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A Minnesota man has been indicted on prices that he stole a pair of the famed ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz,” from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minn., the actress’s hometown, practically 18 years in the past.
The red-sequined pumps have been recovered in a sting operation that resulted in Minneapolis in 2018, however the authorities mentioned on the time that their investigation was persevering with and they didn’t identify any suspects.
On Tuesday, a federal indictment in U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Minnesota charged Terry Jon Martin of Minnesota with stealing an genuine pair of the slippers, which officers estimated have a market worth of $3.5 million, from the museum someday between Aug. 27 and Aug. 28 of 2005. Mr. Martin was indicted on one rely of theft of a significant paintings.
The one-page indictment didn’t present any additional particulars concerning the case. It was not instantly clear if Mr. Martin had a lawyer and he couldn’t be reached at numbers listed underneath his identify. Mr. Martin instructed The Minneapolis Star Tribune on Wednesday that he needed to go to trial, and added: “I don’t need to speak to you.” The newspaper reported that Mr. Martin lived about 12 miles south of the museum.
Janie Heitz, govt director of the Judy Garland Museum, mentioned in an interview on Wednesday that she was researching to seek out out if Mr. Martin had any connection to the museum, though she was sure that he had not been an worker.
“It’s a break within the case, which is nice,” she mentioned. “We’re excited, speechless, anxious.”
The slippers have been stolen by somebody who had damaged in via a again entrance and smashed the plexiglass show case holding the footwear. With no fingerprints or safety digital camera footage to go by, the police have been left with few clues. The one factor left behind was a lone purple sequin.
Federal, native and personal investigators pursued a wide range of theories over time, and finally a non-public donor provided a $1 million reward for finding the footwear, which have been amongst a number of worn by Garland in filming the 1939 film. Three different pairs utilized in filming have been identified to outlive.
A break within the search got here in 2018 when somebody approached the insurance coverage firm that owned the footwear, claiming to have details about the slippers and the way they could possibly be returned. It rapidly turned clear, officers mentioned, that the particular person was making an attempt to extort cash from the corporate.
Investigators from the F.B.I.’s artwork crime unit, together with different federal brokers in Chicago, Atlanta and Miami, organized a sting operation to get well the slippers. The authorities mentioned that they had not paid any reward cash.
Seyward Darby, a co-host of “No Place Like House,” a podcast concerning the theft, mentioned that Mr. Martin’s identify had not come up in her reporting.
“Nevertheless, as our podcast discusses, there was a powerful suspicion that there was a ‘native connection’ to the crime — somebody with data of the museum, the truth that the slippers have been on mortgage there in the summertime of 2005, and the way straightforward they have been to steal,” Ms. Darby mentioned in an e-mail. “What’s attention-grabbing is that Martin is only one piece of the puzzle. Over the 13 years the slippers have been lacking, it’s potential — doubtless, even — that they exchanged arms.”
The indictment, Ms. Darby mentioned, raised questions on whether or not Mr. Martin might need acted alone or whether or not he might need been commissioned by a prison syndicate.
“Very similar to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ itself, this story retains on giving,” she mentioned. “Each time there’s a brand new improvement, there are extra mysteries.”
Rhys Thomas, the creator of “The Ruby Slippers of Oz,” a guide concerning the footwear used within the movie, mentioned that Mr. Martin “actually wasn’t on my radar.”
“I’ve a sense that is simply the tip of the iceberg,” Mr. Thomas mentioned. “I don’t suppose a single particular person would have opportunistically grabbed the footwear after which sat on them for 13 years after which gotten himself concerned in an extortion case.”
When the footwear have been stolen, they belonged to a collector in North Hollywood, Calif., and have been on mortgage to the museum, which opened in 1975 in the home the place Garland lived as a younger little one.
The Judy Garland Museum had put the footwear on show in 2005 throughout an annual pageant celebrating the actress. Strictly talking, they aren’t a pair; the left and proper footwear are barely totally different sizes, and are thought-about to be the mates of the left and proper footwear housed on the Smithsonian’s Nationwide Museum of American Historical past.
In “The Wizard of Oz,” Ms. Garland, enjoying Dorothy, clicks the heels of the ruby slippers 3 times and utters the phrases, “There’s no place like residence,” magically transporting herself again residence to Kansas.
Ms. Heitz mentioned on Wednesday that, though the footwear had been recovered in 2018, that they had remained in federal custody, as proof within the case. She mentioned she hoped that they might in the future be returned to the museum and displayed once more. They’re broadly thought-about to be among the many most recognizable cultural objects in American movie.
“It’s simply such an iconic merchandise which means a lot to so many individuals,” Ms. Heitz mentioned, including that, to many, the slippers characterize residence and a way of place. “It will be a disgrace for them to remain in a locked case for the remainder of time.”
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