CROSS LANES, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI are investigating the death of a 15-year-old Cross Lanes boy after evidence revealed he had been targeted in an online sextortion scheme shortly before taking his own life.

Deputies responded to a 911 call on November 6 around 7:10 p.m. reporting a shooting at a home on Kelly Road. When they arrived, they found Bryce Tate, a Nitro High School student, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Detectives recovered Tate’s cellphone and submitted it to the sheriff’s office Digital Forensic Lab, where investigators discovered communications showing he had been contacted by an unknown individual earlier that afternoon.

According to the sheriff’s office, the sextortion-related messages began around 4:37 p.m. and con

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