DNA evidence identifies victim in 1972 Eloise killing, Polk Sheriff's Office says

Gary White, Lakeland Ledger
·4 min read
Mack Lavell Proctor, 58, seen here with an unidentified woman, was recently identified by the Polk County Sheriff's Office as the victim of a 1972 murder in Eloise. His body was found south of the canal between Lake Lulu and Lake Shipp. The suspected killers, Clarence Ingram and Edgar Todd, are dead.
Mack Lavell Proctor, 58, seen here with an unidentified woman, was recently identified by the Polk County Sheriff's Office as the victim of a 1972 murder in Eloise. His body was found south of the canal between Lake Lulu and Lake Shipp. The suspected killers, Clarence Ingram and Edgar Todd, are dead.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office has identified the victim and likely perpetrators of a 1972 murder in unincorporated Eloise.

Using DNA evidence, detectives determined that the victim was Mack Lavell Proctor, who was 58 at the time. The two men identified as involved in the murder are both dead, PCSO reported.

On May 17, 1972, a person fishing reported seeing a body in a field just to the south of the canal between Lake Lulu and Lake Shipp, southeast of the U.S. 17 overpass, PCSO said in a news release. Deputies responded and found the body of a white male estimated to be in his 40s to 50s, in advanced decomposition.

The victim had two small-caliber gunshot wounds on the left side of his head and one exit wound on right side. Deputies found no wallet or identification on his body.

No leads or witnesses emerged in the investigation, and the unidentified body was buried in an indigent grave at Lakeside Memorial Cemetery in Winter Haven.

In January 1974, an Florida prison inmate contacted Polk investigators, the release said. Charles Williams had been incarcerated the previous November at what is now Union Correctional Facility in Raiford, with Clarence Ingram. Williams said that Ingram revealed details about the murder.

Killer of Polk County deputy: Paul Beasley Johnson, who killed 3 in 1981, dies in prison

Williams said that Ingram told him he and Edgar Todd met a man in a bar in Winter Haven before leaving in the man’s vehicle. While in the car, they began arguing, and Ingram handed Todd a 22-caliber pistol. Todd shot the victim twice times in the head.

Ingram and Todd removed the victim from the car and placed his body near a canal, Williams told investigators. They removed his wallet and rings and drove away in his vehicle.

The men found tools worth $1,000 to $1,500 in the victim’s vehicle and sold them to Ingram’s brother, Johnny Ingram, Williams said. The pair then drove the car to Keeler, Michigan, where they sold it for $500. Ingram told Williams that the car had a Georgia license plate.

In 1974, detectives contacted law enforcement in Georgia, seeking information about a 1972 missing persons cases. Investigators learned about Lewis House, a man who had reportedly left Georgia for Florida in 1972 and then disappeared.

Investigators were unable to find any leads on House’s disappearance, and the case went cold, the release said.

A 1972 overview of the crime scene just east of U.S. 17 and south of Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven.
A 1972 overview of the crime scene just east of U.S. 17 and south of Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven.

The PCSO Cold Case Unit obtained a court order in 2017 allowing the 1972 murder victim’s body to be exhumed for DNA collection. Investigators sent DNA to the University of North Texas and provided samples of House’s relatives, but testing revealed that the victim was not House, the release said.

The victim’s DNA was entered into the national Combined DNA Index System database, but there were no matching profiles. Because investigators still couldn't confirm the identity of the victim, the case went cold.

Last November, the cold case unit submitted a section of the victim’s femur bone to Othram Inc., a private lab specializing in forensic genetic genealogy in cold case investigations. In April, Othram submitted a report indicating that the victim could be Mack Lavell Proctor, born Nov. 28, 1914. Investigators contacted relatives of Proctor and learned that he was last seen between 1969 and 1972 in Georgia, though he was never reported missing to law enforcement. Proctor’s son, Wright Proctor of Ellijay, Georgia, said that his father gave him the impression that he planned to leave Georgia.

Wright Proctor provided DNA samples for comparison to that of the 1972 murder victim. Detectives received a report from Othram on May 5 indicating that Wright Proctor’s DNA matched that of the victim, allowing PCSO to identify Mack Lavell Proctor as the victim.

Wright Proctor confirmed that his father was a master mechanic and would have had tools in his vehicle, the release said.

Investigators found that Ingram received a criminal traffic citation in Paw Paw, Michigan, 20 miles from Keeler, eight days before the victim’s body was found. That evidence supported Williams’ claim that Ingram told him of selling the car in Michigan. Williams provided details that only someone involved in the murder would have known, PCSO said.

Poinciana area: Polk Commission OKs $10.5 million contract for sheriff's substation

Ingram and Todd were close associates and resided in the Eloise and Winter Haven areas at the time of the homicide, the release said. Detectives confirmed that Ingram and Williams were both incarcerated in the state prison in Raiford at the time when Williams claimed Ingram discussed the murder.

Ingram was convicted of a murder committed in Lake County in April 1973.

Detectives learned that Ingram died in 1995 and Todd died 2015. Ingram’s brother, Jonny Lee Ingram, to whom they reportedly sold the tools, died in 2003.

Master Deputy Jason McPherson served as lead detective on the case, the release said.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: DNA tests identify victim in 1972 Eloise killing. Suspects are dead