5 chilling details about Ruth Marie Terry's murder

The mysterious death of Ruth Marie Terry, famously known as the Lady of the Dunes, haunted the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts for almost five decades. In July 1974, the body of an unknown woman was discovered in the Race Point Dunes. It was only in 2022 that her identity was finally known.

Oxygen's new special, Lady of the Dunes: Hunting the Cape Cod Killer, brings to light this puzzling case, delving deep into the investigation, the forensic breakthroughs, and the grim revelations surrounding Terry's murder. It will begin Friday, November 29 at 8 p.m. ET/PT and conclude Saturday, November 30 at 9 p.m.

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5 shocking facts about Ruth Marie Terry's murder

1) A Gruesome discovery in the dunes

On July 26, 1974, a young girl was walking along the Race Point Dunes of Provincetown, when she came across the decaying remains of a female. She had been on the ground for weeks possibly longer in a brutalized state. The authorities estimated that she had died of severe blunt force trauma to the skull.

The macabre scene suggested that the killer was trying to cover her face. She did not have hands; most probably, this was removed for not leaving fingerprints behind. Also, her head was almost hacked off and the victim seemed that she was s*xually abused. All of these strenuous attempts made by detectives could not trace the identity of the victim who was referred to as the Lady of the Dunes.

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2) A long-awaited identification through DNA

For nearly 50 years, the identity of the Lady of the Dunes was unknown. Detectives exhumed her body in 1980, 2000, and 2013, hoping advancements in forensic technology would help. Her identity was finally uncovered in 2022.

Thanks to investigative genealogy, the woman was identified as Ruth Marie Terry on 31 October 2022, after DNA matching with known relatives, ending decades of conjecture and providing her family with long-awaited answers for the same.

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3) Troubled relationship with her husband

The personal life of Ruth Marie Terry revealed a disturbing relationship with her husband, Guy Rockwell Muldavin. Muldavin was an antique dealer with a questionable past. He was a suspect in the 1960 disappearance of his former wife, Manzanita Mearns, and her daughter, Dolores Ann.

Her relatives pointed out that after the marriage to Muldavin, Terry's behavior had somehow changed. Her grand-niece described him as controlling and possessive. Just months after they were married in February 1974, Ruth Marie Terry went missing. Muldavin told her family that she had disappeared, but his version of events raised many doubts.

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4) A suspicious pattern of violence

Guy Rockwell Muldavin's history of violence and suspicious behavior incriminated him in Terry's murder. In the 1960s, human remains were discovered in a septic tank at his Seattle home, which was later connected to the disappearance of his former wife and stepdaughter.

Because forensic capabilities were very limited at the time, they could not confirm their identities or establish Muldavin's guilt in their deaths. Despite these past allegations, Muldavin remained free and married Terry in 1974. Following her disappearance, he became the primary suspect in her murder. However, no concrete evidence prevented authorities from bringing charges against him.

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5) The killer’s identity was revealed too late

A twist of fate in the case came when a convicted killer, Hadden Clark, confessed to murdering the Lady of the Dunes. Clark said he buried evidence in his grandfather's garden, further muddying the investigation. However, Clark's schizophrenia and history of unreliable statements cast doubt on his confession.

In the end, in August 2023, the investigators formally identified Guy Rockwell Muldavin as Ruth Marie Terry's killer. Unfortunately, justice came late; he died in 2002, and therefore many questions remained unanswered. His death meant that no one was going to put him on trial for the crimes, meaning that Terry's family could never see him brought to justice.

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The murder of Ruth Marie Terry, or the Lady of the Dunes, is one of the most haunting cases in American true crime history. From the gruesome discovery in 1974 to her long-awaited identification in 2022, justice for Terry was delayed. However, the identification of her killer finally provided some closure to a case that baffled the nation for decades.