Detectives solve 1968 killing of World War II veteran who became milkman, Florida sheriff says

VERO BEACH, Fla. — More than five decades after a World War II veteran was killed while working as a dairyman in Florida, investigators say they have solved the case thanks to two people who came forward after the killer died.

Hiram “Ross” Grayam was delivering milk in April 1968 and was unable to return home after work. Officers later found his body and his milk truck deep in the woods in the Vero Beach area, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. He had been shot several times.

The case went cold and no arrests were made for the next 56 years.

“Through determination and the cooperation of witnesses, new evidence emerged: Thomas J. Williams, now deceased, had confessed to Grayam’s murder, with his guilt reverberating from beyond the grave,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Grayam, a decorated World War II veteran who received a Purple Heart, had become “a beloved milkman” after settling in Indian River County after the war, authorities said.

A witness told officers she saw Grayam talking to two men walking along the side of the road, WPEC-TV reported.

“She said Mr. Grayam engaged them in conversation and announced he would be back soon,” Indian River County Sheriff Eric Flowers said. The two unidentified men and Grayam all left in the milk truck, he said.

Grayam’s family didn’t realize anything had happened, “other than my dad came home a little late, and then a deputy showed up and an investigator,” Grayam’s son Larry, who was 16 at the time, told the TV station.

During a ground and air search, the milk truck and Graham’s body were spotted by an aircraft.

“When they arrived at the first scene, Mr. Grayam was lying with gunshot wounds next to the milk truck, execution style,” Flowers said.

In 2006, there were rumors that Williams may have been involved. So he wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, “saying he had been accused of the murder, but that he denied knowledge of it, that he was not involved,” the sheriff said.

The case went cold again and Williams died in 2016.

With Williams dead, investigators have gotten huge breaks in the case in the past two years: Williams’ ex-wife and a friend of his sister came forward and told investigators what they knew, the Florida TV station reported.

Flowers said the witnesses — neither of whom know each other — told investigators that Williams had previously confessed to them that he killed Grayam.

“These people said, ‘I would never have told you anything before, as long as he was alive, he was a threat to me and my family, we would never have told you,’ but the fact that he is now dead gave them the courage to come forward,” Flowers said.

Now detectives are hoping anyone who knows anything about the second man seen with Grayam before he was killed will contact them.