Man executed for two South Carolina murders identified as offender in 40-year-old Charlotte cold case: CMPD

CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A man sentenced to death for two South Carolina murders has been identified as the offender in a 40-year-old Charlotte cold case investigation, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

Around 3:10 p.m. on Nov. 19, 1984, officers responded to a missing persons call in the 8000 block of Eaglewind Drive in southeast Charlotte. Sandee Cornett, 26, was reported missing by a neighbor after she didn’t show up for work.

Months into the investigation, 26-year-old Larry Gene Bell was identified as a suspect in Cornett’s disappearance. CMPD says Bell was interviewed by multiple law enforcement agencies but was not charged at the time.

Less than 12 years later, on Oct. 4, 1996, Bell was executed after being sentenced to death for two murders in South Carolina- a 17-year-old girl and then a nine-year-old girl two weeks later. Former CMPD homicide detective Rick Sanders said Bell called in the location of both of those bodies.

During a pretrial hearing, he told the deputies he wanted to talk to Charlotte homicide detectives. Sanders recalled that Bell told officers he didn’t do it, but ‘the bad Larry Gene Bell might have.’

Officials completed a full review of the casework and evidence obtained over the four decades since Cornett disappeared. Detectives determined Bell kidnapped and murdered Cornett, and he would have been charged if he was still alive.

CMPD says Cornett’s remains have never been found and she is still listed as missing in multiple national databases. Anyone with information can still contact the CMPD Cold Case Unit at 704-432-TIPS.

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