Dustin Ray Carver was 20 when he went missing in 2014. Agents found human remains in a burn pile. But for more than 10 years, no one was charged.

Now the last of three people charged in his death has been sentenced.

James Merritt Larson Jr., 42, got a life sentence on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. The judge suspended all but the first 20 years. The case was in Delaware County District Court in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, or OSBI, said Larson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Other accounts of the hearing say he pleaded no contest. That means he did not admit guilt but did not fight the charge. Either way, the judge found him guilty.

So what does that sentence mean? The prison part is the first 20 years. The rest of the life sentence is suspended. That means it is on hold. If he breaks the court's rules after he gets out, a judge could make him serve more of it.

The judge also called it an "85 percent crime." Under Oklahoma law, that means he has to serve at least 85 percent of his prison time. The judge said his time will run at the same time as two Missouri cases. He is already locked up in those cases for drug and weapon crimes.

Carver was last seen at a home in Kansas, Oklahoma. That is a small town in Delaware County, in northeast Oklahoma. It is not the state of Kansas.

Deputies with the Delaware County Sheriff's Office got a missing person report on Carver in 2014. On May 15, 2014, the sheriff's office asked the OSBI to look into it.

Agents served a search warrant at a property in Kansas. They searched it with deputies and the state medical examiner's office. They found human remains in a burn pile, the OSBI said. The medical examiner's office took the remains.

Then years went by with no arrests.

The break came from Missouri. In July 2025, the Clinton County Sheriff's Office there called Delaware County deputies. They had new leads. The OSBI said the leads came from an inmate.

Agents then found that Larson and Penny Larson, 40, were to blame for Carver's death, the OSBI said.

On Sept. 12, 2025, the Delaware County District Attorney's Office put out arrest warrants for both of them. Penny Larson was arrested on Sept. 17. She was booked into the Clinton County Jail. James Larson was already in a Missouri prison on other charges.

Prosecutors charged both of them with first-degree murder.

Agents later got more tips. That led them to Bradley Wayne Majors, 31. He was arrested on a first-degree murder charge. He was booked into the Delaware County Jail on Oct. 8, 2025.

At an earlier hearing, Penny Larson took the stand. She said her husband stabbed Carver in the upper chest with a knife.

Penny Larson and Majors both pleaded guilty in January 2026. They did not plead guilty to murder. The OSBI said each one pleaded guilty to being an accessory to a felony. In Oklahoma, that charge is for helping or hiding someone after a crime.

Penny Larson got a 20-year suspended sentence. Majors got a 10-year suspended sentence. A suspended sentence means they stay out of prison as long as they follow the court's rules.

Carver's mother, Tina Turtle, spoke in court the day Larson was sentenced. She stared at him from across the room.

"I feel cheated," Turtle said. "I have been in mourning for 12 years."

"You cheated me from my son," she told him. "His life had barely begun."

Then she said one more thing. "Dusty was supposed to be your friend," Turtle said.

The OSBI thanked the Delaware County Sheriff's Office for its help. It also thanked the Clinton County Sheriff's Office in Missouri. The police in Cameron and Bernice helped too. So did the state medical examiner's office.

Cold cases can break open years later. In this one, the key tip came from an inmate in another state.

Now all three people charged in Carver's death have been sentenced.