Homicide victim whose decomposed remains were found 52 years ago is identified

POLK COUNTY, Fla. (TCD) -- Officials recently identified a 1972 cold case homicide victim and two suspects in his death, who are both deceased.

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, on May 17, 1972, deputies responded to a field near a canal after a fisherman found a possible dead body. The sheriff’s office said the victim appeared to be a white man in his 40s or 50s in "advanced stages of decomposition."

Investigators didn’t see any identifying features or belongings on the body, but they believe he was shot twice in the head. Authorities found a light-colored shirt, dark blue trousers, and leather shoes nearby, according to Othram.

Investigators found no leads or witnesses, and the case went cold. The unidentified victim was reportedly buried at a local cemetery.

According to the sheriff’s office, Charles Williams, an inmate in a Florida state prison, reached out to Polk County investigators in January 1974. Williams reportedly said he was in Raiford Prison when Clarence Ingram and Edgar Todd told him they met a victim in a bar in Winter Haven, Florida, and allegedly left in the victim’s vehicle.

Ingram and Todd reportedly told Williams they argued, and Todd shot the victim twice in the head. According to the sheriff’s office, Ingram and Todd allegedly said they dumped his body near a canal before removing his wallet and rings. They reportedly left him there so "the turtles would eat him."

Todd and Ingram allegedly told Williams they sold the victim’s vehicle in Michigan for $500 and that it had a Georgia license plate. The two also allegedly sold the victim’s tools.

Despite the information, the case remained unsolved.

In February 2017, the sheriff’s office said officials exhumed the victim’s body and extracted his DNA. They entered the information into the national CODIS database, but there were no matches. Then, in November 2023, investigators submitted a portion of the victim’s femur bone to Othram Inc. to perform forensic genetic genealogy. As a result, in April 2024, Othram reportedly identified the victim as Mack Proctor.

The sheriff’s office contacted Proctor’s son, Wright Proctor, in Georgia. According to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, the son didn’t know much about his father but said he drank a lot, worked as a mechanic, and moved around often. Mack Proctor was reportedly last seen by his relatives between 1969 and 1972 in Georgia, but they never reported him missing.

Investigators compared Wright Proctor’s DNA to the victim’s and confirmed it was a match.

According to the sheriff’s office, the suspects are both deceased. Todd died in 2015, and Ingram died in 1995. Ingram’s brother, who reportedly purchased some of the victim’s tools, died in 2003.

Further investigation revealed Ingram reportedly received a traffic citation in Michigan eight days after Proctor’s body was found. Ingram had also been convicted of homicide in Lake County in 1973 in a separate case.

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