Ruth Marie Terry (September 8, 1936 – c. July 1974), also known as Lady of the Dunes, was a formerly
unidentified murder victim found on July 26, 1974, in the Race Point Dunes in
Provincetown
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, United States.
Her body was
exhumed in 1980, 2000 and 2013
in efforts to identify her.
On October 31, 2022, the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
field office in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
announced that Terry had been officially identified. Her husband, Guy Muldavin, was officially named as her killer on August 28, 2023.
Background
Ruth Marie Terry was born on September 8, 1936, in a mountainside shack in
Whitwell,
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, to Johnny and Eva Terry, the latter of whom died at the age of 23. In 1957, following a short-lived marriage, Terry left Whitwell to work at the
Fisher Body automotive plant in
Livonia
Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...
. In 1958 she gave birth to her son, Richard, but was unable to care for him due to financial difficulties. She allowed the superintendent of her workplace, Richard Hanchett Sr., to
adopt her son in return for him paying off her expenses. After the adoption process was finalized, Terry left Livonia and moved to
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. Terry reached out to her son in 1972, but he was not ready to meet her due to a drug overdose which left him in a
coma for eighteen days.
On February 16, 1974, she married Guy Rockwell Muldavin, an antiques dealer in
Reno
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
. Four months before her death, the couple visited her family in Whitwell. Ruth's grand-niece, Brittanie Novoglonsky, later recalled that that Terry "wasn't herself" whenever she was with Muldavin, who exhibited possessive behavior. The couple then went to
Chattanooga to visit Terry's half-brother, Kenneth, and his wife Carole; they later recalled Terry and Muldavin saying they were going to travel the U.S. to look for antiques. Kenneth also noted that they spoke about visiting
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
as they were leaving.
In the late summer of 1974, Muldavin returned to Tennessee to tell Terry's family that she had gone
missing from the couple's California home. According to her sister-in-law, Jan Terry, he stayed for a short time and simply told them that he didn't know where Terry was. Terry's brother, James, traveled to California and hired a
private investigator
A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...
to find her. The investigator told Terry's family that all of her belongings had been sold and that she had left the state of her own will after becoming involved with a
religious cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This s ...
. In the two decades prior to her identification, Terry was listed as deceased in family obituaries. Carole theorized that she was in a
witness protection program
Witness protection is security provided to a threatened person providing testimonial evidence to the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require p ...
and could not contact her family.
Discovery
![Lady of the Dunes body](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Lady_of_the_Dunes_body.jpg)
On July 26, 1974, a 12-year-old girl followed a barking dog to the
decomposing
Decomposition or rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is e ...
body of an unidentified woman in the Race Point Dunes of
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Province ...
.
The remains were just yards away from a road and had a significant amount of insect activity. Two sets of footprints led to the body, and tire tracks were found from the scene.[ The woman may have died two weeks beforehand.]
The victim was lying face-down on half of a beach blanket
A blanket is a swath of soft cloth large enough either to cover or to enfold most of the user's body and thick enough to keep the body warm by trapping radiant body heat that otherwise would be lost through convection.
Etymology
The term ...
. There was no sign of a struggle; police theorized she either knew her killer or had been asleep when she died. A blue bandanna and pair of Wrangler jeans were under her head. She had long auburn or red hair pulled back into a ponytail
A ponytail is a hairstyle in which some, most or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip, or other similar accessory and allowed to hang freely from that poin ...
by a gold-flecked elastic band. Her toenails were painted pink.
Police determined the woman was approximately tall (initially believed to have been ),[ weighed , and had an athletic build.] She also had expensive dental work – including crowns – worth between $5,000 and $10,000, and several of her teeth had been removed. Both hands and one forearm were missing. Most sources say she was between 25 and 40 years old. However, she could have been as young as 20 or as old as 49.
The woman was nearly decapitated
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...
, possibly from strangulation; one side of her head had been crushed possibly with a military-type entrenching tool
An entrenching tool (U.K.), intrenching tool (U.S.), E-tool, or trenching tool is a digging tool used by military forces for a variety of military purposes. Survivalists, campers, hikers and other outdoors groups have found it to be indispensabl ...
. This head injury was the cause of death. There were also signs of sexual assault, likely postmortem.[
Some investigators believe that the missing teeth, hands and forearm indicate the killer wanted to hide either the victim's identity or their own.][
The woman was buried in October 1974 after the case went cold.][ In 2014, one of the case investigators raised funds for a new casket, because the original thin metal casket had rusted and deteriorated.][
]
Investigation
Police pored over thousands of missing-person cases and a list of approved vehicles driven through the area; no matches were found. At the scene, the sand and beach blanket were not disturbed, suggesting that the body was possibly moved to the specific spot where her body was found. No other evidence was found (besides the jeans, bandanna, blanket and ponytail holder) despite extensive searches of the surrounding dunes.[
The first facial reconstruction of the woman was created with clay in 1979.][ Her remains were exhumed in 1980 for examination; no new clues were uncovered (although the skull was not buried at the time).][ The body was exhumed again in March 2000 for DNA testing.] In May 2010, a CT of her skull was carried out that generated images that were then used by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the Pres ...
for another reconstruction.
