Larry Earl Batts, the 64-year-old fugitive who had appeared on James City County's most-wanted list, has been found dead in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Police say he died of natural causes there on September 21. Authorities had been trying to locate him since 2012.
Batts had appeared on James City County's most-wanted list, according to WAVY.com. He had been wanted on multiple felony charges, including two counts of aggravated sexual battery of a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and driving-under-the-influence offenses, as reported by Yahoo News. A condolence message for Batts was posted.
A Child's Disrupted Sleep Led to the Case
The allegations against Batts dated to March 3, 2012, when police said he assaulted a 6-year-old girl at the home of an acquaintance in the Lanexa area of James City County. According to WYDaily, investigators said Batts performed sex acts on the child while she slept in a bed inside the home. The girl later reported the encounter to her mother, who alerted police on March 4, 2012, the outlet reported.
The James City County police most-wanted list showed Batts also had outstanding warrants dating back to 2008 for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, felony sexual battery, and animate-object sexual penetration. The warrants tied to the 2012 case were dated March 12, 2012, per Yahoo News, which also noted that a July 31 social media post referencing the case pointed back to those same warrant dates.
A Trail That Went Cold, Then North
For years, Batts's whereabouts remained unknown even as his case stayed listed among James City County's most wanted. Investigators believed Batts may have been living in North Carolina and may have been using the identification of his deceased brother, Kenneth Batts, according to Yahoo News. His last known address was listed as 8546 Diascund Road in Lanexa, Virginia, the outlet reported.
Reward offers tied to information leading to Batts's arrest appeared in differing amounts across coverage of the case. WYDaily reported that anonymous tipsters may have been eligible for up to $1,000, while Yahoo News reported authorities were offering up to $1,500 for information leading to his arrest. Those discrepancies were never publicly resolved before Batts's death.
Batts's record also included a string of prior charges spanning decades, among them obstruction of justice, assault and battery, threats to bomb or damage a building, failure to appear, falsely identifying himself to law enforcement, petit larceny, a DUI second offense, and habitual offender status, with some charges dating back to 1991. Investigators had spent more than a decade trying to locate him.
