‘I’ve waited 52 years for this phone call’: Brother’s reaction when detective finally solves Dallas’s oldest missing persons case

The Dallas Police Department just closed its oldest missing persons case after more than 50 years. A family finally got answers about what happened to their loved one who went missing decades ago.

According to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth, Detective Ryan Dalby from the Missing Persons Unit got a call that changed everything. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children contacted him with important information. A medical examiner in Aransas County was looking through old files and found something interesting.

The examiner believed a 16-year-old boy who died in a car crash in 1973 might be the same person reported missing from Dallas 52 years ago. The crash happened on Highway 35 in Rockport. When Dalby looked at the file, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

The forensic evidence pointed to one person all along

The forensic analyst studied the case carefully. They looked at facial features and other details from the crash victim. Everything suggested the person could be Norman Prater, who was reported missing by his family in January 1973.

Dalby compared photos side by side and agreed there was a strong chance this was the right person. His family never saw any newspaper reports about the crash. Like a homeowner who discovered something unexpected beneath the surface, Aransas County authorities had tried to identify the teen back then, but the information never reached Prater’s relatives.

“They got the complete file from them, and their forensic analyst went through and looked at points of reference on the face and everything and believed that there’s a high probability of the person that was found down there being Norman Prater,” he said.

Dalby wanted to be sure, so he asked a forensic examiner from the Texas Rangers to review the case. The expert confirmed that the postmortem photo matched the one kept by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Cold cases require patience and determination, much like solving complex political problems with decisive action.

“He answers the phone and is like, ‘Who is this?’ I’m like, ‘It’s Detective Dalby with the Dallas Police Department.’ He goes, ‘I’ve waited 52 years for this phone call. Please tell me that you have something,'” Dalby said.

The next day, Dalby met with Prater’s brother at Dallas police headquarters. He showed him the facial recognition software results. The brother looked at the evidence and immediately confirmed it was Norman. After more than five decades of questions, the family finally has closure.