The murder of Mack Lavell Proctor
Winter Haven, Polk County, Florida · 1972
Overview
On May 17, 1972, a fisherman found a decomposed body in a marshy field near the canal between Lake Lulu and Lake Shipp in the Eloise area of Polk County, Florida, southeast of the US 17 overpass. The man had been shot twice in the left side of the head with a small-caliber pistol and robbed of his wallet and identification. With no leads, he was buried as a John Doe and the case went cold for more than five decades. The break in identifying the killers had actually come less than two years after the murder: in January 1974, a Florida State Prison inmate named Charles Williams told investigators that a fellow prisoner, Clarence Ingram, had confided that he and a friend named Edgar Todd murdered a man they met at a Winter Haven bar in 1972, shooting him during an argument in the victim's car and then selling his tools and vehicle. That account named the killers but was not enough to identify the victim or to bring charges at the time. In 2017 the body was exhumed for DNA, and in 2023 the Polk County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit submitted bone evidence to the forensic genetic-genealogy lab Othram. In May 2024, DNA from the victim's son confirmed the John Doe was Mack Lavell Proctor, a 57-year-old master mechanic from Ellijay, Georgia. With the victim finally named, detectives matched the 1974 informant's decades-old statement to the case and publicly identified Edgar Todd and Clarence Ingram as the men responsible. Both had long since died, so neither could be prosecuted.
How it was solved
The case was solved primarily by a criminal informant. In January 1974, less than two years after the killing, Florida State Prison inmate Charles Williams contacted Polk County detectives and reported that fellow inmate Clarence Ingram had confessed to him while the two were incarcerated together at Raiford in late 1973. According to Williams, Ingram said that he and Edgar Todd met a man at a Winter Haven bar, left in the man's white Chevrolet, argued during the drive, and that Todd shot the man twice in the head with a .22-caliber pistol; they then dumped the body near a canal and sold his tools and vehicle. That informant account named the perpetrators, but in 1974 the victim remained an unidentified John Doe and there was not enough corroboration to file charges. The investigative function of identifying the killers came from the informant, not from forensic science. Genetic genealogy, decades later, was used only to put a name to the VICTIM: in 2023 the Cold Case Unit submitted bone evidence to Othram, and on May 3, 2024, comparison with the DNA of Mack Proctor's son Wright confirmed the victim's identity. Once detectives knew who the dead man was, the long-dormant 1974 informant statement snapped into place, and the agency publicly identified Edgar Todd and Clarence Ingram as the killers. The informant's tip is what told investigators who committed the murder; the DNA only told them who had been murdered.
Sources
- Polk County Sheriff's Office solves 1972 'John Doe' homicide
“We are extremely grateful for the assistance from Othram, Inc., who provided us with investigative leads that ultimately lead to our ability to positively identify Mack Proctor as the unknown 1972 homicide victim.”
- 52 years later, Polk County John Doe (1972) is Identified
“In January 14, 1974, informant Charles Williams told investigators that Clarence Ingram and Edgar Todd murdered a man in Winter Haven in 1972 and dumped his body near a canal and overpass.”
- DNA testing helps solve 1972 'John Doe' cold case in Polk County, sheriff's office says
“In January 1974, Florida State Prison inmate Charles Williams contacted Polk County investigators. Williams reported that fellow inmate Clarence Ingram had claimed he and Edgar Todd murdered a man they met at a Winter Haven bar in 1972.”
- Polk County deputies solve 1972 cold case murder
“A May 1972 police stop in Michigan placed Ingram just eight days after the body was discovered, near where the murder vehicle was allegedly sold.”
- 1970s prison inmate, DNA help crack Polk County cold case murder after 52 years
“Ingram allegedly told Williams that he handed Todd a 22-caliber pistol and said 'shoot him.'”
- Polk County 'John Doe' cold case murder solved 52 years later thanks to DNA
“Detectives made contact with Wright Proctor, son of Mack Proctor, in Ellijay, Georgia.”
- Mack Proctor identified after 52 years in cold case
“On May 17, 1972, a fishing person found Proctor's body in a field south of the canal between Lake Lulu and Lake Ship in Polk County, Florida.”