A body found in Kentucky in 1993 has finally been identified as Douglas Prouty, of Madison, and now the question is: Who killed him?
Twelve years ago, the dead man left a clue.
Monday, Kentucky authorities confirmed that a man found dead in 1993 at a hilly campsite was Douglas Prouty, 37, of Madison.
Now they will try to find out why he was there and what the clues about his death - which eventually led to the identification of Madison as his hometown - can tell them about why he died.
The clues, said Detective Lt. Mark Merriman of the Kentucky State Police, include two plastic grocery bags from Downtown Madison grocery store Capitol Centre Foods. The bags were over Prouty's head and tightened with a belt around the neck, which caused suffocation, or "death by asphyxia."
Whether the death was homicide or suicide, "That's yet to be determined," said Merriman, who said the body will be exhumed and the long inactive death investigation continued.
"With the bags, it's almost like he was leaving us the clue. I would like to feel he was shouting, 'Here is where I am from,' " Merriman said.
It took more than a dozen years for anyone to hear.
Douglas Prouty's brother, Mark, older by four years, lives in Lodi and works in Madison. They grew up on University Bay Drive, across from the Unitarian Meeting House.
"In one sense, it does mean closure," said Mark Prouty. "But I am hoping now the detectives can get more information on the cause of death. I am hoping they can conduct an investigation and ultimately find out who was responsible for my brother's death," he said.
Kentucky police provide the background for this on their unsolved cases Web site: "The victim was found Nov. 26, 1993, at a camp site on a hillside at the head of Davis Hollow, which borders Berea College in Madison County, Kentucky, 40 miles south of Lexington."
Hikers found the body, dressed in light corduroys, long-sleeved undershirt, blue sweat shirt, Nike shoes, a blue down vest and knit cap. Aside from the brand names on the clothing and the logo and name on the plastic grocery bags, there was no identification, not even in the backpack or on the key ring. There were empty Stroh's beer containers, but nothing else.
There was an investigation, and suicide and murder were both considered. But with no identification or witnesses, the case lagged. Samples and photos were taken, and the anonymous victim was buried.
So Douglas Prouty's body was buried in a Garrard County, Kentucky, cemetery beneath a stone engraved with "Madison Man."
In 2003 a Kentucky resident, Ahlashia Thomas, developed an interest in the case and contacted Todd Matthews, the proprietor of a Web site devoted to unidentified victims. Matthews, focusing on the Madison connection, eventually contacted Doug Moe, a columnist at The Capital Times, who, in June 2004, wrote a column about the mystery of "Madison Man."
Meanwhile, Merriman and the Kentucky State Police were also following up, with a new forensic reconstruction of the victim developed by forensic artist Teresa Redmon.
It was her drawing that shocked Janet Juckem, wife of Mark Prouty. During an Internet search last year, Juckem found a sketch of Mark's little brother, Douglas, on a missing persons Web site.
"We were going through some pictures and she thought maybe she would take a look on the Web and see what she could find. Then she said 'Doesn't this look like your brother?' Whoever did the picture did a real good job because it looks exactly like him," said Mark Prouty.
The Web site included links to the Web site Matthews ran.
Kentucky police were contacted and DNA samples were collected from Prouty siblings to compare with the remains. The comparisons were done at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, Texas, Merriman said. Monday's confirmation of the identification was based on the results.
Mark Prouty said his brother's roommate called him in late 1993 to report Douglas Prouty missing.
"He just up and left, leaving everything behind," said Mark Prouty, who reported him missing to Madison police in early 1994.
He had been living on South Paterson Street, working as a janitor, said Mark Prouty.
As far as he knows, his brother had never been to Kentucky.
"He was kind of a loner," said Mark Prouty.
But Mark Prouty does not think his brother killed himself.
"He had no suicidal tendencies. And to put a belt around your neck with a gag over your head, well, no one commits suicide that way. There was no history of depression," he said.
"My theory, what I think, is he went down to Kentucky to make some quick money," said Mark Prouty.
"I think Berea, Kentucky, is known for being a distribution center for pot, and he went down there with a bundle of money to meet someone, and I think whoever he met, well, decided he didn't have to fork anything over," said Mark Prouty.
Though the body was found at a campsite, police do not believe Douglas Prouty was camping, said Merriman, who refused comment on Mark Prouty's marijuana theory.
No vehicle was recovered, though records of abandoned or recovered cars were searched, said Merriman.
Prouty said after police release his brother's body, it will be cremated and the ashes returned to Madison.
Merriman said the investigation will advance to a next step now. He said that after reviewing various cases in 2000, the Kentucky State Police considered the case to be "very interesting and very solvable in terms of identifying the person." That process was aided by the addition of the detailed forensic artist's sketch, and its inclusion on the "John Doe network," which is a Web site, www.DoeNetwork.org, which is devoted to "naming the nameless dead."
The dead man's first name was "Madison Man," probably coined, said Merriman, by the state's forensic anthropologist, Dr. Emily Craig.
Now, said Merriman, with a real name, the task gets more personal.
"We want to find out why he chose this spot, why he chose to be here," he said.
The Kentucky State Police can be contacted at 859-623-2404 or 800-222- 5555.