DNA Identifies the Killer in Nearly 50-Year-Old ‘Lady of the Dunes’ Cold Case

Officials have identified the killer in a nearly 50 year-old cold case thanks to DNA evidence.

The body of Ruth Marie Terry, known as the "Lady of the Dunes," was found in the dunes of Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 1974. Her identity remained unknown until 2022, and her killer was unidentified until this week.

Authorities now say Terry was killed in 1974 by her husband, Guy Muldavin, CBS News Boston reported.

After her body was found, Terry's cause of death was determined to be a blow to the head that occurred several weeks prior, Boston's division of the FBI said.

As she was unidentified for many years, she eventually earned a mysterious moniker: "The Lady of the Dunes." Authorities tried several different techniques to identify her, including exhuming her remains, performing clay model facial reconstruction and releasing age-regression drawings of her face.

The FBI were able to identify her in Oct. 2022 using investigative genealogy. The technique "combines the use of DNA analysis with traditional genealogy research and historical records to generate investigative leads for unsolved violent crimes," the FBI says.

Following an investigation into Terry’s death, authorities concluded Muldavin was the killer. They did not provide any additional information on what exactly was uncovered during the investigation, according to the Associated Press.

Muldavin died in 2002. Authorities said he married Terry in either 1973 or 1974 and the two went on their honeymoon in the summer of 1974, CBS News reported.

Officials told the outlet that Muldavin returned from the trip alone, driving Terry's car. He told witnesses that she had died.

Muldavin allegedly told Terry's family that they had a fight during their honeymoon and he had not heard from her since.

"Based on the investigation into the death of Ms. Terry, it has been determined that Mr. Muldavin was responsible for Ms. Terry's death in 1974," the Cape & Islands District Attorney's office said in a statement obtained by CBS News.

Muldavin was also a suspect in the deaths of a previous wife and stepdaughter in Seattle in 1960.