Mysterious ‘Lady of the Dunes’ murder victim ID’ed after nearly 50 years: FBI

The so-called “Woman of the Dunes,” a homicide sufferer whose mutilated physique was present in 1974 on a stretch of seaside in Provincetown, Massachusetts, has been recognized, officers stated Monday.

Officers from the FBI named Massachusetts’ longest-unidentified murder sufferer as Tennessee native Ruth Marie Terry, closing a key piece of the brutal case that has vexed investigators for practically 5 many years.

Her physique was found by a 13-year-old woman on July 26, 1974, a few mile from a Nationwide Park Ranger service station and bore the marks of a horrific crime, the Boston Globe reported. 

Terry’s assassin had chopped off her palms — seemingly in an try to cover the crime — and tried unsuccessfully to decapitate her. 

Her cranium was broken on the left aspect, seemingly by the deadly blow to her head, and he or she had been sexually assaulted with a picket object, apparently after she was lifeless. 

There was no signal of a wrestle close to the physique or on it, main investigators to surmise she seemingly knew her attacker and the killing itself might have occurred at one other location. 

Terry was 37 years previous when she vanished and would have been 86 in the present day. It’s not clear why she was in Provincetown on the time of her killing.

No arrests have been made within the case. 

On Monday, native District Lawyer Michael O’Keefe stated it’s potential her assailant is lifeless, however investigators will proceed to attempt to determine the killer. 

“That is, unquestionably, a significant break within the investigation that can, hopefully, deliver all of us nearer to figuring out her killer,” stated Joe Bonavolonta, the particular agent accountable for the FBI’s Boston Division. 

With Put up wires