Stolen ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ are auctioned for $28 million

DECEMBER 9, 2024:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A pair of iconic ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago sold for a winning bid of $28 million at auction Saturday (Dec. 7, 2024).

Heritage Auctions had estimated that they would fetch $3 million or more, but the fast-paced bidding far outpaced that amount within seconds and tripled it within minutes. A few bidders making offers by phone volleyed back and forth for 15 minutes as the price climbed to the final, eye-popping sum.

Including the Dallas-based auction house’s fee, the unknown buyer will ultimately pay $32.5 million.

Online bidding, which opened last month, had stood at $1.55 million before live bidding began late Saturday afternoon.

The sparkly red heels were on display at the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005 when Terry Jon Martin used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case.

Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018. Martin, now 77, who lives near Grand Rapids in northern Minnesota, wasn’t publicly exposed as the thief until he was indicted in May 2023. He pleaded guilty in October 2023. He was in a wheelchair and on supplementary oxygen when he was sentenced last January to time served because of his poor health.

His attorney, Dane DeKrey, explained ahead of sentencing that Martin, who had a long history of burglary and receiving stolen property, was attempting to pull off “one last score” after an old associate with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value. But a fence — a person who buys stolen goods — later told him the rubies were just glass, DeKrey said. So Martin got rid of the slippers. The attorney didn’t specify how.

The alleged fence, Jerry Hal Saliterman, 77, of the Minneapolis suburb of Crystal, was indicted in March. He was also in a wheelchair and on oxygen when he made his first court appearance. He’s scheduled to go on trial in January and hasn’t entered a plea, though his attorney has said he’s not guilty.

The shoes were returned in February to memorabilia collector Michael Shaw, who had loaned them to the museum. They were one of several pairs that Garland wore during the filming, but only four pairs are known to have survived. In the movie, to return from Oz to Kansas, Dorothy had to click her heels three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home.”

As Rhys Thomas, author of “The Ruby Slippers of Oz,” put it, the sequined shoes from the beloved 1939 musical have seen “more twists and turns than the Yellow Brick Road.”

Over 800 people had been tracking the slippers, and the company’s webpage for the auction had hit nearly 43,000 page views by Thursday, said Robert Wilonsky, a vice president with the auction house.

Among those bidding to bring the slippers home was the Judy Garland Museum, which posted on Facebook shortly after that it did not place the winning bid. The museum had campaigned for donations to supplement money raised by the city of Grand Rapids at its annual Judy Garland festival and the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to help the museum purchase the slippers.

After the slippers sold, the auctioneer told bidders and spectators in the room and watching online that the previous record for a piece of entertainment memorabilia was $5.52 million, for the white dress Marilyn Monroe famously wore atop a windy subway grate.

The auction also included other memorabilia from “The Wizard of Oz,” such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton, who played the original Wicked Witch of the West. That item went for $2.4 million, or a total final cost to the buyer of $2.93 million.

“The Wizard of Oz” story has gained new attention in recent weeks with the release of the movie “Wicked,” an adaptation of the megahit Broadway musical, a prequel of sorts that reimagines the character of the Wicked Witch of the West.

NOVEMBER 5, 2024:

DALLAS (AP) — A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” is on the auction block nearly two decades after a thief stole the iconic shoes, convinced they were adorned with real jewels.

Online bidding has started and will continue through Dec. 7, 2024, Heritage Auctions in Dallas announced in a news release Monday (Nov. 4, 2024).

The auction company received the sequin-and-bead-bedazzled slippers from Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who originally owned the footwear at the heart of the beloved 1939 musical. Shaw had loaned the shoes in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

That summer, someone smashed through a display case and stole the slippers. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.

Now the museum is among those vying for the slippers, which were one of several pairs Garland wore during the filming. Only four remain.

Grand Rapids raised money for the slippers at its annual Judy Garland festival. The funds will supplement the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to purchase the slippers.

