Mysterious death of WWII veteran milkman who vanished after rounds finally solved 56 years later

A murderous mystery has finally been solved as fifty-six years after the truth behind a Florida milkman’s death has been uncovered.

The man failed to return home after his rounds, and now the mystery has been solved, closing the oldest cold case in Indian River County Sheriff’s Office history. Two people who say the suspect confessed to them helped investigators finally understand who killed Hiram “Ross” Grayam, a decorated World War II veteran who was fatally shot from behind while working on April 11, 1968, delivering milk.

So long after his murder, his family were shocked to have new information. The victim’s son Larry Grayam, who was 16 at the time of his father’s death, said the closure of the case has brought mixed emotions.

“It devastated my family as a young kid, and caused me to actually lead a life of public safety and work as a photojournalist as well,” Larry Grayam said. His father, Hiram Grayam, 47, was a married father of three from Vero Beach, was a recipient of the Purple Heart.

He was last seen by a witness talking to two males who then got into his truck, Sheriff Eric Flowers said Thursday at a news conference. The witness “said Mr. Grayam engaged them in conversation and announced that he would be back shortly,” Flowers added.

Grayam

The next day, Grayam’s body and truck were located in a wooded area in what was described as a “chilling scene,” the sheriff’s office described in a statement. 16 separate investigations occurred through April 1974 in an effort to solve the case, to no avail.

In 2006, the case was reopened at the request of a family member, and after they were grilled by the media, the suspected killer, Thomas J. Williams, wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper saying he had been accused of the killing but denied being involved in it, Flowers said.

“At that point, he wasn’t on anybody’s radar,” Larry Grayam said at the news conference. “He kind of interjected himself into the crime and became a suspect.”

Williams died in 2016, but two people said prior to his death he confessed to them that he had brutally killed the milkman. The sheriff’s office told CNN investigators were tipped off in February 2022 by an inmate in their jail, who told them Williams had confessed to him, and perhaps most shockingly, the inmate was a member of Williams’ family, according to the Sheriff.

The sheriff’s office said the developments in “the milkman homicide” case “stand as beacons of hope for families like the Grayams, ensuring that no victim is forgotten, and no crime is unpunished.”

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