Ep. 37: The Lady of the Dunes Enigma: Provincetown's Enduring Mystery and a Laugh Among Shadows

Have you ever found humor in the most unexpected places, like a wedding card mix-up that leaves everyone in stitches? We sure have, and we're kicking off our latest episode with a laugh that you won't want to miss. Together with our producer Rob, we're stitching a tapestry of tales that blend light-hearted banter with the chill of the macabre, inviting you to join us on these Wicked Wanderings. We're opening our doors wide for your stories and questions too—shoot us a text, and you might just hear them on the air!

Step into the shadows with us as we trace the cold trail of the Lady of the Dunes, a mystery that has persisted since 1974 in the sandy stretches of Provincetown, Massachusetts. The discovery of her remains, the puzzling choice to keep her resting place under wraps, and the lingering questions that haunt us are all on the table in this unforgettable episode. We've even got a local's haunting memories adding a personal dimension to the tale, as we ponder why some secrets are kept hidden and some stories refuse to be silenced.

Wrapping up our eerie journey, we want to extend a heartfelt 'thank you' to you, our fellow explorers of the unknown. Your support lights our path, with every review, rating, and social media shout-out fueling our pursuit of the strange and unexplained. Our Wicked Cozy apparel might just be the perfect companion for your next foray into the night. So until we meet again, hold onto your flashlights and let your curiosity lead the way.

Sources:
New York Times.com, Investigationdiscovery.com, Sfgate.com, Arstechnica.com, Capecodtimes.com, Masslive.com, Ladyofthedunes.com, The-independent.com, https://www.nbcnews.com

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Transcript

Rob: 0:00

Okay. So I went to Walgreens to purchase the card for the wedding and I always use Hannah's phone number for the rewards and then a little ticket prints out and says happy birthday and the guy goes oh yeah, tell Hannah happy birthday. And I'm thinking to myself how do you know? I'm not Hannah.

Jess: 0:18

I mean you have a point.

Rob: 0:19

Why couldn't my name be Hannah?

Hannah: 0:21

I guess, it could be. By the way, what was on that ticket? Was it like a coupon or something? Uh, no, it just said happy birthday, hannah.

Rob: 0:31

Oh, hoping for a coupon because I've been getting free stuff, I did leave it in the card, and I gave you the card and you opened it, so you must have taken it out, thinking it was a coupon and tossed it or something or they got it you didn't leave it in there so I hope for my niece's wedding.

Jess: 0:44

The card I got was a sympathy card with sympathy and you open it up and it's like caring thoughts to your family during this difficult time oh my god that's awesome and they loved it.

Hannah: 0:59

It was hilarious.

Rob: 1:00

That's awesome did they open the cards in front of?

Jess: 1:02

everyone. No, I just gave mine earlier because I gave them money for their honeymoon so funny story now about that.

Hannah: 1:10

So my good friend vicky, as we all know, because we know her daughter kaylin, got me some presents today, which was so sweet, so she was telling me that she's giving me the bags. Like I told romi that I needed birthday bags and this is what he gave me, but I was so excited about what was in them I didn't pay attention until I got home and one of the bags says hope on the side. So it's like I feel this is for like a baptism or first communion could be for christmas no, it was like floral like if you look at it says hope.

Hannah: 1:41

It looks like it's for like a first communion or baptism. I was laughing so hard.

Jess: 1:45

Well, maybe he wants you to have hope in your life, in your next year.

Hannah: 1:50

What a nice guy that Romy. Romy's hilarious Shout out to Romy Okay.

Jess: 1:58

Hi I'm Jess and I'm Hannah.

Hannah: 2:15

Join us as we delve into true crime, paranormal encounters and all things spooky. So grab your flashlight and get ready to wander into the darkness with us.

Jess: 2:20

This is Wicked Wanderings. Well, hello Hannah, hi Jess, how's it going? It's going, I'm glad to see you. Glad to see you too. And hello, rob, how's it going?

Hannah: 2:43

It's going.

Jess: 2:43

I'm glad to see you. Glad to see you too, and hello Rob.

Rob: 2:46

Hello.

Rob: 2:47

And Rob, do you have a message for us, because I already forgot what I was supposed to say hey, wanderers, if you want to send us a text message, go into the show notes There'll be a link right at the top and hit it. It will open up your text message app on your phone. So you need to do this while you're on your phone, but it will uh prompt you to send us a text. If you send us a text message, we'll receive it, and then we can answer it on the air or read it or whatever yeah, whatever that sounds cool you

Jess: 3:17

know, whatever we feel like doing that day we would love to hear what was it they?

