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Arrest warrant issued for suspect in Pine Island murder

By Staff | Mar 5, 2013

A warrant for the arrest of Daniel Proctor was granted to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives Tuesday afternoon.

The arrest is for second-degree murder in connection with Bokeelia resident Amy Patterson.

According to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, the extradition process will begin as soon as possible for Proctor, who is in Alabama serving a life sentence for grand theft.

The body of Patterson, 41, a Cape Coral science teacher who was reported missing in July 2011, was recovered about a mile from her Bokeelia home Aug. 21, 2012, between 4-4:30 p.m. Deputies, detectives and crime scene technicians searched the densely wooded area near Howard Road and Bahama Way in Bokeelia where they discovered and retrieved the remains.

The body was discovered after the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit received information concerning its location from Proctor, 45, the victim’s boyfriend and ex-husband, officials said.

Her body was identified through dental records Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012. The cause of death has yet to be determined and will require further forensic analysis, officials said.

Proctor was a suspect in the disappearance of Patterson, who was reported missing July 25, 2011, when she did not show up for the start of the school year.

Detectives feared she was the victim of a domestic homicide.

Proctor had reportedly fled in her vehicle, which was recovered in Alabama. He stole another vehicle, a 1997 Ford Explorer, and a .380 handgun before leaving a note indicating that he may have been heading back to Florida.

Proctor was apprehended in Okeechobee on Sept. 5, 2011. He was sleeping in a stolen vehicle, at 3:45 a.m., when members of the U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force approached him in a hotel parking lot. He was taken into custody without further incident and transported back to Lee County where he remained until extradited to Alabama on a warrant for grand theft auto and theft of a firearm.

Lee County Sheriff’s Office detectives had been in Alabama to testify in that trial, which resulted on convictions on both charges.