In a remarkable breakthrough in forensic science, a cold case in Polk County that had remained unsolved for over five decades has finally been closed.
Thanks to advances in DNA testing and forensic genetic genealogy, investigators have identified both the victim and the perpetrators of a murder that took place in 1972.
Discovery of the Crime
On May 17, 1972, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office was called to a grim scene beneath an overpass on highway 17 in the unincorporated area of Eloise. They found a decomposing body of a man who had been fatally shot twice in the head.
At the time, identification was impossible due to the advanced state of decomposition.
Breakthrough from a Prison Informant
Two years after the discovery, in 1974, a significant lead came from Charles Williams, a prison informant at Raiford, Florida. He reported that a fellow prisoner, Clarence Ingram, had confessed to him about the murder.
According to Williams, Ingram and an accomplice named Edward Todd met the victim, Mac Proctor, in a bar in Winter Haven.
Ingram allegedly handed Todd a gun and instructed him to shoot Proctor. After the murder, they dumped his body near a canal and fled to Michigan in the victim’s car, where Ingram later received a traffic citation.
The Role of Forensic Genetic Genealogy
Despite the leads from the informant, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge the suspects in 1974. The case went cold until April of the current year when Author, Inc., a private laboratory specializing in forensic genetic genealogy, identified the victim as Mac Proctor.
This identification was confirmed through DNA samples provided by Proctor’s son, Wright Proctor.
Conclusion and Closure for the Family
Although both suspects, Clarence Ingram and Edward Todd, have since passed away and cannot be brought to justice, the resolution of the victim’s identity has provided some closure to the family.
Mac Proctor, last seen between 1969 and 1972, had vanished without a trace and was never reported missing.
His family, especially his son who barely knew him, had long wondered about his fate. The mystery of his disappearance has finally been resolved, offering a bittersweet closure to his loved ones.
