'Lady of the Dunes' murder victim, who was thought to be Jaws extra, is identified after 48 years
A shocking chill descended over Provincetown when her dismembered body was found in the dunes on July 26, 1974.
A teenage girl was walking her dog in Provincetown, Massachusetts, on Race Point Dunes, when she came across a gruesome scene: a badly decomposed body of a young woman, lying face-down on a beach towel.
It’s estimated she’d lain undiscovered for up to three weeks. Her hands had been cut off and she’d practically been decapitated. It’s thought that blue bandanna and a pair of jeans folded up under her head at the scene may be a major clue; these are also similar to the clothes that an extra appears to be wearing in Jaws.
The disturbing death and discovery had become a belated part of the Jaws story thanks to the son of Stephen King, Joe Hill.
Hill originally spoke about the true story of an unsolved murder suggesting that the still unnamed victim may have featured as an extra in one of the Jaws’ tourists arriving scenes – 54 minutes and 2 seconds into the film to be precise - on his blog about several years ago. As if the making of the film Jaws wasn’t steeped in legend, rumour and conjecture enough already.
So, was Ruth Marie that extra in Jaws?
The Martha’s Vineyard scene that possibly features ‘The Lady of the Dunes’ were shot about 100 miles from where the Ruth's body was found in Provincetown. According to Jaws co-screenwriter Carl Gottlieb that scene was shot on May 25, 1974 by the Jaws second unit.
You can’t help but read of the circumstances of where the body of Ruth was discovered without thinking of the parallels of finding the remains of Chrissie Watkins.
You can practically hear the surf crashing against the otherwise tranquil beach and the piercing whistle of Hendricks. Jaws has always blurred fact and fiction, whether it’s been shaping people’s fear of sharks, using the very real USS Indianapolis sinking to frame Quint’s shark obsession and now a very real murder. If only Chief Brody was a real person.
As fascinating as this parallel is, it’s nothing concrete; it’s certainly no Zapruder footage. At the moment it’s a good story, and that’s just what you’d expect from the son of Stephen King.
Where’s his dad’s Johnny Smith from The Dead Zone when you need him? By his own admission Hill says that it is wild speculation. On that original Tumblr blog post he wrote:
“It IS a helluva what-if, isn’t it? What if the young murder victim no one has ever been able to identify has been seen by hundreds of millions of people in a beloved summer classic and they didn’t even know they were looking at her? What if the ghost of the Lady of the Dunes haunts Jaws?”
Perhaps we'll never know if that extra in Jaws was Ruth frozen forever in that moment in time, but if the perceived link can help shine a light on the case then linking it to the Steven Spielberg shark film can only yield positive results and get it seen by a wider audience.
That was echoed by Joe Hill on his Twitter account when the announcement had been made. He wrote:
"I've got some personal history with the Lady -- see my admittedly out-there theory that she might appear as an extra in JAWS -- so I'm keen to hear what they've discovered. Remember: if they ID *her* the chances increase they can ID who killed her."
Whilst the identification of the body must bring some closure to friends and family, who police confirmed had been informed, the identity of who killed Ruth still remains unanswered.
Joe Bonavolonta, the special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division, said: "This is, without a doubt, a major break in the investigation that will, hopefully, bring all of us closer to identifying her killer."
That identification was only made possible thanks to investigative genealogy, which uses DNA profiles from a crime scene or from unidentified human remains to identify close genetic DNA profiles or matches.
Investigators also confirmed that Ruth Marie also had ties to California, Massachusetts, and Michigan.
Here's hoping that the case takes a step closer to being solved, giving both Ruth and her family some much-deserved peace. Here is a link to the poster related to the case that has been released by the FBI.
Words by Dean Newman
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