A Federal Grand Jury has indicted a man who is suspected of stealing a pair of famous ruby red slippers worn by Dorothy in the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz”. Seventy six year-old Terry Martin was indicted Tuesday on one count of theft of major artwork. The indictment alleges that in 2005, Martin stole an authentic pair of ruby slippers. The slippers were worn by actress Judy Garland and were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota. The FBI recovered the slippers in 2018. The pair is one of four remaining pairs of red slippers Garland wore in the movie.
Garland wore several pairs of the ruby slippers during production of the 1939 musical, but only four authentic pairs remain. When they were stolen, the slippers were insured for $1 million but the current market value is about $3.5 million. The slippers were on loan to the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown, when someone climbed through a window and broke the display case. The three other pairs Garland wore in the movie were held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian, and a private collector. The museum hopes the slippers will return to Garland’s hometown after the legal case ends.
