13 October 2023
DULUTH A rural Grand Rapids admitted Friday to stealing a pair of ruby slippers from the Judy Garland Museum nearly two decades ago.
Terry Jon Martin, 76, told a judge he used a small sledge hammer to break into the Grand Rapids museum in August 2005 and swipe one of the most famous pieces of memorabilia in film history.
Martin testified that he mistakenly believed the slippers were made of actual rubies and briefly stored them in a trailer near his home before giving them a “jewelry fence” a person who trades in stolen goods. He did not provide a name and said he was not involved in the attempted extortion of an insurance company years later.
Martin, who was indicted in May on count of theft of major artwork, entered the federal courthouse in Duluth in a wheelchair and using an oxygen tank. His attorney said he has advanced COPD and is near the end of his life.
Given his health, federal prosecutors said they will not argue for any prison time. Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz ordered a presentence report and said he hopes to schedule a sentencing date in Duluth within the next three months.
The slippers were notoriously taken in the dark of night while on loan to Garland’s birthplace museum. They were recovered by the FBI and Grand Rapids Police Department in Minneapolis in July 2018, but the investigation at that time was said to be ongoing and authorities have remained tightlipped.
The slippers are one of four surviving pairs worn by Garland in 1939’s “The Wizard of Oz,” one of the most famous films of all time. They were insured at the time for $1 million, but federal agents said they are currently appraised at more than $3.5 million.
The ruby slippers were nearing the end of a 10-week loan to the Judy Garland Museum when they were stolen sometime overnight Aug. 27-28, 2005. Shattered glass and a red sequin were all that were left after an emergency exit door window was broken and the slippers’ glass case was broken. It was later discovered that the museum’s alarm system hadn’t been set properly to notify a private security firm.
The brazen theft continued to captivate Garland’s hometown, the state and the arts community for 13 years. The police department received tips from around the world, a dive team searched Tioga Mine Pit in 2015 and an anonymous fan offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the slippers’ recovery.
While Grand Rapids police long tinkered with the investigation, the FBI said it became involved in 2017 when an extortion attempt was made against the insurance company that now owns the slippers.
The agency’s Minneapolis office and Art Crime Team executed search warrants in both Minnesota and Florida and recovered the slippers in a “sting operation” in Minneapolis in July 2018.
The FBI said the recovered slippers were sent to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., where conservators confirmed their authenticity after an extensive examination of the slippers’ construction, materials and wear.
Michael Shaw, a Los Angeles collector and acting coach, owned the slippers at the time of the theft. However, he later accepted an $880,000 payout from his insurer, the Markel Corp.
While filed in Minnesota, the case was assigned in 2018 to federal prosecutors in North Dakota. Authorities have not elaborated on why it was transferred to the neighboring jurisdiction.
John Kelsch, founding executive director of the Judy Garland Museum and now its curator, told the News Tribune in 2022 that the heist “certainly got more publicity than anything else” at the museum. Visitors still come to see the spot where the slippers were on display before they were stolen, and Kelsch said “we’d like to get them back for Minnesota” someday.
“It’s the most-talked-about thing in our museum,” executive director Janie Heitz said in July, hoping the indictment would provide some closure to the longstanding mystery. “Everybody wants to know where they are.”
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
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