Authorities have resolved the Dallas Police Department’s oldest missing persons case by identifying a teenager who disappeared in 1973 as the victim of a hit-and-run crash in South Texas later that year, bringing closure to his family after decades of uncertainty.
Detective Ryan Dalby, from the department’s Missing Persons Unit, received a tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children about an Aransas County medical examiner’s review of old files. The examiner suspected a 16-year-old boy killed in a July 9, 1973, collision on Highway 35 in Rockport matched Norman Prater, who had been reported missing by his family to Dallas police on January 14 of that year.
“I pull up the file, and I’m look at it, I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?'” Dalby said, NBC 5 DFW reported.
Despite Aransas County authorities’ attempts and newspaper appeals for help identifying the unidentified white male, Prater’s relatives were unaware of the incident.
A forensic analyst for the medical examiner compared facial reference points from files obtained by the center.
“They got the complete file from them, and their forensic analyst went through and looked at points of reference on the face and everything and believed that there’s a high probability of the person that was found down there being Norman Prater,” Dalby explained, per NBC 5.
A Texas Rangers forensic examiner further confirmed the match by comparing a postmortem photo to one held by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Dalby then contacted Prater’s brother, Isaac Prater.
“He answers the phone and is like, ‘Who is this?’ I’m like, ‘It’s Detective Dalby with the Dallas Police Department.’ He goes, ‘I’ve waited 52 years for this phone call. Please tell me that you have something,'” Dalby recounted.
The next day, at police headquarters, the brother reviewed the results from the recognition software and confirmed the identification.
“I showed him recognition software that they used, and he just looks at me and he goes, ‘You can close the case, that’s my brother, case is done,'” Dalby said, per NBC 5. “He finally has closure. He has closure after 52 years of wondering where his brother is.”
“This resolution stands as a testament to the Dallas Police Department’s commitment to the cases we pursue and the families we serve, no matter how much time has passed,” said Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux. “Detective Dalby’s dedication, skill, and compassion have not only solved a historical case but have performed the most vital duty of our Missing Persons Unit: providing closure to a grieving family.”
The department expressed sympathies to the Prater family and praised interagency cooperation for achieving the outcome.
