Missouri inmate leads officials to solve Oklahoma 2014 cold case
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) -- The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says a cold case homicide has been solved.
The agency says a man and a woman have been formally charged in connection with the disappearance and death of 20-year-old Dustin Ray Carver in Kansas, Oklahoma. Carver was first reported missing in May 2014.
The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance from the OSBI. The sheriff's office had received a tip earlier that year that Carver had last been seen at a home in Kansas, Oklahoma.
The agency obtained a search warrant for the property, and after a search, found human remains in a burn pile. The remains were turned over to the medical examiner's office.
The case remained cold until July 2025, when the Clinton County, Missouri, Sheriff's Office contacted the Delaware County, Oklahoma, Sheriff's Office. They notified Delaware County that an inmate in their jail in Missouri had information about the death of Carver.
Based on that information, the OSBI determined that 42-year-old James Merritt Larson Jr. and 40-year-old Penny Larson were allegedly responsible for Carver’s death. Arrest warrants were issued for the pair on Sept. 12.
While James Larson was already jailed in an unrelated case, Penny Larson was taken into custody on Sept. 17. The OSBI says both have now been formally charged with first-degree murder in Delaware County District Court in connection with the death of Carver.