Hannah: 3:21

usually say like um something, rates still apply, or something for people texting oh, rates.

Jess: 3:27

Yeah, I don't know, though you know what I'm talking about. I do know what you're talking about. With your cell phone company. Current rates apply.

Rob: 3:33

Message in rates may apply.

Hannah: 3:35

Yeah, yes.

Rob: 3:36

Yeah, but who doesn't have unlimited text messages nowadays?

Hannah: 3:45

I don't remember those days where you have to wait till after 9 pm or charge like 25 cents a text. Oh my god, I got my mom. You owe me two dollars.

Jess: 3:49

Okay, I think I probably still owe her two dollars, probably tonight, today or whenever people are listening, we are going to be talking about lady of the dunes see, and I I never heard of her, so yeah, I've never heard of this one either you guys call yourself mass holes is it from massachusetts yeah cape cod.

Rob: 4:07

Okay, oh well, that's the problem.

Jess: 4:09

We're from western mass, you know it's not a big state, is utah bigger? Oh yeah, really, it takes like eight hours to drive top to bottom. Really, yeah, huh hours interesting. So, hannah or rob, imagine you were 12 years old, on vacation to the beach with your family. Oh okay, that's a good memory your family has rented the dune shack for the day in provincetown massachusetts or to locals p town I was just gonna say p town I got it.

Jess: 4:40

You and your parents are hiking back to the visitor's center, worn out from a day in the sun. The dog of one of the other families that was there follows you and you're okay with it. You love dogs, because who doesn't? Duh, duh, soon the dog takes off into the bushes and starts barking. You take off after him and find out what he's barking at. You may or may not scream at the discovery and your parents may or may not have rushed up behind you.

Jess: 5:04

At first the body looks kind of weird. It looks like a black rotten banana peel and it kind of looks like a deer at first, but then you notice there's a beach towel underneath and there are clothes underneath the head. This can't be a deer. It kind of looks like a woman. You notice her missing hands. One hand was cut off to the elbow and and her head looks like it was almost cut off and it doesn't seem like she has any teeth or maybe they've been knocked out or something. And there's bugs, lots of bugs, maggots so many, and you want to throw up. Maybe one parent pulls you away from the scene while the other parent runs to contact the police, and that image you've seen will be ingrained in your mind for the rest of your life. This is what happened to 12-year-old Leslie Metcalf on July 26, 1974. And here is the audio from the Lady of the Dunes documentary from a woman who remembers that day. The hands were gone. From a woman who remembers that day.

Speaker 5: 6:03

I'm noticing that the hands were gone, the dog started barking and so the little girl went to see what he was barking at and there was this woman lying on a big beach towel without hands, and apparently there had been some effort to sever the head. The way we heard about it was we had a little 1945 military jeep and we went to town to get some groceries, go to the post office and coming out Race Road on the way back we saw the Douglas family and they were coming down, speeding down the road in the opposite direction, waving at us frantically to stop. So we stopped and they said we're on our way to town to tell people that we found a body in the dunes. So they were on their way to the police station to report this finding. We met Jimmy later Afterwards. We had the police come and ask us questions. They had a TV crew out in the dunes, back in the back road and to commemorate that day and say they had a big TV program about this event.

Speaker 5: 7:36

But when I went down there I said you know this isn't the right spot, jimmy. But he said I know I chose this deliberately. I don't want people to know exactly where the spot is because there are too many factors involved in weird people and all kinds of things. So he said I never want to have it revealed. So I promised him that I would never reveal it and I won't. I won't even get a hint If somebody says was it here, I'll, I'm going to climb up.

Jess: 8:15

So that was from a woman who obviously was there that day that lived in one of the shacks near where they found the body, and the true location of where the body was found. At the time of the documentary it was still a mystery. The documentary came out in 2022.

Hannah: 8:31

What's the name of the documentary? Where did you start?

Jess: 8:33

watching it.

Hannah: 8:34

Lady of the.

Jess: 8:35

Dunes. So ladyofthedunescom is one of the sources and has a link to the YouTube video on there along with some other things. So the true location of where her body was found and at the time of the documentary in 2022, it was still a mystery. The current spot most assume is the crime scene was a false narrative made to protect the crime scene and to weed out any false leads which.

