I spent years finding long-lost mum & made shock discovery that cracked 50-year cold case… truth was right under my nose

DESPERATE for answers about his biological mother, Richard Hanchett had no idea his quest would solve one of the greatest murder mysteries that had baffled cops for nearly 50 years. During efforts to find the woman who gave him up for adoption, Richard, unravelled the shocking truth that his mum had been right under his nose the whole time. In 1974, an auburn haired woman’s mutilated woman was discovered abandoned by a 12-year-old in the windswept dunes Credit: Getty Richard Hanchett had no idea his quest would become the key to solving one of the greatest murder mysteries Credit: Provided by Wendy Couture It turned out she was at the centre of the decades-long cold case. “I had no idea in the world where it was going to go or anything,” Richard Hanchett told Oxygen.com. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! In 1974, an auburn haired woman’s mutilated woman was discovered abandoned in the windswept dunes of Cape Cod. Lying on a beach towel was the naked body of the woman whose skull had been savagely crushed. Her hands had been severed in what investigators believed was a calculated attempt to prevent identification through fingerprints. A young girl was out walking the family dog with her parents when she stumbled upon the woman’s lifeless body sprawled among the sand dunes. Her pale, motionless form lay exposed on the beach, her pink-painted toenails still eerily neat against the sand. Beside her head sat a pair of jeans and a blue bandana. Despite years of detective work, forensic examinations and countless public appeals, the victim’s identity remained maddeningly elusive. Most read in The Sun The case was dubbed “The Lady of the Dunes” in every newspaper in the city that Richard, from the Detroit suburbs, had walked past and gazed at – never knowing that the woman was his biological mother. The mystery snowballed into one of America’s defining cold cases, generating a maze of theories and suspected links to notorious killers. Lying on a beach towel was the naked body of the woman whose skull had been savagely crushed Credit: Alamy Despite years of painstaking detective work, forensic examinations and countless public appeals, the victim’s identity remained maddeningly elusive Credit: Getty But nothing was ever linked back to the nameless woman whose story remained a mystery for nearly five decades. The mystery body was exhumed on three occasions, 1980, 2000 and 2013. Clay composites were made of her head – hoping someone in the world might recognise her. Then, a potential breakthrough came from an unlikely source – Joe Hill, the son of literary giant Stephen King. He had followed the case closely and become fascinated by the mystery surrounding the woman’s identity. In 2015, Joe was watching a 40th anniversary screening of Jaws, filmed in Massachusetts during the summer of 1974 – around the same time the Lady of the Dunes was believed to have been in Provincetown, roughly 100 miles from the production. Just over halfway through the film, something on the screen stopped him cold. Among the crowds was a young woman who looked remarkably like the composite image of the unidentified victim Joe knew so well. She appeared to be around 30, with her hair pulled back in a bandanna and blue jeans on – details that immediately caught his attention. Joe wondered whether he had stumbled across the woman’s last known sighting, captured entirely by chance on film. Jaws screenwriter Carl Gottlieb later heard about Hill’s discovery and dug out the production records. The timing appeared to fit, with the woman visible in Scene 130, around 54 minutes into the film, as crowds boarded a ferry. There was, however, no record of her being a hired extra for the scene. She may simply have been a tourist caught in the background as she boarded the ferry. Still, the footage offered investigators an extraordinary possibility – that the woman on screen was the Lady of the Dunes, travelling towards Cape Cod in the final days before she was killed. In 2018, Richard’s submitted his DNA to Ancestry.com and matched with his living cousin, revealing the name of his mother to be Ruth Marie Terry. But neither Richard nor the cops knew that Ruth was dead, or, crucially, that she was “The Lady of the Dunes”. Among the crowds in the Jaws was a young woman who looked remarkably like the composite image of the unidentified victimCredit: Not known clear with picture desk Joe wondered whether he had stumbled across the woman’s last known sighting, captured entirely by chance on film Years on, as technology advanced, investigators used the bone samples collected after exhumation used them for DNA testing in 2022. Her profile immediately flagged genetic ties to living relatives in Tennessee and Michigan – where her son Richard Hanchett’s DNA was registered. Genealogists used these distant and close cousin matches to build out her family tree, confirming her identity as 37-year-old Ruth Marie Terry within a few months. Weeks before the FBI called Richard to confirm the Lady of the Dunes was in fact his real mum, he recalled having dreams about her murder. “I was having nightmares for about three weeks… and I didn’t know what it meant; I couldn’t figure it out,” Hanchett claimed. After hearing from the cops, he said the meaning behind his dreams became “very apparent.” He even described to agents that he kept “seeing this guy hit a woman in the back of the head and crush her skull,” details that piqued the agency’s curiosity. The discovery transformed Richard from an ordinary adoptee searching for his roots into the son of one of America’s most recognisable unidentified murder victims. Back in 1958, Ruth had given birth to a son while living in Michigan. Unable to raise the baby herself, she arranged for him to be adopted by her workplace superintendent, Richard Hanchett Sr., and his wife. Richard said he had “such a happy life” with the couple that adopted him but could not shake off his curiosity about his real mum. Once Ruth’s identity had finally been restored, detectives rapidly reconstructed the final chapter of her life. Investigators had concluded that Muldavin, Ruth’s husband, was responsible for her murder Credit: Massachusetts State Police Years on, as technology advanced, investigators used the bone samples collected after exhumation used them for DNA testing in 2022 Credit: Getty Their investigation led them to her husband, Guy Rockwell Muldavin, an antiques dealer and convicted fraudster who also used several aliases, including Raoul Guy Rockwell. The couple had married only months before Ruth vanished in 1974. Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois announced investigators had concluded that Muldavin was responsible for Ruth’s murder. Because Muldavin died in 2002, he will never face trial. Family members recalled that Muldavin exhibited possessive behavior around Ruth. When Muldavin returned alone after their summer 1974 trip driving her car, he told her family that he and Ruth had gotten into a fight during their travel and that she had gone missing. He also told other witnesses that she had died. Her family never saw or heard from her again. Police also established that he disposed of her possessions, emptied her accounts and liquidated her belongings shortly after her disappearance. The findings echoed disturbing events from years earlier. In 1960, Muldavin had been the prime suspect in the disappearance of his second wife, Manzanita Rockwell, and his teenage stepdaughter, Dolores Mearns, in Seattle. Human remains were later discovered in a septic tank at his property, although he was never convicted over those deaths. Investigators have said Muldavin repeatedly preyed upon women, exploiting relationships for financial gain before disappearing from their lives. With Ruth’s identification and the conclusions of the investigation, one of Massachusetts’ oldest unidentified homicide victims has finally reclaimed her name. For Richard, the search that began with a longing to know his mother ended by exposing the devastating truth behind one of America’s darkest unsolved killings. The mystery that haunted generations has at last been given an answer. Comment now