathbed, leading to the discovery of their remains Monday.
“(It’s) a sad day but also a happy day (because I was finally able to) bring my baby home. (I) almost gave up hope on several occasions, said Rick Lafferty, the father of the young victim, during a press conference Tuesday, according to NBC News. I can tell anyone in my situation to never give up. Never lose hope of finding your child.”
On Monday, the suspect in the murders of Natasha “Alex” Carter and her mother Susan Carter reportedly died just hours before the victims’ bodies were found by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after they were reported missing in August 2000, according to the American media.
A few weeks earlier, the main suspect Larry Webb, of West Virginia, allegedly confessed to the double-murder of the duo, who were staying with him at the time of his disappearance, in the context of a legal battle between the two parents for custody of the little girl.
The man was already in police custody after a search warrant at his home, carried out 18 months earlier, revealed the presence of a bloody bullet containing the DNA of little Alex Carter, in a wall of the room where she was sleeping at the time, FBI Surveillance Special Agent Tony Rausa said Tuesday, according to NBC News.
But due to his deteriorating health, court proceedings could not continue, so Raleigh County Prosecutor Ben Hatfield and FBI investigators reportedly visited him at the Hilltop Nursing Home Center, where he The man would have answered all their questions.
“It was a detailed, undeniable and conflict-free confession,” the prosecutor said, according to the American media, adding that it conformed “exactly to the investigative efforts and the evidence collected.”
Larry Webb would have confided to having fatally shot Susan Carter, following a confrontation over money missing from the house, before turning the gun on the little girl simply to cover up his involvement in the murder of his mother.
“At that moment he knew he had just ruined his life forever. (He) cried himself to sleep that night” before digging graves for the victims in his yard, according to the prosecutor.
The man was incarcerated at the Southern Regional Jail at the Mount Olive Correctional Complex on Friday, before being transferred to Montgomery General Hospital on Monday, where he died, according to NBC News.
