BECKLEY, WEST VIRGINIA: A special grand jury in Raleigh County, West Virginia, indicted a man named Larry Webb for first-degree murder for a 10-year-old girl who was last seen alive in 2000.
Several weeks ago, Webb told a reporter that “I have dementia” and alleged that he was unaware of “what happened” to the minor girl.
According to the facts stated by the FBI, 10-year-old Natasha “Alex” Carter was last seen alive in Beckley on August 8, 2000, with Susan Gail Carter (a.k.a., Susan Gail Carter Webb), her non-custodial mother after Carter’s “contentious” child custody battle with the girl’s father.
Authorities initially believed Susan Carter abducted Natasha Alex
Authorities believed that Susan Carter abducted Alex and the duo moved in with the mother’s new husband.
“They may have traveled out of state and left West Virginia. Susan had been involved in a contentious battle over Natasha’s custody with the child’s father and had told him he would never see his daughter again,” the FBI missing person poster stated.
Natasha’s grandmother believed "the child was afraid of her mother and did not want to live with her. Susan may be using the alias Susan Gail Carter Webb and she may alter her appearance.”
Neither Susan Carter nor Alex Carter have been seen since and both are presumed dead. Alex would be 33 years old if she was alive today.
In 2021, more than two decades after the missing person case began, the FBI announced it was still following up on “every lead” and that the investigation was not “sitting on a shelf.”
“I want Alex’s family and the community to know that we are focused on getting answers in this case and following every lead,” said Mike Nordwall, the FBI Special Agent in Charge.
Prosecutors announced on Tuesday, October 24, that a grand jury took one step forward in getting those answers with the murder indictment of Larry Webb.
Larry Webb's health is a major concern for the authorities
According to ABC-affiliate WCHS, Webb told the authorities in September in an interview that he has dementia. “I don’t have any idea what happened to her,” the eventual murder defendant told reporter Bob Aaron after the FBI and state police swarmed a Mabscott residence and claimed to find a bullet in a bedroom wall with Alex Carter’s DNA on it."
“I don’t remember,” Webb insisted, adding “I have dementia. I can’t say exactly.” State authorities have said that Alex and Susan Carter had been staying at Larry Webb’s home before they disappeared.
Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Hatfield, however, thinks that a circumstantial case will win out in court. “In West Virginia, circumstantial evidence is enough if the weight and nature of that evidence would prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” Hatfield said on Tuesday, October 24.
Hatfield pointed out that the “wealth of evidence” investigators uncovered relates to the death of Alex Carter, not the presumed death of Susan Carter.
