Body found in search for missing Cape Coral teacher

By FOX 4 Staff

CREATED Aug. 22, 2012

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  • Amy Patterson Daniel Proctor

BOKEELIA, Fla. - The Lee County Sheriff's Office reports the discovery of a body in Bokeelia.  The discovery came as investigators searched for the body of Amy Patterson, a Cape Coral school teacher who disappeared more than a year ago.

On Tuesday, August 21, 2012, members of the Lee County Sheriff's Office Major Crimes Unit received information from 45-year-old Daniel Proctor about the location of a body.  As a result, deputies, detectives and crime scene technicians responded to a densely wooded area near Howard Road and Bahama Way, Bokeelia, Florida late yesterday afternoon to investigate further.

A body was discovered and members of the Forensics Unit will be continuing efforts at excavating the remains for most of the day.  The deceased will be turned over to the District 21 Medical Examiner for an autopsy to determine positive identification and cause of death.  The Sheriff's Office death investigation continues.

Lee County detectives had been in Alabama to testify in the trial of Daniel Proctor a former resident of Bokeelia.  On September 5, 2011, Daniel Proctor was located in Okeechobee, Florida.  He was sleeping in a stolen vehicle, at 3:45 am, 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.

Earlier that month, investigators identified Proctor as a suspect in the disappearance of his girlfriend Amy Patterson, a middle school teacher with the Lee County School District.  She was reported missing in July, 2011 when she did not show up for the start of the school year, July 25th.  Detectives feared she was the victim of a domestic homicide.  

Proctor had 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 he may be en route back to Florida. Daniel Proctor has now been convicted on the charges in Alabama and sentenced to life in prison for those crimes.