The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, was 76 when he was sentenced in January to time served because of his poor health. He admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off “one last score” after an old associate with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value.

The auction of movie memorabilia includes other items from “The Wizard of Oz,” such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West and the screen door from Dorothy’s Kansas home.

JUNE 20, 2024:

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota hometown of Judy Garland, the actress who wore a pair of ruby slippers in “The Wizard of Oz,” is raising money to purchase the prized footwear after it was stolen from a local museum and then later turned over to an auction company.

Grand Rapids, Minnesota, where the late actress was born in 1922, is fundraising at its annual Judy Garland festival, which kicks off Thursday (June 20, 2024). The north Minnesota town is soliciting donations to bring the slippers back after an auction company takes them on an international tour before offering them up to prospective buyers in December.

“They could sell for $1 million, they could sell for $10 million. They’re priceless,” Joe Maddalena, Heritage Auctions executive vice president, told Minnesota Public Radio. “Once they’re gone, all the money in the world can’t buy them back.”

The funds will supplement the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to purchase the slippers.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions received the slippers from Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who originally owned the iconic shoes. Shaw had loaned them in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

That summer, someone smashed through a display case and stole the sequins-and-beads-bedazzled slippers. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.

The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76, pleaded guilty in October to theft of a major artwork, admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off “one last score” after turning away from a life of crime. He was sentenced in January to time served because of his poor health.

In March, a second man, 76-year-old Jerry Hal Saliterman, was charged in connection with the theft.

The ruby slippers were at the heart of “The Wizard of Oz,” a beloved 1939 musical. Garland’s character, Dorothy, danced down the Yellow Brick Road in her shiny shoes, joined by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.

Garland, who died in 1969, wore several pairs during filming. Only four remain.

Maddalena, with Heritage Auctions, says he sold two other pairs of ruby slippers. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and a group of the actor’s friends purchased one set for the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences.

Advance notice could help venues like the Judy Garland Museum secure the slippers that will be auctioned in December, he said. The museum which includes the house where Garland lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia.

“We wanted to enable places that might not normally be able to raise the funds so quickly to have plenty of time to think about it and work out ways to do that,” Maddalena said. “That’d be an amazing story. I mean, if they ended up back there, that’d be a fantastic story.”

MARCH 18, 2024, UPDATE:

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” were returned to their owner, nearly 20 years after the iconic shoes were stolen from a museum in the late actor’s hometown. But “No place like home?” Not exactly.

The memorabilia collector who owns the iconic footwear immediately turned them over to an auction company, which plans to take them on an international tour before offering them at auction in December 2024, an official with Dallas-based Heritage Auctions said Monday (March 18, 2024).

The ruby slippers were at the heart of the beloved 1939 musical. Garland’s character, Dorothy, danced down the Yellow Brick Road in her shiny shoes, joined by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. To return home to Kansas, she had to click the heels three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home.”

In reality, Garland wore several pairs during filming. Only four remain.

Memorabilia collector Michael Shaw’s ruby slippers were believed to be the highest quality of all of them — they were the ones used in close-ups of Dorothy clicking her heels. Shaw loaned them in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

That summer, someone smashed through a display case and stole the sequins-and-beads-bedazzled slippers. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.

The slippers were returned to Shaw in a ceremony in February, but details weren’t disclosed until Monday.

“It’s like welcoming back an old friend I haven’t seen in years,” Shaw said in a news release.

The Dallas-based auction company said the tour of the slippers will include stops in Los Angeles, New York, London and Tokyo. Dates were not announced.

“You cannot overstate the importance of Dorothy’s ruby slippers: They are the most important prop in Hollywood history,” Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena said in the news release.

An indictment made public Sunday showed that a second man, 76-year-old Jerry Hal Saliterman, has been charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering. He did not enter a plea when he made his first appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul, while in a wheelchair and on supplemental oxygen.

