Last Updated on: 1st November 2022, 04:31 pm
Who is Ruth Marie Terry? Biography, Wiki
Ruth Marie Terry was a Tennessee native who has been named Massachusetts’ oldest unidentified murder victim after the horrific case, which spanned more than five decades, neared final conclusion.
Terry’s body was found on 26th July 1974, by a 13-year-old girl walking her dog about a mile from a National Park Ranger gas station in Princetown.
After her murder, Terry’s hands were reportedly cut off to prevent authorities from fingertip identification before she was unsuccessfully beheaded.
Ruth Marie Terry Age
Her current age was 37 years.
Ruth Marie Terry Found Brutally Killed On A Provincetown Beach
A woman found dead in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 1974 was identified nearly 50 years later through “investigative genealogy,” Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston branch, announced Monday.
Authorities, nicknamed the “Lady of the Dunes” for her discovery in the Provincetown sand dunes, identified her as 37-year-old Ruth Marie Terry. Before her identification, she was the oldest unidentified murder victim in Massachusetts, Bonavolonta said.
Massachusetts Assistant District Attorney Josh Levy called Monday’s announcement “a product of tireless and exceptional police work and policing.”
Law enforcement’s use of investigative genealogy combines DNA analysis with “traditional genealogical research and historical records to generate investigative leads for unsolved violent crimes,” Bonavolonta said.
Terry was found on July 26, 1974. At the time, it was determined that her cause of death was a blow to the head a few weeks earlier, Bonavolonta said.
His hands were missing from his body and his head was “almost severed,” he added.
The FBI’s Boston field office said in a press release that Terry’s hands were “allegedly removed by the killer to prevent fingerprint identification.”
Police Investigation Report
“This is undoubtedly a major break in the investigation that will hopefully bring us all a step closer to identifying the killer,” Joseph Bonavolonta, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston branch, said in a statement at a news conference, the reported Boston Globe.
“It was a brutal death, and for the past 48 years, investigators from the Massachusetts State Police and Provincetown Police Department have worked tirelessly to identify him through various means.”
“We also realize that while we have identified Ruth as a victim of this horrific murder, it does not ease the pain of her family. nothing can. But I hope this answers some questions as we continue to search for her killer.”
On Monday, Terry’s 86th birthday (31st October), FBI officials officially identified her as “Lady of the Dunes,” the nickname given to the case.
Authorities received confirmation of his identity last week, and his family was notified Monday through a combination of DNA evidence, traditional genealogical research, and historical records.
No arrests were made at any point in the investigation, and local district attorney Michael O’Keefe said the perpetrator may have been deceased.