Jess: 10:14

I think was pretty smart. The woman had red hair and it was pulled back into a ponytail, and pink polish on her toenails. There was a pair of jeans and a blue bandana stuffed under her head. The official cause of death was ruled blunt force trauma to the head and there were also signs of strangulation and sexual assault, possibly post-mortem, but sources vary on that. Authorities think that her body may have been there between two to seven weeks.

Jess: 10:46

Really, and no one saw it, it it was kind of behind like in the brush, so unless you have a dog going after, you wouldn't see it from the trail. It was difficult to determine exactly due to the hot july heat.

Hannah: 10:53

Obviously heat is hot, but you know, yeah, but like I'm guessing, I'm also thinking of, uh, the marsh smell it's a very distinct smell and I'm sure there's a difference between that and the dead body, but I'm sure that could mask it.

Rob: 11:06

Yeah, I don't know, the marsh can get pretty bad.

Hannah: 11:08

It can.

Rob: 11:09

I mean when we go on vacation up in Wells and we get the beach house on Moody Beach and it's a-. In Maine, in Maine, yes, and it's a in maine.

Jess: 11:23

In maine, yes, it's, and it's a very hot, hot day and it's low tide. Yeah, it stinks it does. Have you guys been to the p-town, to the dunes? We have not been to p-town, we're not cape people.

Rob: 11:30

Yeah, I mean, either we're maine people I've been to p-town but I don't remember when it was oh, I didn't know you've been there maybe when I was a kid, or it could have even been when I was in my 20s. It's a long drive, like early, early 20s.

Jess: 11:42

Because it's on the very end of the Cape right.

Hannah: 11:45

Yeah, the very tip, because it's three and a half hours to the Cape. So what is it? Another hour and a half there.

Rob: 11:53

Depending on the time of the year.

Hannah: 11:56

I'm going to. While we're going through this, I'm gonna Google how long it takes to get to.

Jess: 11:59

P-Town from here. They theorized that the hands were cut off to prevent identification, as well as the teeth that were missing. Looking at the crime scene, investigators did not think that the woman was killed there, but that she was likely killed somewhere else and dumped on the dunes. There was no sign of a struggle and there were two sets of tracks leading to the body and a set of tire tracks, and there was no record of her arrival in that area. No check-in at the visitor center. So I think with this specific area, you have to check in to the visitor center too so it's saying just a little over three hours, three hours and 11 minutes.

Hannah: 12:32

So I mean, obviously that's without summer traffic or night traffic. Yeah, so I'll be good five hours during the summer yeah, five hours.

Jess: 12:43

That's crazy. Dave did that once. He had to work out there at the base when obama would go to martha's vineyard. Oh, and it took him five hours to get there. I guess that there's only one bridge to get over yes, yes okay, to the cape yeah there's only one bridge.

Rob: 13:01

That's it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's like two.

Jess: 13:04

Detectives canvassed motels and rooming houses, reviewed thousands of reports of missing women, checked every vehicle license to drive on the dunes and used clay models to recreate what she may have looked like. Obviously, in the 1970s, crime scene investigation wasn't what it is today and fingerprinting wasn't really commonly used, at least in P-Town. It was still a small community and everyone who lives there full-time knows everyone, but it's also a very touristy, artistic, transient town, which led investigators and residents alike to think that the woman was not from the area. The case eventually went cold as they were unable to identify her. She was eventually named Lady of the Dunes and her case haunted a generation of investigators and Cape Cod residents. She was buried at a local cemetery with Lady of the Dunes on her headstone. Her body was exhumed in 1980, 2000, and 2013 for additional analysis and collection of evidence.

Jess: 14:03

Wow so three different times. Yep, holy moly. Analysis and collection of evidence three different times yeah, holy moly. There were even multiple attempts at facial reconstruction over the decades, and the police chief actually carried her school with him to places like to colorado springs. He would take it to have them do like updated facial reconstructions.

Rob: 14:22

There's a few out there yeah uh, just a quick little update. I I looked how many. I looked up how many bridges are to the cape. There's two.

Jess: 14:31

You got the born and the sagamore the born is the one I think is mentioned a lot yeah, do you feel better?

Rob: 14:40

I just want to make sure the wanderers know, vindicated, how many bridges go into the cape vindicated I want to make sure we're not giving out false information.