The indictment says that from August 2005 to July 2018 Saliterman “received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage” — specifically, “an authentic pair of ‘ruby slippers’ worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie ‘The Wizard of Oz.’” The indictment says Saliterman knew they were stolen. It also says that, starting sometime last year, he threatened to release a sex tape of a woman and “take her down with him” if she didn’t stay quiet about the crime.

Saliterman’s attorney, John Brink, on Friday declined to discuss the case in depth but said his client is not guilty.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong,” Brink said.

Court documents do not indicate how Martin and Saliterman may have been connected.

Martin said at an October hearing that he had hoped to take what he thought were real rubies from the shoes and sell them. But a person who deals in stolen goods informed him the rubies weren’t real, Martin said. So he got rid of the slippers.

Defense attorney Dane DeKrey wrote in a court document that Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen “The Wizard of Oz.”

The FBI said a man approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed he could help recover them but demanded more than the $200,000 reward being offered. The slippers were recovered during an FBI sting in Minneapolis the next year. Federal prosecutors have put the slippers’ market value at about $3.5 million.

The other pairs of slippers are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a private collector.

Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Grand Rapids until she was 4, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969. The Judy Garland Museum, which includes the house where she lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia.

MARCH 18, 2024:

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A second man has been charged in connection with the 2005 theft of a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz,” according to an indictment made public Sunday (March 17, 2024).

Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering. He did not enter a plea when he made his first appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul.

The slippers, adorned with sequins and glass beads, were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, nearly 20 years ago and their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.

The indictment says that from August 2005 to July 2018 Saliterman “received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage” — specifically, “an authentic pair of ‘ruby slippers’ worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie ‘The Wizard of Oz.’” The indictment says Saliterman knew they were stolen, and that he threatened to release a sex tape of a woman and “take her down with him” if she didn’t keep her mouth shut about the slippers.

Saliterman was in a wheelchair and on supplemental oxygen during his Friday court appearance. His oxygen machine hummed throughout the hearing and he bounced his knee nervously during breaks in the proceedings. He responded with “yes,” when U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright asked whether he understood the charges against him, but he said nothing about the allegations.

The case was not openly discussed in court. The magistrate ordered Friday that the indictment be unsealed, but it did not become publicly available until Sunday.

Saliterman’s attorney, John Brink, said after Friday’s hearing that he couldn’t say much about the case, but: “He’s not guilty. He hasn’t done anything wrong.” Saliterman, who was released on his own recognizance, declined to comment to The Associated Press outside the courthouse.

Martin’s lawyer said in court documents that an old associate of Martin’s with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value.

Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, said at an October hearing that he hoped to take what he thought were real rubies from the shoes and sell them. But a person who deals in stolen goods, known as a fence, informed him the rubies weren’t real, Martin said. So he got rid of the slippers.

Defense attorney Dane DeKrey wrote in court documents that Martin’s unidentified former associate persuaded him to steal the slippers as “one last score,” even though Martin had seemed to have “finally put his demons to rest” after finishing his last prison term nearly 10 years earlier.

“But old habits die hard, and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him up at night,” DeKrey wrote.

According to DeKrey’s memo, Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen “The Wizard of Oz.”

The documents unsealed Sunday do not indicate how Martin and Saliterman may have been connected.

In the classic 1939 musical, Garland’s character, Dorothy, had to click the heels of her ruby slippers three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home,” to return to Kansas from Oz. She wore several pairs during filming, but only four authentic pairs are known to remain.

The FBI never disclosed exactly how it tracked down the slippers. The bureau said a man approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed he could help recover them but demanded more than the $200,000 reward being offered. The slippers were recovered during an FBI sting in Minneapolis the next year. Federal prosecutors have put the slippers’ market value at about $3.5 million.

Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned the pair to the museum before Martin stole them. The other pairs are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a private collector. According to John Kelsh, founding director of the museum, the slippers were returned to Shaw and are being held by an auction house that plans to sell them.

Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Grand Rapids, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, until she was 4, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969. The Judy Garland Museum, which includes the house where she lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia.

JANUARY 29, 2024, UPDATE:

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — A dying thief who confessed to stealing ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” received no prison time when he was sentenced Monday (Jan. 29, 2024). Seventy-six-year-old Terry Jon Martin stole the slippers in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Martin’s attorney says he had gone straight but wanted to pull off “one last score.” The attorney says Martin gave into temptation after an old mob associate persuaded him that the famous shoes were adorned with real rubies. Both sides recommended Martin be sentenced to time served because he is in hospice care.

JANUARY 29, 2024:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A dying thief who confessed to stealing ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” is expected to stay out of prison after he’s sentenced. Seventy-six-year-old Terry Jon Martin stole the slippers in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Monday (Jan. 29, 2024). Martin’s attorney says he had gone straight, but wanted to pull of “one last score.” The attorney says Martin gave into temptation after an old mob associate persuaded him that the famous shoes were adorned with real rubies. Both sides are recommending he be sentenced to time served because he is in hospice care.

JANUARY 22, 2024:

UNDATED (AP)- The aging reformed mobster who has admitted stealing a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” gave into the temptation of “one last score” after an old mob associate led him to believe the famous shoes were adorned with real jewels. Terry Jon Martin’s defense attorney finally revealed the 76-year-old’s motive for the 2005 theft from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in a new memo filed ahead of his Jan. 29 sentencing. The FBI recovered the shoes in 2018 when someone else tried to claim an insurance reward on them, but Martin wasn’t charged with stealing them until last year. Martin pleaded guilty in October 2023.

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The aging reformed mobster who has admitted stealing a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” gave into the temptation of “one last score” after an old mob associate led him to believe the famous shoes must be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value.

Terry Jon Martin’s defense attorney finally revealed the 76-year-old’s motive for the 2005 theft from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in a new memo filed ahead of his Jan. 29, 2024, sentencing in Duluth, Minnesota.

The FBI recovered the shoes in 2018 when someone else tried to claim an insurance reward on them, but Martin wasn’t charged with stealing them until last year.

Martin pleaded guilty in October to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum door and display case to take the slippers. He had hoped to harvest real rubies from the shoes and sell them. But a fence, a person who deals in stolen goods, informed him the rubies were glass and Martin got rid of the slippers less than two days after he took them, he said.

Defense attorney Dane DeKrey said in his memo that an unidentified former mob associate tempted Martin to steal the shoes, even though he hadn’t committed a crime in nearly 10 years after his last prison stint.

“At first, Terry declined the invitation to participate in the heist. But old habits die hard, and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him up at night,” DeKrey wrote. “After much contemplation, Terry had a criminal relapse and decided to participate in the theft.”

DeKrey and prosecutors are recommending the judge sentence Martin to time served because he is physically incapable of presenting a threat to society. Martin is in hospice care with a life expectancy of less than six months. He needs oxygen at all times because of his chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and was in a wheelchair at his most recent court appearance. Even if he were sentenced to prison, his poor health might be grounds for a compassionate release.

Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen the movie. Instead, DeKrey said he was just looking for one last big score, and the “old Terry” with a lifelong history of crimes like burglary and receiving stolen property beat out the “new Terry” who seemed to “finally put his demons to rest” after being released from prison in 1996 and became “a contributing member of society.”

DeKrey urged the judge to consider the major events of Martin’s life when deciding whether a lenient sentence is appropriate.

Martin suffered under a cruel stepmother who mistreated him and his three brothers so badly for several years that he left home at the age of 16 and began drinking and stealing.

While on parole from prison, Martin’s girlfriend became pregnant with twins, but he missed their birth after his parole was revoked. Right after his girlfriend brought the 1-month-old twins to prison to meet him, they died after a train struck her vehicle.

