The victim, found naked on the sand dunes near the tip of Cape Cod with his hands severed, was named Ruth Marie Terry, 37, who was born in Tennessee and had ties to California, Massachusetts and Michigan, law enforcement officials said. “This is without a doubt a major break in the investigation that will hopefully bring us all closer to identifying the killer,” Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, said at a news conference.. “At that time, the cause of death was determined to be a blow to the head and was estimated to have occurred several weeks prior.” The woman’s hands had been cut off, likely so she could not be identified through fingerprints, and “her head was almost severed from her body,” Bonavolonta said. “It was a brutal death, and for the past 48 years, Massachusetts State Police and Provincetown Police Department investigators have worked tirelessly to identify her through various means,” he said. “We also realize that while we have identified Ruth as the victim of this horrific murder, it does not ease the pain for her family. Nothing can. But hopefully it will answer some questions as we continue to search for her killer.” Authorities have not identified any suspects. Researchers identified her through investigative genealogy, which combines DNA analysis with traditional genealogical research and historical records, he said. The FBI received confirmation of her identity last week. “This is a unique method that can generate new evidence for unsolved homicides, as well as help identify unknown victims,” Bonavolonta said. Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe said the techniques mirror those used by California investigators to track down a serial killer known as the Golden State Killer. “We will pursue every lead and every clue to bring this individual to justice,” O’Keefe said. Terry was born in 1936 in Tennessee. She was a “daughter, sister, aunt, wife and mother,” Bonavolonta said, urging anyone with information about her to contact the Massachusetts State Police or the FBI. “Today, more than 48 years after her murder and discovery, we can finally say her name,” said State Police Col. Christopher Mason. “We know Ruth had family and friends who loved her. And we know that this development was not easy for them.” Mason said the unsolved case had haunted “generations of Provincetown police officers and Massachusetts state troopers.” “Today’s recognition of the Lady of the Dunes is not the end of the case, not even the beginning of the end,” he said. “But this achievement marks a major milestone in identifying Ruth’s killer. It represents a critical breakthrough that makes possible the rest of the work ahead.” At the time her body was found in dunes at Race Point Beach, officials estimated the woman to be between 25 and 30 years old, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall with a big-boned, athletic build. She was found unclothed, lying on her side on a light green, towel-covered beach blanket, the Globe reported in 1987. Her dungarees and blue-print bandana were folded neatly under her head as if being used as a pillow, authorities said. Her long, auburn hair was held in a barrette. On her teeth were seven gold crowns, worth about $5,000 to $8,000 at the time. She had been sexually assaulted with a wooden object, apparently after her death. Police assumed at the time that the killer wanted to negate any possibility that the fingerprints could be traced to a name that by association could help solve the crime. But that was a dozen years before forensic DNA became a legal tool in the criminal court. The body was found on a hot July day by a 13-year-old girl walking her dog. Pathologists believed the victim had been dead for a few days, blaming the heat and dune flies for the body’s poor condition. Researchers had little evidence. There was no sign of a struggle, leading police to believe she knew her assailant and may even have been killed somewhere else. The body was exhumed several times over the years as authorities tried to determine her identity. After one such exhumation in 2000, she was reburied in St. Peter’s Cemetery in Provincetown with a tombstone that read: “Unidentified female body found Race Point Dunes, July 26, 1974.” “Now, almost half a century since her voice was silenced in the most horrific way, we are focusing our work entirely on determining what Ruth Marie Terry did in life, what brought her to our state’s easternmost point in the sand dunes . of Provincetown, and who did this to her,” Mason said Monday. Material from previous Globe stories was used. John R. Element and Jeremiah Manion of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Travis Andersen can be reached at [email protected] Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe. Shelley Murphy can be reached at [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @shelleymurph.