Jess: 14:49

I mean thanks. I thought there was only one bridge, but some potential suspects over the years were whitey bulger, who was known for removing teeth of victims and he was known to be in the area around the time he's still alive, right yeah, no, I think he was killed in prison yes, that's right.

Rob: 15:08

Okay, was he.

Jess: 15:09

He was, oh yeah I mean we can google that his brother's uh around.

Hannah: 15:13

Though, right, there was talk about maybe I'm thinking of something else, yeah he died in 2018 yeah, I think he was killed in prison.

Jess: 15:20

really, tony costa was a serial killer, but he actually died in May of 1974, which was two months before her body was found, so he didn't stay on the suspect list for very long. And then there was Haddon Clark, whom I didn't know about and I might do an episode on him, but he was also a serial killer in the area at the time.

Rob: 15:43

He's from Massachusetts, yep Wow.

Jess: 15:45

Clark actually confessed to the crime, but he also suffered from severe schizophrenia. So it was considered to be a false confession and the lady or was he a medium? You know what, rob? Someone turn his mic off, yeah. Who invited him? Just kidding, the Lady of the Dunes would be said by the FBI to have been the oldest unidentified homicide in Massachusetts, that is, until October of 2022, nearly five decades later.

Jess: 16:19

And here is another soundbite, and here I quote, and here I quote, and here I am quoting Cocaine. Can we just say that I don't say cocaine all the time? That my voice is a button that Rob created. So every time you hear Cocaine, that is Rob pushing a button.

Hannah: 16:38

Fucking.

Jess: 16:39

Putnams Fucking. Putnams Fuck you.

Rob: 16:42

Those are all buttons.

Jess: 16:43

Yes. So it's not like me just having tourettes and just randomly saying cocaine, except that time I did b-boxing cocaine. Okay, okay, okay, okay okay all of our wanders are like god can just stop saying cocaine.

Hannah: 17:03

It's not me, it's rob saying me saying cocaine, I'm gonna get me. It's Rob saying me saying cocaine. I'm going to get you a dare shirt for your birthday.

Rob: 17:10

We need one. Don't do drugs, kids. We should do a shirt with your face on it and it says cocaine.

Jess: 17:16

Not a sedative.

Hannah: 17:17

Like a crazy face.

Rob: 17:18

Not a sedative. Yes, I like that.

Jess: 17:25

Oh Lordy, please don't.

Rob: 17:26

And if you want to get any merch, go to our website and click the in button right at the top On that note Yay, merch, which, by the way, I wore our Wicked Wanderers podcast with the Grim Reaper on it.

Hannah: 17:39

I got a compliment on it. We had a waiter that saw my shirt and he's like I really like your shirt. I was like thanks.

Jess: 17:50

And then rob's like why did you tell him about the podcast? I'm like I was just so excited that someone liked the shirt.

Hannah: 17:53

Maybe he was staring at your titties and didn't want to get. Probably he, yes probably that's the place that uh, it was a 19 dollar margarita yeah, it was a little expensive, holy shit, but he did give us free tequila shots oh my god, yes so he was staring at your tits Like all of a sudden, like he gives us a bill, he's like here's some free tequila, or he called it Mexican water.

Rob: 18:11

And Johnny didn't want to drink it.

Hannah: 18:13

Nope, so I drank his water.

Jess: 18:14

Johnny doesn't really seem like a tequila type of guy.

Hannah: 18:18

He says it turns into somebody else.

Jess: 18:22

Oh, jekyll and Hyde huh. Love you, jonathan.

Hannah: 18:25

I think it takes all his clothes off?

Jess: 18:28

Well, there's a song about that. I want to take my clothes off. No, tequila Makes my Clothes, it's a country song.

Rob: 18:35

Tequila Makes my Clothes Fall Off, mm-hmm. Yes.

Hannah: 18:37

Oh, was that a Miranda Lambert song.

Rob: 18:40

No, I think it's a guy Moving to my soundbite.

Speaker 4: 18:44

We are standing here today to announce that, after nearly a half century of investigative efforts, we have identified the oldest unidentified homicide victim in Massachusetts, known as the Lady of the Dunes. She is Ruth Marie Terry from Tennessee, who was just 37 years old at the time of her death. On July 26, 1974, ruth was found deceased in the dunes about a mile east of Race Point Ranger Station inside the Cape Cod National Seashore in Provincetown, massachusetts. At the time, the cause of death was determined to be a blow to the head and is estimated to have occurred several weeks prior. The victim's hands were missing, presumably removed by her killer, so she could not be identified through fingerprints, and her head was nearly severed from her body severed from her body.

