BECKLEY, W.Va. (WCHS) — It was the work of several agencies including the FBI and the West Virginia State Police that led to a
major breakthrough this week in a Raleigh County cold case involving a missing mother and daughter from 2000. However, the agencies involved are also thanking a local business for their help in locating the bodies of Susan and Natasha "Alex" Carter who had been missing for nearly 24 years.
Tammy and Grant Newhouse, who own New Horizons Landscaping in Beckley, were called upon by the FBI to assist with a dig in their neighbor Larry Webb's backyard.
Webb, in his 80s, was charged with the murder of Alex back in the fall after evidence was found inside the house.
Tammy said it started with a knock at the door from FBI Special Agent Jennifer King, one of the lead investigators on the Carter case. When the FBI and State Police came to the scene on April 9 for the first dig after the confession, King noticed the equipment in the Newhouse yard and the company logo.
“She said, 'Today we’re going to be digging. We notice you’ve got some excavators in your fleet and we need to know if you would be willing to excavate today, right now.' We talked and said, 'sure,'" Tammy recalled. "We got our two best guys, Ty Walker and Josh Poe, who are our best excavator operators, and within 45 minutes, we were digging.”
Webb was brought to the yard after his confession, but in his old age and poor health, he could not recall to investigators where he had buried them in his large backyard, creating a big job for excavating crews.
“Our guys had got in the mental state, since they both have daughters that age that they were going to find them," Tammy said of her crew. "If we have to dig day and night, whatever it takes, we’re going to dig up every inch of the property.”
That is what they did starting at the fence and going row by row, section by section, day and night for two days.
“The bucket would have to go in very easy and deep and bring it up slowly, and you would dump it slowly because you did not want to miss any piece of a remain that may be here on the property," Tammy said, describing their method.
The digging ceased for about two weeks and then the FBI returned Monday asking for more excavator help. As crews made their way to the edge of his property down in a swampy area, they located Alex and Susan's bodies at about 10:30 a.m.
“And then Jennifer [King] yelled, 'We got them. We found them,'" Tammy said. "He [Grant] texted me immediately and said, 'We found them.' There wasn’t a dry eye on this property. She was crying. He was crying. Excavator operator tears were flowing. It was a very emotional moment.”
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