Kansas: On September 4, 2018, at a press conference held at the FBI office in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, a pair of ruby slippers previously worn by actress Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” were on exhibit. At a court hearing on Friday, October 13, 2023, a guy accused of the long-ago museum theft of a pair of ruby slippers was anticipated to change his plea to guilty, solving an 18-year-old murder mystery.
In court on Friday, a man accused of stealing a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” was anticipated to change his plea to guilty, shedding light on the 18-year-old mystery of whodunit.
In May, Terry Jon Martin, 76, was charged with one count of stealing a significant work of art. The FBI recovered the movie’s shoes in 2018 after they were taken from the Judy Garland Museum in the actress’ Minnesota hometown of Grand Rapids in 2005.
In an interview conducted before the scheduled hearing on Friday, DeKrey stated, “I think Terry is facing his own mortality and I think when people are reaching that point in their lives, they cut through the pleasantries and talk turkey.”
Martin, who has a 1988 conviction for receiving stolen goods on his record and is out on his own recognizance, was not specifically mentioned in the one-page indictment. A protective order that forbids public disclosure has been placed over much of the government’s evidence.
Although Garland wore numerous pairs of ruby slippers while the iconic 1939 musical was being filmed, only four actual shoes are thought to still exist. Federal prosecutors estimated the slippers’ current market value at around $3.5 million when they announced the case, despite the fact that they were insured for $1 million.
According to the FBI, an individual approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed to be able to help get them back. During a sting operation in Minneapolis, the FBI art crime team found the slippers. They remained in the custody of the bureau.
DeKrey and federal prosecutor Matt Greenley “fulsomely negotiated” the plea deal, which would outline the “factual basis” for his client’s guilty admission, according to DeKrey.
DeKrey anticipates that U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, who serves as the top federal judge in Minnesota, will announce a sentence date in the next three months. He declined to reveal what term the two sides were recommending, but pointed out that in cases like this, the federal sentencing guidelines, which are not legally obligatory, have indicated 10 to 12 years.
DeKrey expressed his gratitude to Schiltz for allowing the hearing to take place in Duluth rather than forcing Martin to fly to the Twin Cities.
A sick man is my client. He will use oxygen and be in a wheelchair, according to DeKrey.
When a window was broken and the display case was broken, the slippers in question were on loan to the museum from Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History, and a private collector all own three other pairs that Garland wore in the film.
Over the years, a number of incentives have been given out in an effort to solve the riddle. In 2015, an unnamed Arizonan donor contributed $1 million.
The ruby slippers served as the movie’s main prop in 1939. After being mysteriously dropped into the vivid Land of Oz after a storm destroys her Kansas farm, Judy Garland’s Dorothy must say “there’s no place like home” three times in order to return to her farm.
About a dozen different materials, including wood pulp, silk thread, gelatin, plastic, and glass, were used to make the footwear. The majority of the ruby color of the shoes comes from sequins, but the bows also have red glass beads.
Frances Gumm gave birth to Garland in 1922. Up until the age of 4, she resided in Grand Rapids, which is located about 200 miles (320 km) north of Minneapolis. At that point, her family relocated to Los Angeles. In 1969, she overdosed on barbiturates and died.
The Judy Garland Museum claims to have the largest collection of Garland and Wizard of Oz memorabilia in the entire world. It first opened in the home where she lived in 1975.