"Lady of the Dunes" Finally Identified Nearly Fifty Years After Her Murder
The mystery of the "Lady of the Dunes," whose mangled remains were discovered on the Cape Cod National Seashore nearly 50 years ago, was finally solved thanks to investigative genealogy.
Ruth Marie Terry, 37, of Tennessee, was the victim, according to reports released on Monday. Joseph Bonavolonta, the head of the Boston field office of the FBI, said the news was relayed to her family on Monday morning.
In July 1974, her body was discovered in the Provincetown sand dunes. Authorities believe she could not be recognised through fingerprints since she was naked on a beach blanket and her hands had been severed. The force of the impact nearly severed her head from its socket. Authorities suspect she was slain weeks before her body was discovered, and the cause of death was a strike to the head.
Her body was exhumed in 1980, 2000, and 2013 in efforts to identify her killer.
"This is, without a doubt, a major break in the investigation that will hopefully bring all of us closer to identifying the killer,” Bonavolonta said.
Bonavolonta reported that she was found thanks to investigative genealogy, in which DNA testing was combined with more conventional means of tracing ancestry and consulting historical sources. It was only revealed that Terry was from California, Massachusetts, and Michigan and that she was a daughter, sister, aunt, wife, and mother.
Bonavolonta stated this was a turning point in the investigation and that from here on out, "investigators and analysts will turn their attention to conducting logical investigative steps that include learning more about her as well as working to identify who is responsible for her murder".
Her case held the record for being the oldest homicide in Massachusetts to go unsolved. The authorities spent decades exhuming her body, reconstructing her face using clay models, and distributing age-regression drawings to find her killer. She was stated to have long red or auburn hair, and detectives estimated her age to be between 20 and 40.
The FBI has distributed a flyer with images of Terry and is urging anyone with information about the case to get in touch with them.