The FBI’s Boston Division hosted a press conference today to announce a “significant development” in connection to one of the oldest, unidentified homicides in the state.
FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge, Joseph Bonavolonta, announced the identification of the woman 1974 Lady in the Dunes case in Provincetown.
After nearly half a century of investigation, the woman was identified as 37-year-old Ruth Marie Terry, from Tennessee. The FBI says she was born in 1936, and had ties to California, Massachusetts, and Michigan.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the State Police or the FBI.
Bonavolonta says the FBI identified her using investigative genealogy, a unique method that can generate new leads for unsolved murders, and can help identify unknown victims.
The FBI hopes this “major break in the investigation” can help bring investigators closer to identifying her killer.
On July 26, 1974, Terry was found dead in the dunes, about a mile east of the Race Point Ranger Station in Provincetown.
At the time, the cause of death was determined to be a blow to the head. Her hands were missing, and her head was nearly severed from her body.
Just last week, the FBI received positive confirmation of Terry’s identity through genealogical examination of the cold case.
WATD’s Christine James has been covering the Lady in the Dunes case for decades and has filed the following stories over the years.
Listen to this story filed in 2014, on the 40th anniversary of the murder:
Christine James interviewed retired Provincetown Police Chief Jimmy Meads, Sandra Lee; who was one of the first people to discover the body, and Bill Boulter; a retired member of the Pembroke Police Department, and Warren Tobias; a Provincetown investigator.
Listen to this story filed in 2019:
Christine James interviewed retired Provincetown Police Chief Jimmy Meads, Sandra Lee; who was one of the first people to discover the body, Dr. John Giordano; a forensic dentist, Jim Hankins; a retired National Park Ranger, one of the first people at the scene when the body was found, and retired State Police detective and cold case investigator, Rick Nagle, and Cape and Islands District Attorney, Michael O’Keefe.
The site of the Lady in the Dunes grave in Provincetown. Photo credit: Christine James.
