The ‘Lady of the Dunes’ has been identified nearly 50 years after the woman’s mutilated remains were found on the Cape Cod National Seashore, a breakthrough in a case that has baffled authorities for decades.
She was the oldest unidentified murder victim in Massachusetts. Until now.
Officials used investigative genealogy to identify the woman as Ruth Marie Terry of Tennessee, the FBI announced Monday.
Terry, who was 37 when she was murdered, was found in the dunes in Provincetown in July 1974. She lay naked on a beach blanket with her hands severed – so she could not be identified from her fingerprints, officials believe.
Her skull was shattered and she was nearly decapitated. The cause of death was determined to be a blow to the head and authorities believe she was murdered several weeks before her body was found.
Authorities hope the woman’s identity can help unravel one of Massachusetts’ most famous unsolved murders and ultimately identify her killer.
Officials used research genealogy to identify the “Lady of the Dunes” murder victim, whose body was found on the Cape Cod National Seashore in 1974, as Ruth Marie Terry of Tennessee
A composition of what it was believed Lady of the Dunes looked like before she was identified
Authorities identified Terry through research genealogy, the use of DNA analysis combined with traditional genealogy research and historical records
“The identification of the Lady of the Dunes today is not the end of the matter, or even the beginning of the end,” State Police Colonel Christopher Mason said at a news conference on Monday.
“But this achievement does mark an important milestone toward identifying Ruth’s killer. It’s a critical discovery that makes possible the rest of the work ahead of us.’
The news was delivered to her family Monday morning, according to Joseph Bonavolonta, special agent who heads the Boston division of the FBI.
“This is without a doubt an important break in the investigation that will hopefully bring us all closer to identifying the killer,” Bonavolonta said.
Officials have released few details about Terry, other than that she was a daughter, sister, aunt, wife and mother and had ties to California, Massachusetts and Michigan.
“Today, more than 48 years after her murder and discovery, we can finally say her name,” added Mason.
“We know that Ruth had family and friends who loved her. And we are aware that this development has not been easy for them.’
Authorities identified her through genealogy research, the use of DNA analysis combined with traditional genealogy research and historical records.
The techniques mirrored those used by California investigators to identify a serial killer known as the Golden State Killer, Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said Monday.
Terry’s naked body was found on July 26, 1974 by a 13-year-old girl walking her dog and came across the horrific scene in the sand dunes about a mile east of Race Point Ranger Station in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
She lay on a beach blanket with her nearly severed head and shattered skull on her folded jeans.
Her hands were missing, as they had been severed, and investigators believed the killer had removed them so that she could not be identified by fingerprints.
Terry’s long, russet hair was held back with a barrette, and she had seven gold crowns on her teeth, which were worth about $5,000 to $8,000 at the time. She had been sexually assaulted with a wooden object, apparently after her death, That reports the Boston Globe.
Terry’s naked body was found on July 26, 1974 by a 13-year-old girl walking her dog and came across the horrific scene in the dunes in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Terry is pictured here in the 1960s, years before she was murdered and left in the sand dunes
There was no sign of a struggle, no murder weapon left behind, and her body was in poor condition from the heat, leaving investigators with few leads.
Terry’s cause of death was determined as a blow to the head and presumably several weeks earlier.
But for 48 years, the woman’s identity has baffled researchers.
Authorities have spent decades trying to identify her and her killer by excavating her remains, performing facial reconstructions with clay models and releasing age regression drawings of her face.
Researchers had long said that she had long red or auburn hair and that they believed she was somewhere between 20 and 40 years old.
In 1980, the body was exhumed from the cemetery in a cemetery for blood samples and 20 years later exhumed again for DNA samples. A clay model of the woman’s head was made and drawings were made for age regression in 2006.
After she was exhumed in 2000, she was reinterred in St. Peter’s Cemetery in Provincetown with a headstone that read: “Unidentified Female Body Found Race Point Dunes July 26, 1974.”
The FBI posted a new one Monday featuring photos of Terry and is asking anyone with information about the case to contact authorities.
And in 2019, prosecutors investigated a new method of using DNA evidence and genealogy to generate leads in cold criminal cases in Cape Cod and the Islands and the “Lady of the Dunes” was one of two cases, officials said.
“Now that we have reached this critical point, investigators and analysts will turn their attention to taking logical investigative steps, including learning more about her and working to identify who is responsible for her murder,” Bonavolonta said.
The FBI released a new notice on Monday that included photos of Terry and asks anyone with information about the case to contact authorities.
“Now, nearly half a century since her own voice was silenced in the most horrific ways, our work is focused entirely on defining what Ruth Marie Terry did in life, on what brought her to the easternmost point of our state. led the dunes. from Provincetown, and who did this to her,” Mason said Monday.