DNA analysis
Unsolved Murder: FBI Identifies ‘Lady of the Dunes’ 48 Years After Discovery
This image provided by the FBI shows the poster seeking information on murder victim Ruth Marie Terry.
© FBI/AFP
The FBI has identified the victim of the unsolved Lady of the Dunes murder nearly five decades after the body was discovered.
In the unsolved murder of the “Lady of the Dunes,” the FBI has identified the victim nearly five decades after discovering the mutilated body. His agency has now identified the woman found in 1974 in the US state of Massachusetts as Ruth Marie Terry, FBI agent Joe Bonavolonta told journalists near Boston on Monday. The identity of the woman killed was clarified using a combination of DNA analysis, historical records and genealogical research.
FBI: Murder victim is from Tennessee
Bonovolonta called on anyone with information on 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 on the murder, the FBI released a new appeal with four photographs of the now-identified murder victim.
Body found on Cape Cod in 1974
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 were severed, presumably to make her identification more difficult, FBI agent Bonavolonta said. The head was “almost completely separated from the body”. No weapons were found near the body.
Breakthrough through “investigative genealogical research”
Investigators had followed numerous leads since 1974 but had not been able to clear the victim’s name — although authorities said authorities were investigating thousands of missing person reports, interviewing local residents and attempting to reconstruct the woman’s face with clay models, according to the FBI. The breakthrough was finally achieved thanks to “investigative genealogical research” – a combination of DNA traces, publicly available data and traditional genealogical research. According to FBI agent Bonavolonta, no private DNA databases were used in the investigation.