A human skull found by kids in woods ID’d
DNA extraction helps solve part of 1985 case
WEST PALM BEACH — Authorities have identified a murder victim found buried in a shallow grave near Greenacres almost four decades ago. They hope to find his killer next.
Palm Beach County sheriff ’s deputies believe Terry Ketron traveled to South Florida from Kentucky in the early 1980s with a woman named Connie or Bonnie, her last name unknown. Ketron told his family he was having problems with the woman and her relatives, then was never heard from again.
A group of children discovered the man’s skull in a wooded area near Okeeheelee Park on Jan. 12, 1985, one month before what would have been the man’s 32nd birthday. They took the skull to a neighboring stable and showed it to a ranch hand, prompting a decades-long investigation that has only recently begun to yield answers.
Responding deputies found Ketron’s skeletal remains in a 16-inch grave, where they believe he laid for at least five years before the discovery.
Using the same technology that led to the arrest of the Golden State Killer in California, investigators extracted DNA from Ketron’s bones and used it to find a distant relative. A genealogist then built out the relative’s family tree until finding the branch that ended with the man in the shallow grave.
For years, he was known only as a John Doe with broad shoulders and a muscular body. Deputies believed the man was no stranger to confrontation, given several healed fractures to his nose, brow, back and hand, and extensive dental work.
Ketron joins a growing list of people identified through the use of forensic investigative genetic genealogy. The expensive sleuthing technique has helped solve several high-profile cases in Palm Beach County, including the rape and murder of 78-year-old Mildred Matheny, and the death of Baby June, an infant found in the Boynton Inlet.
PBSO cold-case detectives are now hoping to identify the woman who traveled with him to Florida, as well as any other associates known to him.