FBI Recovers Long-Lost Pair of Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz, Stolen 13 Years Ago
After 16 long years, the iconic pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz" have been recovered from their thieves. The slippers, one of four known pairs from the film, were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005.
The theft occurred when thieves broke into the museum after hours, bashed the plexiglass case with a baseball bat, and made off with the precious shoes. No alarm sounded off during the theft, and police were unable to recover any fingerprints at the crime scene.
In the wake of the theft, Jon Miner, one of the museum's board members, expressed regret for not putting the slippers in a safer location. The museum collaborated with the Itasca County Sheriff's Dive Team to follow up on a theory that the thieves had dumped the slippers into a lake in the area.
Despite numerous tips and efforts, the FBI did not get a legitimate break in the case until the summer of 2017. An individual contacted the company that insured the slippers with information about their whereabouts. The FBI's art crime unit and federal agents in Chicago, Atlanta, and Miami conducted a yearlong sting operation to recover the slippers.
Jill Sanborn, the special agent in charge of the Minneapolis division of the FBI, urged anyone with information to contact her office. The individual who contacted the company was seeking some form of compensation, leading to an undercover operation.
The recovered slippers are mismatched and match the respective left and right shoes that currently reside at the Smithsonian. They are in "pristine" condition, looking just as wonderful as they did before they were stolen. Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who loaned the slippers to the museum, was devastated by the theft and called it his "worst nightmare."
Shaw, who had acquired the slippers for $280,000 in 1970, was overjoyed to hear of their recovery. The slippers, now back in the hands of the Smithsonian, will continue to be a source of fascination for fans of "The Wizard of Oz" around the world.