Leads
In 1987, a Canadian woman told a friend that she saw her father strangle a woman in Massachusetts around 1972. Police attempted to locate the woman but were unsuccessful. Another woman told police the reconstruction of the victim looked like her sister, who had disappeared in Boston in 1974.
Investigators also followed a lead involving missing criminal Rory Gene Kesinger, who would have been 25 years old at the time of the murder (she had broken out of jail in 1973). Authorities saw a resemblance between Kesinger and the victim.[ However, DNA from Kesinger's mother did not match the victim.]
Two other missing women, Francis Ewalt of Montana and Vicke Lamberton of Massachusetts, were also ruled out.[
]
''Jaws'' film extra possibility
In August 2015, speculation arose that Lady of the Dunes may have been an extra in the 1975 film '' Jaws'', which had been shot on Martha's Vineyard (specifically the village of Menemsha), about south of Provincetown, between May and October 1974. Joe Hill, the son of horror author Stephen King, brought this to police attention after reading ''The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America's Coldest Cases'' just weeks before. While watching the film's Fourth of July
Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...
beach scene, Hill spotted a woman in the crowd wearing a blue bandana and jeans, similar to those found with the body. Although a lead investigator has noted interest in this lead, others have described it as "far-fetched" and "wild speculation".
Identification
In 2022, the skeletal remains were sent to Othram; from these, a DNA profile was generated that was used to identify distant relatives, and eventually identify the victim.
On October 31, 2022 the FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...
field office in Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
announced that the victim had been identified as Ruth Marie Terry. No details of any potential suspects were disclosed nor any reason why Terry was in Massachusetts at the time of her murder. The FBI stated that Terry's identity was determined using investigative genealogy, the same method used to identify other unidentified homicides and over 150 criminals, including the Golden State Killer
Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. (born November 8, 1945) is an American serial killer, sex offender, burglar, and former police officer who committed at least 13 murders, 51 rapes, and 120 burglaries across California between 1974 a ...
. The case is currently (as of October 2022) being investigated as a homicide by the Massachusetts State Police
The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for criminal law enforcement and traffic vehicle regulation across the state. As of 10/4/2022, it ...
(MSP).
Guy Muldavin
On November 2, 2022, the MSP announced that they were seeking information on Terry's deceased husband, Guy Rockwell Muldavin (October 27, 1923 – March 14, 2002). Muldavin was an orphan who was adopted by Abram Albert Zadworanski Muldavin and Sylvia 'Lily' Silverblatt, and had a brother named Michael Semyon J. Muldavin.
In 1942, Muldavin was living in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He was disqualified from active service in the military during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
due to a mastoid infection. On May 11, 1946, while working as a professor, he married Joellen Mae Loop in Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to:
Placenames
Australia
* Bellevue, Western Australia
* Bellevue Hill, New South Wales
* Bellevue, Queensland
* Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales
Canada ...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The couple lived in New York, California, and then Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, where Muldavin worked as a disk jockey. The couple divorced on July 16, 1956.
Two years later, on September 30, 1958, Muldavin married Manzanita Aileen 'Manzy' Ryan in Kootenai
The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...
, Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...
. Manzanita had a daughter from a previous marriage, Dolores Ann Mearns, then aged 18. Both women disappeared in Seattle on April Fool's Day of 1960, with Muldavin becoming the prime suspect
''Prime Suspect'' is a British police procedural television drama series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who ...
.[ He fled Seattle but was arrested by the FBI and charged with unlawful flight to avoid giving testimony into their deaths.
Shortly thereafter, on July 29, 1960, Muldavin married Evelyn Marie Emerson in ]King County, Washington
King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the ...
; they married a second time on August 10, 1963, in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
. Muldavin subsequently faced larceny
Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...
charges for swindling his third wife's family out of $10,000 around the time his second wife went missing. In 1961 he was convicted of those charges and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. A judge suspended the sentence in March 1962 provided that Muldavin repay the money.
True-crime writer Ann Rule
Ann Rae Rule (''née'' Stackhouse; October 22, 1931 – July 26, 2015) was an American author of true crime books and articles.
She is best known for '' The Stranger Beside Me'' (1980), about the serial killer Ted Bundy, with whom Rule worked ...
devoted a section of her 2007 book ''Smoke, Mirrors and Murder'' to Muldavin in connection with the Ryan-Mearns disappearances, with an extensive discussion of police efforts to connect Muldavin with the crime. Investigators found dismembered human body parts in Muldavin's septic tank
A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater ( sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatm ...
but were unable to prove they were from either of the missing women. According to Rule, Muldavin was never charged in connection, as the King County prosecutor was reluctant to do so without a body. Rule mentions that Muldavin married a woman named 'Teri' in February 1974 in Reno, Nevada.
