Lady of the Dunes ID was a shock for Quincy woman who found her in 1974

Massachusetts author Sandra Lee was just as surprised as everyone else with the news that after nearly a half-century, the FBI, through DNA analysis and investigative genealogy was able to identify the Lady of the Dunes as Ruth Marie Terry, a 37-year-old mom from Tennessee.

“This really hit me from out of the blue, Bob. It was amazing, an amazing feeling,” Sandra told Boston 25′s Bob Ward.

In 1974, Sandra Lee tells me, when she was 9 years old, she stumbled upon the Lady’s mutilated body while walking her dog near her family’s campsite.

“The body was on a blanket. It was on almost half of a blanket, someone should have been there or was there with her. She was face down,” Sandra remembers. “Her arms were pushed down into the sand and brush, where you couldn’t see her hands. We found out later her hands were removed.”

Sandra wrote about the experience in her book, The Shanty, as a way of dealing with the gruesome memory and a way to keep the Lady of the Dunes case in the public eye.

Sandra tells Ward that Ruth Marie Terry’s family has since reached out to her.

“They were just filled with gratitude,” Sandra said.

Now, the Massachusetts State Police is searching for more information about a man named Guy Rockwell Muldavin, a man Ruth married months before she was murdered and who is now dead.

Guy Muldavin was a suspect in the disappearance of a previous wife and stepdaughter.

Sandra Lee feels Ruth is finally getting justice.

“To know that she has a family that was looking for her, that loved her, that missed her is just the most satisfying information,” Sandra Lee said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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