According to law enforcement, the main suspect in a cold case involving a kidnapping from 23 years ago is now thought to be a missing person who is innocent, just like her daughter.
According to FBI wanted posters with a $10,000 prize, West Virginia police suspected for many years that Susan Gail Carter took her 10-year-old daughter, Natasha “Alex” Carter, following a “contentious” custody dispute with her husband in 2000.
According to the wanted posters, Carter allegedly informed Rick Lafferty at the time that he would never see his daughter again and that the girl’s grandmother thought the youngster was scared of her mother.
Following the discovery of fresh information by West Virginia State Police that implies Susan and her daughter inexplicably vanished at the same time, the case has taken a dramatic turn in the past two weeks.
After learning new information, state police and FBI investigators carried out two search warrants at the Carters’ last known residence in Raleigh County, West Virginia.
The FBI declined to provide specifics about the information gathered or what led to the search warrants but stated in a statement that it was able to “identify and recover additional forensic evidence related to this investigation”.
Larry Dell Webb is the owner of the residence where police carried out the search warrants. After the police had left, his carer Terry Lilly let press organisations access the home.
According to The Register-Herald, Lilly indicated the removal of tile flooring in one room and pieces of plasterboard from another.
Natasha, who went by the middle name “Alex,” was 10 years old when Susan, who was 41, and disappeared on August 8, 2000, just after they moved in with Susan’s new husband.
“This case was originally reported as Susan Carter kidnapping Natasha Carter, but over the course of this investigation, it has been determined that both Susan Carter and Natasha Carter are, and have been, missing since August 8, 2000,” West Virginia State Police said in a statement.
Fox News Digital requested access to public records and left messages with the FBI and West Virginia State Police asking for more information.
The state police were contacted by the FBI but did not react.
The reward for information leading to the capture of Susan and Natasha Carter has been upped to $20,000.