Muldavin is also the prime suspect in the murder of Henry Lawrence "Red" Baird, a 28-year-old bread truck driver, and the disappearance of Barbara Joe Kelley, a 17-year-old waitress, in June 1950. Barbara was last seen in Humboldt County, California, on June 17, 1950, when she embarked on a date with Baird, her boyfriend. Baird's body was discovered face down on the beach near Table Bluff the following morning. He had received a gunshot to the back of the head. Except for his shoes and socks, he was naked. Barbara's personal clothing was found carefully folded and tucked underneath the rest of his, with the exception of her shoes and stockings. No trace of Barbara herself could be found. She has not been seen or heard from since, and it is thought that whoever shot Baird had kidnapped her.
Muldavin moved to Chualar, California
Chualar (Spanish for " Pigweed grove") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California, United States. Chualar is located southeast of Salinas, at an elevation of . The popul ...
, a small community near Salinas, around 1976. According to a feature article written about him in 1985, he had retired from his job as an executive vice president of a silver store on Rodeo Drive
Rodeo Drive is a street in Beverly Hills, California, with its southern segment in the City of Los Angeles. Its southern terminus is at Beverwil Drive, and its northern terminus is at its intersection with Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The ...
in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
. In the profile he was working at the radio station KAZU Kazu is a Japanese given name for both sexes. Notable people with the name include:
*, wife of 14th shōgun Tokugawa Iemochi
*, Japanese footballer, often called Kazu
*, Japanese swimmer
*, Japanese Paralympic athlete
* Kazu Hiro (born 1969), Ameri ...
in Pacific Grove as a volunteer host of a 3-hour weekly call-in show on "aging, growing and making transitions". He also worked at a tobacco shop in Carmel. According to his obituary he died at his home in Salinas of a "lengthy illness", born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was a "buyer with Bullocks and an artist, actor and poet." He was survived by his wife Phyllis Muldavin and his sister Joan Towers of Salinas".
On August 28, 2023, Muldavin was officially named as Terry's killer.
Earlier suspects
In 1981, investigators learned a woman who resembled the victim was seen with mobster Whitey Bulger
James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Bos ...
around the time the woman presumably died. Bulger was known for removing his victims' teeth. A link to Bulger has not been proven, and he was murdered in prison in 2018.
Tony Costa
Antone Charles "Tony" Costa (August 2, 1944 – May 12, 1974) was an American serial killer and carpenter who achieved notoriety for committing serial murders in and around the Massachusetts town of Truro in 1969.
Early life and crimes
...
, a serial killer in Truro, Massachusetts
Truro is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, comprising two villages: Truro and North Truro. Located slightly more than 100 miles (160 km) by road from Boston, it is a summer vacation community just south of the no ...
, was initially a suspect, but later eliminated.[ Costa died on May 12, 1974. The victim was found in July 1974.
]
Hadden Clark confession
Murderer Hadden Clark
Hadden Irving Clark (born July 31, 1952) is an American veteran, murderer and serial killer, currently serving two 30-year sentences at Eastern Correctional Institution in Westover, Maryland for the murders of 6-year-old Michele Lee Dorr in 1986, ...
confessed to the murder, stating "I could have told the police what her name was, but after they beat the shit out of me, I wasn't going to tell them shit. ..This murder is still unsolved and what the police are looking for is in my grandfather's garden." Authorities say Clark suffers from paranoid schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...
, a condition which may lead someone to confess falsely to crimes.[
In 2004, Clark sent a letter to a friend stating that he had killed a woman on ]Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
. He also sent two drawings: one of a handless, naked woman sprawled on her stomach, and another of a map pointing to where the body was found.[
In April 2000, Clark led police to a spot where he claimed he had buried two victims 20 years before. He also stated that he had murdered several others in various states between the 1970s and the 1990s.]
See also
*List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder convictions without a body
* List of people who di ...
* Miss X (decedent)
* Murder of Ruth Waymire
* Perry County Jane Doe
References
Cited works and further reading
*
*
External links
Fox News report
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Terry, Ruth Marie
1936 births
1970s missing person cases
1974 deaths
1974 murders in the United States
20th-century American women
Deaths by beating in the United States
Deaths by person in Massachusetts
False confessions
Female murder victims
Formerly missing people
Incidents of violence against women
July 1974 events in the United States
Missing person cases in Massachusetts
People from Provincetown, Massachusetts
People from Tennessee
Provincetown, Massachusetts
Sexual assaults in the United States
Violence against women in Massachusetts
Women in Massachusetts