Convicted murderer was last person to see Pittsburgh area woman missing from Dauphin County

A convicted murderer was the last person to see a Pittsburgh area woman who vanished from Dauphin County and who is believed to be dead, court records show.

Anthony E. Proctor, 59, also was caught on camera using her state benefits card at a warehouse store in mid-February, one week after she had moved from Allegheny County to Susquehanna Township to live with him. He was alone inside the store, according to police, and later denied knowing Tracy Scanlon, 54.

Proctor is jailed in connection with crimes Susquehanna Township police say were uncovered during their search for Scanlon, who has not been seen or heard from since late February.

Police announced last week her missing person case had shifted to a homicide investigation. Her body has not been found but police say evidence in the case leads them to believe she was killed. Scanlon was last seen leaving a Dauphin County wine and liquor store in late February and has not had contact with family or friends in more than two months, according to police. She previously kept in contact nearly every day.

Proctor has not been charged with Scanlon’s death as of Thursday. Online court records show he is being held at the Dauphin County Prison on a combined $250,000 bail on theft, counterfeiting and drug possession charges.

‘Heading to Harrisburg’

On Feb. 7, Proctor picked Scanlon up from the Millvale home where she had been staying with another woman, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed against him.

Millvale is a borough of about 3,200 residents in Allegheny County across the Allegheny River from Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood.

Proctor and Scanlon told her housemate they were heading to the Harrisburg area for a couple of weeks. Scanlon texted the woman the evening of Feb. 7 letting her know she had arrived in Dauphin County, where she was staying at Proctor’s apartment on the 3300 block of Union Deposit Road, in the Walnut Crossings complex.

Scanlon said she planned to return to Millvale on March 1.

Millvale police Chief Tim Komoroski said Scanlon’s daughter reported her missing to his department after they had not heard from her in a few weeks. Komoroski said the daughter had sent her mother money that was not received. There was no activity on Scanlon’s social media accounts.

The daughter told Millvale police that Scanlon said she was moving to the Harrisburg area to be with her boyfriend, who already lived there, the chief said.

Komoroski said the family had little information about the boyfriend. The chief did not know how long the two had been together.

Susquehanna Township police knocked on Proctor’s apartment door on Feb. 28 after getting a request to check Scanlon’s welfare. The last time she’d been heard from was eight days prior, via text message.

Proctor refused to answer the door for police, and when asked about Scanlon, he yelled, “I don’t know what you are talking about,” court documents said.

He also told officers, “I don’t know who that is,” when police asked him about Scanlon’s whereabouts, according to the affidavit.

But police believe Proctor was being dishonest with them about how well and how long he has known Scanlon, they wrote in court documents.

That’s why they applied for several search warrants in March to search Proctor’s property. In the documents supporting the warrants, Susquehanna Township police said they talked to a woman who had been in a relationship with Proctor for the last year. She said Proctor told her Scanlon was a childhood friend.

The woman said she saw Scanlon entering Proctor’s apartment about six weeks before her March 20 interview with police, according to court documents, around the time Scanlon first arrived in Dauphin County. The woman said she saw Scanlon in the apartment in good health in the middle of February, and saw her on multiple occasions smoking outside the apartment building.

In late February or early March, the woman said she ran into Proctor while he was walking his dog. He told her he had taken Scanlon to the train station to catch a ride to Philadelphia.

But police were unable to find any evidence that Scanlon or Proctor bought an Amtrak ticket, court documents said. Family and friends told investigators that Scanlon had no reason to travel to Philadelphia and did not know anyone on that side of the state.

‘Charge me with what you got’

Scanlon and Proctor were both registered in Pennsylvania’s food stamps program. The program requires beneficiaries to sign an agreement acknowledging their electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card is for their use only and cannot be shared with anyone else.

Surveillance footage from the Sam’s Club in Swatara Township and an analysis of Scanlon’s EBT transactions showed Proctor used the card at the store on Feb. 15. There was no one else with him in the store, court documents said, other than his small white dog.

“When I told him I had him on video using her EBT card at Sam’s, and I know he went to Pittsburgh to pick [Scanlon] up in February, he again told me that he did not know who she was, and that he was not going to talk with officers,” Susquehanna Township police Sgt. Aaron Osman wrote in the court documents.

“Charge me with what you got, and I will be out in a couple of hours,” Proctor told police, according to the affidavit.