Speaker 4: 19:49

Since this crime was committed, many investigative and scientific techniques have either improved or been created through new advances in technology. One of these methods is investigative genealogy, which combines the use of DNA analysis with traditional genealogy research and historical records to generate investigative leads for unsolved violent crimes. As investigators, cases like this one haunt us, and the agencies represented here today are constantly re-evaluating and coming up with new investigative strategies to try and advance them. 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 answers some questions while we continue to look for her killer.

Hannah: 20:40

So maybe you're going to get into this, but was she with anyone Like, is this kind of like one of those things where, like, she was reported missing? So now this is like closing this case, but it's also closing the missing person case, no nothing I could find.

Jess: 20:51

She was never reported missing and I will kind of get into that.

Rob: 20:56

It's crazy how all this genealogy, dna stuff is really helping to close some cases. I mean even locally. In the greater Springfield mass area there's been, I think, four different cases that have been closed. They identified someone recently 24.

Hannah: 21:14

Sorry, oh no, go ahead. I was just saying it was a 24 year old sexual assault case that they ended up closing.

Rob: 21:20

And then two other ones. I think one was just announced, either yesterday or the day before they arrested someone from a case from years and years ago.

Hannah: 21:28

Yeah, and it's not necessarily because they're giving their DNAs because a family member is.

Rob: 21:32

Yeah, yeah, so we actually both did Ancestry DNA quite some years ago, but at one of the hockey games this year, because we were season ticket holders to the local AHL Springfield Thunderbirds, the state police and the DA Anthony Galluni was there and they were actually talking about this process with the fans and I ended up taking the DNA test, just so they can have that on file, because I guess Ancestry DNA does not share that information with local authorities, no only a couple of them, do.

Rob: 22:05

Only a couple of them do. I said yeah, take my DNA. I got nothing to hide. So if you can take my DNA and connect maybe a distant relative to a case, then so be it. I don't care, I have nothing to hide.

Jess: 22:18

That's good, I hope you never kill somebody.

Hannah: 22:20

Can we just say how cute Kenzie is with her leg out like that.

Jess: 22:22

That's her leg. I thought it was a tail, or wait, no, it's definitely her. It kind of reminds me of how like when I leave one leg out of my sheets

Rob: 22:29

I do that too oh she has her front legs crossed in the front, but then her other leg, in the back, is sprawled out that's the baby should we take a picture and put it on our instagram?

Jess: 22:40

yes, recording night. The lady of the dunes, almost after 50 years, was finally identified through genealogical DNA, like we just talked about, also the Golden State Killer. That's how they caught him. Ruth Marie Terry was born on September 8th 1936 in Whitwell, whitwell, whitwell Twinsies Anyway.

Hannah: 23:03

It's like we're friends or something.

Jess: 23:06

Tennessee to Johnny and Ava Terry. Anyway, it's like we're friends or something. Right tennessee to johnny and ava terry. What frustrated me about this case, as I was researching, is that there is like barely any information about ruth online that I could find and that there's more information about the man they have eventually claimed killed her than there was about ruth's history.

Jess: 23:24

But also that could mean a few things. It could mean that obviously the 30s to the 70s were different and the internet, the interwebs, wasn't a thing. But also she may not have had a criminal record, and that's how a lot of people are known do you ever go into like why her yes okay, good, yes, yeah, patience, my young padawan.

Jess: 23:47

from what I could find, I learned that she was estranged from her immediate family. Her mother died when she was young and she did not get along with her dad at all, and I think she had two brothers and a sister. I've read different things about them being like full siblings or step siblings or half siblings. When Ruth was 20 years old, she married her first husband, billy Ray Smith. Billy Ray, me and Billy Ray got married. Anyway, that's horrible. The marriage didn't last long and in 1957, she moved to Michigan and worked in an automotive plant. She gave birth to a son during this time, richard Hanchett Jr, who was adopted by her superintendent, richard Hanchett, and in the sources I reviewed it doesn't say anything about him being the father, but just that a couple had adopted him because Ruth was not able to support a baby on her own. So either he was the baby daddy or the baby daddy was never in the picture and they just adopted him.

