Massachusetts authorities believe they have solved a nearly 50-year-old cold case involving a woman whose body was found on a beach with her hands cut off. The suspected killer: Her newlywed husband.
On Monday, prosecutors announced the somber and disturbing conclusion to an investigation into the death of Ruth Marie Terry, who was known as the “Lady of the Dunes” after her body was found on July 26, 1974, in a dunes area of Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Investigators say she was killed by her then-husband, Guy Muldavin, while the couple were celebrating their honeymoon, according to the Cape Cod Times.
Muldavin reportedly returned from the trip alone and was driving his wife’s car. He had allegedly indicated at the time that Terry died, and he also reportedly told Terry’s brother that he and the man’s sister got into a fight during the honeymoon and he never heard from her afterward.
Terry was identified just last year through Othram’s genealogical testing. Her hands had been cut off, potentially to thwart identification of the body, and part of her skull was crushed.
Her body was discovered nude and her head was almost severed.
Terry’s loved ones had long suspected Muldavin of killing her, according to NECN-TV. “He was so blunt and said he didn’t know where she was,” one family member told the television station.
Terry was born in 1936 and was a mother. She was a resident of Tennessee and also had ties to California and Michigan.
Muldavin, who died in 2002, was also suspected of killing another wife and a stepdaughter in the 1960s in the Seattle area, according to the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office. Parts of their bodies were discovered in a septic tank.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Feature Photo: Ruth Marie Terry/ FBI]
