Cape Cod has been scared of the Lady of the Dunes for many years. The brutally mutilated body of a woman, found almost beheaded and missing some teeth, went unidentified for almost fifty years. Ancestry DNA finally gave her a name in 2022: Ruth Marie Terry. The discovery was a big step forward, but it also showed a scary new lead. Guy Muldavin, Terry’s husband, became an important character in her sad story. He had a dark past.
Oxygen’s new documentary, Lady of the Dunes: Hunting the Cape Cod Killer, goes into great detail about this murder, lying, and running away case. The two-part premiere starts on Friday, Nov. 29, at 8/7c and ends on Saturday, Nov. 30, at 9/8c. It promises to reveal the shocking truths about Ruth Marie Terry’s death and the person who may have been responsible for it.
Who is Guy Muldavin?
That’s right, Guy Rockwell Muldavin had a lot of different personalities. He was a mysterious person who went by many names throughout his life. He was married at least five times and tried his hand at many jobs, such as selling antiques and hosting radio talk shows. Behind his good looks, though, was a history full of dark secrets and unanswered questions.
Muldavin was born in New York City and had a hard childhood. After being adopted, he moved to New Mexico with his mother and then settled down in Seattle, Washington. There, he married Jo Ellen Loop for the first time and started working as an antiques dealer. Still, even in these early years, he was the subject of scary rumors. People who used to know him said he was a “womanizer” who went on late-night adventures at his antique shop.
The Horrible Story of Manzanita Mearns and Her Daughter
Things got worse for Muldavin when he married Manzanita Mearns, his second wife. She moved in with him with her daughter Dolores, while her other two kids stayed with their dad in Canada. Things bad would happen in their lives.
In 1960, Muldavin asked Manzanita for a divorce, saying she had left him. She never showed up to the court case, and soon after, Muldavin got married again. When police went to his house after charging him with theft, they found a nightmare. Teeth and other body parts of a person were found in the attic and in the septic tank. Investigators thought these bodies belonged to Manzanita and Dolores, but Muldavin was not charged with murder despite the evidence.
Muldavin was found guilty of grand larceny for stealing from the family of his third wife and spent time in prison before getting out in 1962. He was already married to his fourth wife at that point.
The “Lady of the Dunes” and Ruth Marie Terry
Ruth Marie Terry, a 37-year-old living in California, met Muldavin during this period. After getting married, they started traveling across the US pretending to look for old things. The last time her family saw her was in the spring of 1974. In July of that year, her body was found on a beach on Cape Cod. DNA technology didn’t make it possible to identify her body until 2022.
Soon, Muldavin was named as the main suspect in Terry’s death by the police. His strange past, which included writing a disturbing cookbook called Cooking with Rump Oil that made vague references to his alleged crimes, made people even more suspicious. In one recipe, he talked about a scary creature that looked a lot like Terry and had long, curly hair. The scary words “Out of the water and into the pan” seemed to hint at what would happen to her.
Where is Guy Muldavin Now?
There is more and more evidence and accusations against Guy Muldavin, but he will never be brought to justice. He died in 2002, after being sick for a long time. He was 78 years old. Ruth Marie Terry’s family found out the truth about who she was and who probably killed her 20 years too late.
His biological son, Richard Hanchett, said in the documentary, “I wish he was still alive so he could face what he did.” The deaths of Ruth, Manzanita, and Dolores left their families without closure. Their stories are now haunting reminders of lives cut short by violence and lies.
Lady of the Dunes: Hunting the Cape Cod Killer is an exciting look at a case that still affects people today. It sheds light on the horrible crimes of a man who escaped justice for many years.
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