Crime

Police seek info on man they say married ‘Lady of the Dunes’ before her 1974 murder

Authorities are hoping to uncover more about Guy Rockwell Muldavin.

By Ross Cristantiello

November 2, 2022

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Police are searching for information about a man they said married “The Lady of the Dunes” shortly before she was found brutally murdered in Provincetown in 1974. 

Federal, state, and local authorities announced Monday that they had identified the woman as Ruth Marie Terry of Tennessee, who until this week had been the oldest unidentified homicide victim in Massachusetts. 

Now, law enforcement officials are hoping to uncover more information about a man identified as Guy Rockwell Muldavin, who is now dead. Muldavin is believed to have married Terry in February 1974, several months before she died, the Massachusetts State Police, the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office, and the Provincetown Police Department said in a joint statement. 

Muldavin was born on Oct. 27, 1923. He was also known to have used the names Raoul Guy Rockwell and Guy Muldavin Rockwell, police said. 

An article from 1960 that appeared in The Madera Tribune describes how Muldavin was wanted by authorities in connection with the death of his second wife and her daughter by a previous marriage.

Muldavin died in Salinas, Calif. In 2002 at the age of 78, according to an online obituary. 

Officials also said on Wednesday that Terry at times went by the names Teri Marie Vizina, Terry M. Vizina, and Teri Shannon. 

Anyone with information about either person is being asked to contact the Massachusetts State Police by phone at 1-800-KAPTURE or by email at [email protected]. Tips can also be submitted via text message at 226787. Police are specifically interested in the whereabouts of Terry and Muldavin in 1973 and 1974 in New England. 

Police identified Terry using a technique known as investigative genealogy, during which investigators combine DNA analysis with traditional genealogical research and historical records, officials said.

Terry was found dead in the dunes about one mile east of the Race Point Ranger station on July 26, 1974. She is believed to have been killed by blows to the head several weeks before her body was found. Terry’s hands were removed, apparently by the killer so that she could not be identified through fingerprints. Terry’s head was nearly severed from her body as well. She was found naked.   

Officials said Terry had ties to California and Michigan, as well as Tennessee and Massachusetts.