Weird & Wicked

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This blog contains material that may be disturbing to some readers. Topics addressed in this blog include mental health issues, violence, and other potentially triggering subjects. Please proceed with caution. If you feel that the content of this blog is too distressing, please consider your mental and emotional state before reading further. Your well-being is important to me.

Please note, that I may scatter my own personal commentary throughout the piece. These will be in italics.

Thank you.

The Lady of the Dunes was an enigma that plagued nearly five decades. Without an identification and little clues to work from, the investigation suffered from multiple dead-ends and false starts. Through technological advancements, her identity would be revealed, and her murderer named. This is an ideal case for understanding the importance of never giving up on the quest for truth and justice.

Ruth Marie Terry’s murder was one of the oldest cold cases in Massachusetts history.

Ruth was born September 8, 1936, in a mountainside shack in Whitwell, Tennessee to parents Johnny and Eva Terry. Her mother would meet her own untimely death at only 23 years old and her father would spend his life in the coal mines.

Ruth Marie Terry, The Lady of the Dunes

In 1955, at 19 years old, Ruth left Whitwell to work at the Fisher Body Automotive Plant in Livonia, Michigan.

“She was a free spirit. She was looking for something more than just a country life I guess you’d say.”

— Ken Terry

While living in Michigan she fell pregnant. Isn’t that an odd phrase? Like she tripped and fell and was suddenly pregnant! The father is not named. Her superintendent, Richard Hanchett Sr., agreed to adopt the boy in exchange for paying off her expenses. By chance, Richard and his wife were in their 40s and looking to adopt. This was the perfect situation for Ruth. Especially since there was such a stigma against unwed mothers.

Ruth would give birth in 1958 and after the adoption was finalized she moved to California. While on the west coast, she would meet her new husband, Guy Rockwell Muldavin. They would marry on February 16, 1974. Guy was an antique dealer out of Reno, Nevada and would travel the US picking up new pieces to sell. So it’s like that show, American Pickers. Just with murder sprinkled in.

Around March 1974, Guy and Ruth turned up in Tennessee to visit her family. The family noted Guy’s possessive behavior and would later recall that Ruth “wasn’t herself” when Guy was around. Her sister-in-law, Carole Terry, would say, “I always had a bad feeling about that guy she married.”

Later that summer, Guy returned to Tennessee to inform Ruth’s family that she had “gone missin’”. Despite the fact that he was driving her car, he claimed to not know where she was. He would go on to tell multiple stories of her disappearance:

They had fought on their honeymoon and she had stormed away. Never to be seen again.
She had died. That’s it. He just told people she died. No further detail was ever recovered about this statement. I can only imagine that her family was bursting with questions and concerns and he was probably just sitting there shrugging his shoulders.

Ruth’s brother, James, would go so far as to hire a private investigator (PI). This man went all the way to California and reported back to the Terry family that all of Ruth’s belongings had been sold and there were “indications” that she had left of her own accord to join a religious cult in the desert. I would LOVE to know what those “indications” were.

For the next 20 years, it was hypothesized by her family that she was in hiding with the Witness Protection Program. If this were true, she wouldn’t be able to contact her family. When no word of her continued existence reached the Terry family, she was officially declared deceased.

But what the Terry family didn’t know, was that a woman’s body had been found on a Massachusett’s beach on July 26, 1974.

*Race Point Dunes. NOT where her body was discovered.*

A 12-year-old girl had been chasing her dog through the dunes when she found the body. A 12-year-old discovered this scene! Can you imagine? You’re playing with your dog on the beach. It’s a beautiful summer day. The air is salty, your skin is greasy with sunscreen. Maybe you’ve been swimming and your hair is drip-drying. You’ve just eaten the best after-swimming sandwich there on your beach towel. Then you come across this;

The unidentified woman’s remains were infested with significant insect activity, which in the summertime happens very quickly. She had been dead for approximately two weeks, though only recently placed in the Race Point Dunes of Provincetown, Massachusetts.

She was lying face down, completely naked, on half of a beach blanket. A blue bandana and pair of wrangler jeans were folded neatly under the head. She had long auburn hair that was pulled back in a ponytail with a gold-flecked band. Her toenails were painted pink. She could have been anywhere from 20 to 49 years old, approximately 5’6” and 145 pounds with an athletic build.

She had been mutilated in an attempt to conceal her identity. Several of her teeth had been removed. Had her teeth remained, this would have been a great tool for identification because she had extensive dental work. Both of her hands and one forearm had been cut off. The stumps had been placed in the sand. As if she had buried her hands in the sand. There were signs of possible sexual assault that most likely occurred postmortem. Finally, the blow that killed her was a crushing head wound. Possibly caused by a military-type tool. She had been nearly decapitated. “Nearly” is a horrific adverb when talking about decapitation.

The scene surrounding her yielded very few clues. There were two sets of footprints and some tire tracks about 50 yards from the body. She was placed near a busy roadway. It was determined that she may have been asleep when the crushing blow was dealt. Let’s hope for her sake, that that is true, it was quick, and all she knew was sleep.

Local police and detectives scoured the missing persons cases in the area. There were thousands. No further evidence was found in the surrounding area. This “Jane Doe” was initially buried when the case went cold in October 1974. Though her skull was never buried with the rest of her body. It remained in police custody. Using the skull, they were able to create a clay facial reconstruction.

*Various drawings and facial reconstructions of the unidentified body*

Leads were few and far between.

