Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect

A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.

Benjamin Hatfield, the prosecuting attorney for Raleigh County, called it “a bit of a poetic ending that not even I could write,” during a news conference Tuesday.

In a “detailed, undeniable, unconflicted” deathbed confession to one of the investigators in the case earlier this month, Larry Webb admitted to fatally shooting Natasha “Alex” Carter, who was 10 at the time, and her mother, Susan Carter, nearly 24 years ago, Hatfield said.

In 2000, the Carters were living at Webb’s home, authorities said. Webb told the investigator some of his cash in the home went missing, and Webb suspected Susan Carter had “spent a lot of money. They had an argument about it and he shot her,” Hatfield continued. Webb said he felt he then had no choice but to shoot Alex, “to avoid detection for having killed Susan.”

Webb told the investigator he stored their bodies in the basement of his home and over the course of two nights, dug a shallow grave in the woods on his property, Hatfield said, where he buried the pair together.