“This was truly the turning point in Terry’s life — his villain origin story — and the reason he not only went down his dark path but accelerated towards it,” DeKrey wrote. “His son said it best: ‘the twins’ death made (my dad) just give up on life; he decided on a life of crime.’”

Martin’s lawyer also said the judge should consider that Martin had not committed any other crimes in nearly a decade before stealing the slippers nor in the years since then. DeKrey said Martin didn’t even try to claim a slice of the insurance reward money when some of his former associates tried to collect.

Garland wore several pairs of ruby slippers during filming of the classic 1939 musical, but only four authentic pairs are known to remain. The stolen slippers were insured for $1 million, but federal prosecutors put the current market value at about $3.5 million.

The FBI said a man approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed he could help recover them but demanded more than the $200,000 reward being offered. The slippers were recovered during an FBI sting in Minneapolis. The FBI has never disclosed how it tracked down the slippers, which remain in the agency’s custody.

The slippers were on loan to the museum from Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw when Martin stole them. Three other pairs worn by Garland in the movie are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a private collector.

Several rewards were offered over the years in hopes of figuring out who stole the slippers, which were key props in the film. Garland’s character, Dorothy, has to click the heels of the slippers three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home,” to return to Kansas.

Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Grand Rapids, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, until she was 4, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969.

The Judy Garland Museum, located in the house where she lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and Wizard of Oz memorabilia.

OCTOBER 15, 2023:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man charged in the museum heist of a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in the “The Wizard of Oz” pleaded guilty Friday (Oct. 13, 2023) in a deal that could keep him out of prison due to his failing health, but only cleared up some of the mystery that dates back 18 years.

Terry Jon Martin, 76, pleaded guilty to a single count of theft of a major artwork. The shoes were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and recovered by the FBI in 2018.

No one was arrested until Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, was charged this year. During his change-of-plea hearing in federal court in Duluth, Martin said he used a hammer to smash the glass of the museum door and display case to take the slippers. He said he thought the slippers had real rubies and that he had hoped to sell the gems. But when a fence told him the rubies were glass, he said he got rid of the slippers.

Martin did not say how he got rid of them or to whom he gave them, leaving the slippers’ whereabouts during the ensuing years a mystery. He did say that the theft had nothing to do with trying to get insurance money, as some have speculated.

“Terry has no idea where they were and how they were recovered,” Martin’s attorney, Dane DeKrey, said afterward. “His involvement was that two-day period in 2005.”

Under the plea agreement, DeKrey and federal prosecutor Matt Greenley recommended that Martin not face any time behind bars because of his age and poor health. Martin, who appeared in court in a wheelchair with supplemental oxygen, has advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and struggles to breathe, DeKrey said. The proposed sentence would let Martin die at home, the attorney said.

“He’s basically slowly suffocating to death,” DeKrey said.

Martin, who has a 1988 conviction for receiving stolen goods, remained free on his own recognizance after the hearing. U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz, the chief federal judge for Minnesota, ordered a presentence investigation and said he’d likely schedule the sentencing for about 2 1/2 months from now.

Schiltz told Martin that he isn’t legally bound by the sentencing recommendation by the defense and prosecution. According to DeKrey, the nonbinding federal sentencing guidelines recommended eight to 10 years in similar cases.

The U.S. attorney’s office said it would have no comment until after Martin is sentenced.

The FBI said a man approached the insurer in 2017 and said he could help get them back. The slippers were recovered during an FBI sting in Minneapolis. The FBI has never disclosed how it tracked down the slippers, which remain in the agency’s custody.

The slippers were on loan to the museum from Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw when Martin stole them. Three other pairs that Garland wore in the movie are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a private collector.

Several rewards were offered over the years in hopes of figuring out who stole the slippers, which were key props in the 1939 movie. Garland’s character, Dorothy, has to click the slippers’ heels three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home,” to return home to Kansas.

Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She lived in Grand Rapids, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, until she was 4, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969.

The Judy Garland Museum, which is in the house where she lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and Wizard of Oz memorabilia.

OCTOBER 13, 2023:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A man charged with the museum heist of a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the “The Wizard of Oz” pleaded guilty Friday (Oct. 13, 2023), pulling back the curtain on a whodunit mystery dating back 18 years.

Terry Jon Martin, 76, was indicted in May 2023 on one count of theft of a major artwork. The shoes from the film were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor’s hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and recovered in 2018 by the FBI.

No one was arrested until Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, was charged this year. Martin’s attorney, Dane DeKrey, said before the change-of-plea hearing in federal court in Duluth that his client, who is in poor health, has been cooperative with him, if not with authorities.

“I think Terry is facing his own mortality, and I think when people are reaching that point in their life, they cut through the pleasantries and talk turkey,” DeKrey said in an interview.

The one-page indictment gave no details of the path that led investigators to Martin, who has a 1988 conviction for receiving stolen goods on his record. He remained free on his own recognizance after the hearing, pending sentencing. Much of the government’s evidence has been covered by a protective order prohibiting its public disclosure.

Garland wore several pairs of ruby slippers during filming of the classic 1939 musical, but only four authentic pairs are known to remain. The slippers were insured for $1 million, but federal prosecutors put the current market value at about $3.5 million when they announced the indictment.

The FBI said a man approached the insurer in 2017 and said he could help get them back. The slippers were recovered in an FBI art crime team sting operation in Minneapolis. They remained in the bureau’s custody.

DeKrey said he was grateful Schiltz agreed to hold the hearing in Duluth instead of making Martin travel to the Twin Cities.

“My client is a sick man. He’s going to be on oxygen, and he’s going to be in a wheelchair,” DeKrey said.

Video posted by WCCO-TV showed Martin entering the courthouse in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank between his legs, wearing a paper mask.

The slippers in question were on loan to the museum from Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw when someone climbed through a window and broke the display case. Three other pairs that Garland wore in the movie are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Smithsonian Museum of American History and a private collector.

Several rewards were offered over the years in hopes of cracking the mystery. An anonymous donor from Arizona put up $1 million in 2015.

The ruby slippers were key props in the 1939 movie. Following a mysterious landing in the colorful Land of Oz after a tornado hits her farm in Kansas, Garland’s character, Dorothy, has to click the heels of her slippers three times and repeat “there’s no place like home” to return.

The slippers are made from about a dozen different materials, including wood pulp, silk thread, gelatin, plastic and glass. Most of the ruby color comes from sequins, but the bows of the shoes contain red glass beads.

The Judy Garland Museum, which opened in 1975 in the house where she lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and Wizard of Oz memorabilia.

MAY 17, 2023:

UNDATED (AP)- Federal prosecutors say a man has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of stealing a pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz.” The FBI recovered the slippers in 2018.

A grand jury indicted Terry Martin on Tuesday (May 16, 2023) with one count of theft of a major artwork, federal prosecutors in North Dakota announced Wednesday.

The indictment alleges that in 2005, Martin stole an authentic shoes that Garland’s character, Dorothy, wore in the 1939 film.

They were taken from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The shoes are one of four remaining pairs of red slippers Garland wore in the movie.

Online records do not list an attorney for Martin.

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018:

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Federal authorities say a pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” that was stolen from a Minnesota museum was recovered in a sting operation.

The slippers were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids by a thief who broke into a small display case.

The FBI says a man approached the company that had insured the shoes about a year ago and said he had information about how the shoes could be returned. The FBI says it set up a sting operation and recovered the slippers.

The slippers’ authenticity was verified by comparing them with another pair at the Smithsonian’s American history museum in Washington, D.C.

The FBI says it has multiple suspects in the extortion and that the investigation continues. It says anyone with information about the theft should get in touch.

Stolen ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ are auctioned for $28 million

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