In 1987, a woman confined in a friend that she had witnessed her father strangle a woman in Massachusetts around 1972. Police attempted to locate this woman for questioning but she was never found. This leaves me with so many questions. Who was the friend she told? Did she just go into the police station and report it? Did the friend just vanish after this conversation? So many questions…

Investigators looked into Rory Gene Kesinger, who had broken out of jail in 1973 and was currently missing. Authorities claimed there was a resemblance between Kesinger and the recreation bust. She was later ruled out after her mother volunteered a DNA sample. They did not match. More questions! I kind of want to know Rory’s story. Do you? Comment below if you want to read about her.

Two more women were looked into but ruled out; Francis Ewalt of Montana and Vicke Lamberton of Massachusetts.

Here’s an interesting theory brought to us by Stephan King’s son, Joe Hill. After reading The Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths are Solving America’s Coldest Cases by Deborah Halber, he watched the summer smash hit JAWS. During the Fourth of July beach scene, he spotted a woman, an extra, in the crowd wearing a blue bandana and jeans. Similar to those found with the body. Investigators initially showed interest in the theory but later described it as “far-fetched” and “wild speculation”.

In 2022, skeletal remains were sent to Othram (a DNA lab) where her jaw bone was tested. A DNA profile was generated and some distant relatives were identified. This is the same technique that identified the Golden State Killer.

“Many investigative efforts through genealogical examination of this infamous cold case have led to the positive confirmation of Terry’s identity.”

— FBI

Ruth Marie Terry was positively identified and announced to the world on October 31, 2022. At the time of the announcement, no potential suspects were released. Her official death certificate was issued on April 5, 2023, by the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office.

In November 2022, the MSP, or Massachusetts State Police, announced that they were looking into Ruth’s now deceased husband, Guy Muldavin.

Let’s back up a bit and take a detour down the path that is Guy Muldavin.

Guy Rockwell Muldavin was born on October 27, 1923. Initially an orphan, he was adopted by Abram Zadworanski Muldavin and Sylvia “Lily” Silverblatt. They would adopt another son a few years later named Michael Semyon J. Muldavin and at some point a daughter they would name Joan. His early years appear to have been unremarkable. In 1942, he was living in New York City and attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He had a short-lived attempt at military service but was disqualified due to a mastoid infection. What is a mastoid infection? Well, Google tells me that it’s “a bacterial infection that affects the mastoid bone, which is located behind the ear.” Thanks, Dr. Google.

On May 11, 1946, he married his first wife, Joellen Mae Loop in Bellevue, Pennsylvania. He was working as a professor at the time. They would soon settle across the country in Seattle, Washington where Guy would work as a disc jockey. Their marriage was rough and they would ultimately divorce in July of 1956.

Guy would marry his second wife on September 30, 1958. Manzanita “Manzy” Aileen Ryan ran an antique shop with her 18-year-old daughter Dolores Ann Mearns.

Both women would mysteriously and suddenly disappear from Seattle on April 1, 1960. Guy was the prime suspect in their disappearance and even attempted to flee from the FBI. He was apprehended and charged with unlawful flight but the charges were later dropped. How he wasn’t arrested and charged with their murders after human body parts were found in his septic tank is wild to me.

But this wasn’t the only time he was accused of murder. In 1950, he became the primary suspect in the disappearance and murder of Henry “Red” Lawrence, a 28-year-old bread truck driver, and his girlfriend Barbara Joe Kelley, a 17-year-old waitress. They were last seen together in Humboldt County, California on June 17. It was date night for the couple. Red’s body was discovered face down on the beach near Table Bluff the following morning. There was a single gunshot wound to the back of his head. He was completely naked except for socks and shoes. Barbara’s clothing was carefully folded and tucked underneath his. No trace of Barbara was ever found. Police believe she was kidnapped by the same person that murdered Red.

After being cleared for the disappearance of his wife and stepdaughter, Guy moved to Chualar, California. A glowing article was written about him in 1985. It talked about how he had retired as executive vice president of a silver store on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. It boasted about his success at the radio station he was then volunteering at, KAZU in Pacific Grove, where he hosted a three-hour weekly call-in show on “aging, growing, and making transitions.” Can you hear my eyes rolling through the screen? He also worked part-time at a tobacco shop in Carmel.

Guy Muldavin would die at his home in Salinas after a “lengthy illness”. His obituary would state that he was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was a “buyer with Bullocks and an artist, actor, and poet.” He left behind a widow, Phyllis, and a sister Joan.

On August 28, 2023 he was officially named Ruth’s murderer.

“The Lady of the Dunes case is now officially closed.”

— Massachusetts State Police Detectives Unit for the Cape and Islands District

In 2018, Richard Hanchett Jr., the son that Ruth had placed for adoption with her former superintendent did a DNA test. He was connected with the Terry family and visited the site where his mother’s body had been discovered with his new-found relatives. While there he had this to say, “Everything set in, it broke my heart…A horrible thing happened to my mom in a beautiful place. She was a beautiful person and I wish I could have gotten to know her.” At one point in time, Ruth had attempted to reach out to Richard. He was a teenager at the time and wasn’t ready to connect. He regrets not taking that meeting.

Richard and the rest of Ruth’s family took some of her ashes. They scatted some at the beach and some with her mother.

“The way things ended like they did, we’ll never be able to accept that. We just hope and pray that the death was like they told us. It was that quick, before all the torture and everything. We just pray for that.”

— Carole Terry, Ruth's Sister-in-Law

The story of Ruth Marie Terry, “The Lady of the Dunes”, is a stark reminder of the importance of relentless investigation and the power of modern forensic technology. Her identification after nearly half a century not only brought closure to her family but also solved one of the oldest cold cases in Massachusetts history. It is my hope that we are constantly reminded of the human stories behind the headlines.

Now you’ve read the story so here is the art.

This is a special guest feature, a first time here at W&W! Go HERE to read all about it.