Fifty-six years after a Florida milkman failed to return home from his rounds, his homicide has been solved, ending the longest-running cold case in the history of the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.
The emergence of two people who say the suspect confessed to them has helped investigators determine who killed Hiram “Ross” Grayam, a decorated World War II veteran who was shot execution-style while working on April 11, 1968. according to the sheriff’s office.
The victim’s son, Larry Grayam, who was 16 at the time of his father’s death, said the resolution of the case brought mixed emotions.
“It devastated my family as a child and caused me to lead a life of public safety and also work as a photojournalist,” said Larry Grayam.
Hiram Grayam, 47, a married father of three from Vero Beach who received the Purple Heart, was last seen by a witness talking to two men who got into his truck, Sheriff Eric Flowers said Thursday at a news conference .
The witness “said Mr. Grayam spoke to them and announced he would be back soon,” Flowers added. The next day, Grayam’s body and truck were located in a wooded area in what was described as a “haunting scene,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. declaration.
Over the next few years, 16 separate investigations took place through April 1974 in an effort to solve the case, Flowers said.
In 2006, the case was reopened at the request of a family member. After the victim’s family was interviewed by the media, the alleged killer, Thomas J. Williams, wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper saying he had been accused of the murder but denied being involved in it, Flowers said.
“At that point, he wasn’t on anyone’s radar,” Larry Grayam said at the news conference. “He kind of got involved in the crime and became a suspect.”
Williams died in 2016, but two people said that before his death he confessed that he had killed Grayam, the sheriff said.
The sheriff’s office told CNN that investigators were tipped off in February 2022 by an inmate at the jail, who told them that Williams had confessed to him. The inmate was a member of Williams’ family, the sheriff said.
After receiving that information, detectives located the suspect’s ex-wife, who also said Williams confessed to her, Flowers said.
The sheriff’s office noted that the two individuals who knew about the confession were independent witnesses who did not know each other and did not come forward sooner out of fear for their safety as Williams had threatened them. Witnesses said the suspect had been arrested and convicted multiple times on other charges, the sheriff’s office added.
“Thomas Williams, we believe is our shooter in this case… but we know there is someone else out there who knows what happened that day. We know who he is and we want someone in the community to give us more information about this,” Flowers said.
The sheriff’s office said developments in the “milkman homicide” case “represent beacons of hope for families like the Grayams, ensuring that no victim is forgotten and no crime goes unpunished.”
Cara Lynn Clarkson contributed to this report.
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