In the search warrant applications, police said that Scanlon was known to use the funds on her EBT card as soon as they were replenished. Money that was added to her account in early March had not been touched as of March 22, the date the warrant was signed.

“Based on the presented information Tracy’s whereabouts are currently unknown and there is no evidence that she is alive after Feb. 20, 2024,” police wrote in the search warrants. “Throughout her life, she has maintained regular communication with family and friends, and [has] never gone more than a day without contact.”

Police searched Proctor’s four vehicles and his apartment in March for Scanlon’s three duffel bags, her cross-body purse, several pairs of shoes and a box of her personal belongings containing identification, like her birth certificate. Scanlon’s housemate in Millvale told police she saw Scanlon load these items into Proctor’s car when he picked her up Feb. 7.

Police also asked in the search warrant for the right to collect DNA samples, including “human hair, human blood, human semen, and human urine, and human decomposition.”

The search of Proctor’s apartment included a cadaver dog, police said in the court documents. It’s unclear whether any forensic evidence of foul play was found in the apartment.

Proctor’s four vehicles that were parked outside his apartment were impounded and taken to the Susquehanna Township Police Department for searches, according to court documents.

On March 18, police found counterfeit luxury merchandise, including fake Prada, Louis Vuitton and Gucci merchandise in Proctor’s box truck. The merchandise was reportedly worth more than $10,000.

“There were easily a thousand counterfeit items, ranging from counterfeit Rolexs to hundreds of trademarked sunglasses, to hundreds of wallets, purses, and other clothing and accessories,” police wrote in an affidavit.

The affidavit said Proctor also had lighting and a generator in the truck, as well as tables and displays indicating he was selling the merchandise.

Days later, on March 22, police searched Proctor’s apartment and found 283 grams of marijuana in a Dewalt drill box in his bedroom closet. Packaging material and a number of cellphones were also found in the apartment, according to court documents.

Proctor was charged on March 18 with forgery, theft, identity theft and accessing an unauthorized device. On March 28, he was charged with counterfeiting and two drug possession offenses.

Murder and assault

The charges filed against Proctor in March were the latest in a long criminal history.

Proctor was 29 in February 1994 when he shot and killed Charles Williams, 40, in Pittsburgh, according to a report in the Post-Gazette. He told police he shot at Williams multiple times on a city street because he thought Williams was going to rob him.

He was convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to 8-20 years in prison on June 28, 1995. Proctor was paroled on Jan. 3, 2005, but violated parole twice and ended up back behind bars.

While out on parole in February 2010, Proctor was charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, simple assault, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and recklessly endangering another person in Erie County.

Erie City police officers were called on the afternoon of Feb. 27, 2010, to Saint Vincent Hospital for a woman who was injured during a domestic dispute.

The woman told police she was “violently assaulted” by Proctor, her live-in boyfriend. For hours, Proctor slapped, punched, kicked and pushed her, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Court documents said Proctor also forced the woman to perform a sex act on him. She said no, but eventually agreed so Proctor would stop beating her.

At one point, court documents said Proctor stepped on the woman’s neck and choked her.

“[She] was held against her will in this apartment for several hours, unable to escape and call for help,” police wrote in the affidavit.

The affidavit said the woman had bruises on her neck, legs, wrists, arms and shoulders.

Proctor was found guilty of simple assault and reckless endangerment and sentenced to 1—2 years in prison on Oct. 20, 2010. The years were tacked onto the end of Proctor’s murder sentence, according to Department of Corrections records.

Proctor was released from prison on Dec. 19, 2018. He was not under any state supervision at the time of Scanlon’s disappearance.

Where is Tracy?

Police have released few details regarding Scanlon’s disappearance and presumed homicide. The court records obtained by PennLive indicated the first possible direction of their investigation.

Police on Monday said they searched creeks in northern York County for Scanlon’s body. For nearly seven hours, about 100 people searched 10 miles of the Little Conewago and Conewago creeks. The search began in Conewago Township and ended in York Haven.

“Participants used every piece of technology and equipment at their disposal, as well as sheer willpower, to scour the land, water and air for any sign of Tracy,” police said.

Scanlon’s body was not found, but police said they “are committed to solving Tracy’s homicide, prosecuting a suspect(s) and finding her body, in hopes of bringing some semblance of respite to her family.”

Police are asking anyone with information on the Scanlon homicide to call Sgt. Aaron Osman at 717-909-9232 or email aosmansusquehannatwp.com.