FBI identifies ‘Lady of the Dunes’ 48 years after discovery

In the unsolved “Lady of the Dunes” murder case, the FBI has identified the victim nearly five decades after the discovery of the mutilated body. His agency has now identified the woman found in Massachusetts in 1974 as Ruth Marie Terry, FBI Agent Joe Bonavolonta told reporters near Boston on Monday. The identity of the murdered woman was clarified using a combination of DNA analysis, historical records and genealogical research.

Bonovolonta called on anyone with information about the “infamous unsolved case” to share it. Murder victim Ruth Marie Terry was from the US state of Tennessee and was 37 years old at the time of her murder. For more information about the murder, the FBI has issued a new call with four photos of the now-identified murder victim.

Finally the breakthrough

The woman’s body was found on July 26, 1974 in Provincetown on the Cape Cod Peninsula in the state of Massachusetts, which is popular with tourists. Terry was killed by a blow to the head believed to be several weeks before she was found. Her hands had been severed, presumably to complicate her identification, FBI agent Bonavolonta said. The head was “almost completely separated from the body”. No weapons were found near the body.

Investigators had followed numerous leads since 1974 but had been unable to clear the victim’s name – although authorities said authorities were investigating thousands of missing persons reports, interviewing local residents and attempting to reconstruct the woman’s face with clay models. , the FBI said.

The breakthrough finally came thanks to “investigative genealogy research” – a combination of DNA traces, publicly available data, and traditional genealogy research. According to FBI agent Bonavolonta, no private DNA databases were used in the investigation. (AFP)