Jess: 24:48

Little is mentioned of her between 1957 and 74 that I could find, like I said, which is frustrating, but it was believed that she was living in california at the time. She met an antiques dealer in reno named guy rockwell moldovan. They would end up getting married early in the year and would travel their way through the country looking for antiques and visiting family on their way to Massachusetts as kind of a long honeymoon. Guy Moldovan was born October 26, 1923 in Santa Fe, new Mexico, so he was 13 years older than Ruth. According to one source, moldovan was schooled in Switzerland, new York and in Connecticut, as well as tutored privately on his family cattle ranch in Tiberia, new Mexico, la-di-da. After early brushes with the law, oh yeah.

Hannah: 25:35

That's not so, la-di-da no.

Jess: 25:37

He eventually made his way to New York, where he worked as a professor at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, and it was Guy Moldovan who would eventually be identified as Ruth, the Lady of the Dunes killer.

Hannah: 25:49

Oh.

Jess: 25:49

And it turns out that Guy was a douche canoe with a shady bast.

Rob: 25:54

They figured out who killed her.

Jess: 25:55

It was her husband. It's always the husband. Wow, and they didn't come.

Rob: 25:58

They figured out who killed her.

Jess: 25:59

It was her husband, it's always the husband, wow. And they didn't come to this determination until 2023, so last year, that's crazy.

Rob: 26:05

Was he still alive?

Jess: 26:06

I'll get to that Thank you.

Jess: 26:08

Moldovan was investigated in a 1950 double homicide in Eureka, california. Truck driver Henry Baird was found naked with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, and Baird's girlfriend, barbara Kelly, had worked at a restaurant that Moldovan's first wife's parents owned. He also worked there as a short-order cook and the restaurant was also on Henry Baird's truck route. Barbara and Henry were together that night and sources never say how authorities thought Moldovan was connected, but Kelly's body was never found. Moldovan moved from New York to live in Seattle where he worked as a DJ and met his first wife, yeah, and they divorced in 1956. I couldn't find any information about her, but it sounds like she was the lucky one that got away. Moldovan's second wife and stepdaughter disappeared under suspicious circumstances. He had married Manzita Ryan in 1958 and lived in her Seattle home with her daughter, dolores Ryan, and her daughter disappeared in April of 1960, and there wasn't much evidence at first. In the meantime, moldovan had moved on to wife number three, evelyn Emerson.

Hannah: 27:16

Wait. So the second wife and daughter Disappeared, and then he moved on to wife number three, solyn Emerson, wait.

Jess: 27:18

So the second wife and daughter Disappeared, and then he moved on to wife number three, so they're probably dead. Yeah, it's looking like it, wow. So with his third wife, he was eventually convicted of swindling her family out of $10,000. Good for them for pressing charges. In the meantime, authorities searching for Manzita and Dolores found human remains in the septic tank of their home. Not only did Moldovan receive a suspended sentence in exchange for repaying the $10,000 to his wife's family, but there was also not enough evidence to prosecute him for the murder of his second wife and her daughter. The tests they conducted on what little human remains were found were inconclusive, and they were found in a septic tank, in the septic tank of their home. So there here are three serious crimes that Moldovan had allegedly already somehow gotten away with.

Jess: 28:08

Now that we have this dickwads past, let's get back to the Lady of the Dunes, ruth Marie Terry. She had become this douche canoe's wife in February of 1974, and then traveled through the country, like I said, visiting antiques, and they happened to stop in Tennessee to visit her family, and this was her aunt and cousins. Ruth's family remembers Moldovan being overly possessive with Ruth while they were there and they were talking about going to Massachusetts. So get this A few months after, m moldovan goes back to the family without ruth telling them that she was missing, he told them that they fought and that he had never seen him again. So he went back to her family in tennessee and told them that she was missing and they got in a fight and never seen her again. I mean, I guess that could be the truth.

Jess: 28:58

It could be the truth but like once you still file a missing, you think yeah, I feel like maybe he told him he did, maybe, oh yeah, I've already filed, and I guess that's kind of what frustrates me too.

Hannah: 29:11

Is that like there wasn't any information, yeah, on whether that I could find it sounds like all I knew was that she was like a redhead. Yeah.

Jess: 29:19

And also the car that he'd been driving was believed to be Ruth's, of course, but one of the news stations reported that her nephew, john Randall Terry, remembers his father going to California to look for her. So remember, she lived in California at a time and Moldovan had told him that Ruth had sold everything and joined a cult like isn't?

Hannah: 29:43

oh, she just went off and joined a cult, you know? I mean, I guess a popular thing to do.

Jess: 29:45

If you're thinking about the 70s, it was kind of a popular thing to do I would like to think that the family continued to look for and there was no information that I saw. Like I said, that she was reported missing, which is probably why she was left unidentified for so long. She was estranged from her immediate family and had been traveling the country for a couple of months with her new husband. Keep in mind this was February, so five months They'd only been married five months. How would you even begin to know where to look? Well, guess what? Moldovan would never serve time for this fourth crime either. He eventually settled down in Salinas, california, and would marry again. Ew.

Hannah: 30:23

Wait a minute. He married again when his wife was missing, so then he claimed her dead.

Jess: 30:29

I guess Interesting. By this time it was 1985. So it'd been a little over 10 years.

Hannah: 30:36

No one's looking into this shit.

Jess: 30:38

I don't know if they did back then. Damn, okay, all right, please continue. But it seemed this time he would settle down for good and he worked as a dj at kazu in pacific grove. His radio show covered subjects aimed at older retirees like cuts in social security, feelings about old people having sex and his belief that killing someone has become a habit. I mean, I guess he does have the experience, so I guess he would know, wow, okay.

Jess: 31:06

Moldovan, passed away in 2002, 20 years before Ruth Lady of the Dunes would be identified. Wow, all I gotta say is fuck that guy, fuck you, fuck you, Guy. But to end on a positive note, ruth's son, who never really knew his mother, has been involved. Now, after learning what happened to his biological mom, he has since gone to the site where her body had been found with the rest of her family that is still alive and paid their respects. And that, my dear wanderers, is the story of lady of the dunes that was really sad, but it was wow wow, you guys never knew, isn't that crazy?

Jess: 31:45

yeah, I remember hearing this. Sorry um no hearing this story before they identified her yeah when I saw the identification, like oh my gosh, that was a good one, jess.

Hannah: 31:55

Oh yeah, there can be a I don't say happy ending, but there can be some closure yeah, closure, a silver lining maybe. Wow, if there is such a thing, do they have like a picture of her reconstruction or, oh, I guess a picture.

Jess: 32:08

Yeah, they have picture of her reconstructions throughout the years and of her actual photos, and I don't like anything like her.

Hannah: 32:15

No, I don't think definitely should be posting those. Yeah, I would love to see those, those pages for sure. Wow, it's very interesting and it's still kind of like unknown where the exact spot is yeah, I mean that's kind of cool they did that.

Jess: 32:28

Yeah, I would imagine being a detective in like a touristy town with so many moving people all of the time would be very difficult oh yeah, but I'm sure nowadays with cameras and stuff, it's a little easier. But yeah, so that was a really good episode. Thanks. Thanks, jessica and thanks Wanderers. Have a lovely day, night afternoon.

Rob: 32:51

And don't forget, if you want to send us a text message, go down to the show notes on your cell phone and click the link and send us a text. We'll read it or answer it on our next episode.

Jess: 33:03

Or if you have like an idea for an episode that'd be a cool way to reach out Absolutely, or like a random question like what hair products we use.

Hannah: 33:08

I don't really use any, but you know, just if you have questions, I'm a hair product snob Are you really?

Jess: 33:14

Yeah, I pay a lot of money because my hair is so thin. Really, yeah, I hate it. I use Pureology. In case anyone's wondering, I remember All right, good night, bye, bye. Bye, bye, cocaine. Oh my God, thanks for listening.

Hannah: 33:32

today, Wicked Wanderings is hosted by Hannah Fitzpatrick and me.

Jess: 33:36

Jess Goonan.

Rob: 33:37

And it's produced by Rob Fitzpatrick.

Hannah: 33:39

Music by Sasha End. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to leave us a rating and review, and be sure to follow us on all our socials.

Jess: 33:48

You can find the links down in the show notes and if you're looking for some Wicked Cozy t-shirts or hoodies, head over to our merch store. Thank you for being a part of the Wicked Wanderings community.

Hannah: 33:59

We appreciate each and every one of you Stay curious, keep exploring and always remember to keep on wandering.