FBI Recovers Long-Lost Ruby Slippers From The Wizard of Oz, 13 Years After Theft
In a sensational turn of events, the iconic ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, have been recovered following a 16-year-long heist and subsequent extortion attempt.
The slippers were on loan to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota for the Annual "Wizard of Oz" Festival when they were stolen in 2005. The FBI's investigation into the case is still active and ongoing, with no breakthroughs until the summer of 2017.
An individual contacted the company that insured the slippers, claiming to have information about their whereabouts. Suspecting a potential extortion attempt, the company contacted the FBI, leading to an undercover operation.
The slippers were ultimately found in Minneapolis and sent to the Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. for authentication. The pair of recovered slippers is mismatched, matching the respective left and right shoes that currently reside at the Smithsonian.
The thieves broke into the museum after hours and bashed the plexiglass case where the slippers were housed with a baseball bat. No alarm sounded off during the theft, and police were unable to recover any fingerprints at the crime scene.
Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who loaned the slippers to the museum, expressed his devastation following the theft. Jon Miner, one of the museum's board members, regretted not putting the slippers in a safe after the theft.
The stolen ruby slippers were one of four known pairs that Garland wore on set of the film. The pair was insured for $1 million. The museum renewed their search efforts for the stolen slippers in 2015, including an investigation of a local lake, but yielded no results.
The slippers were recovered by authorities earlier this year following a yearlong sting operation conducted by the FBI's art crime unit and federal agents in Chicago, Atlanta, and Miami. Jill Sanborn, the special agent in charge of the Minneapolis division of the FBI, urged anyone with information to contact her office.
According to Michael Shaw, the recovered slippers are in "pristine" condition. The details of the operation and the identity of the thieves remain unknown, but the FBI continues to investigate the case. The ruby slippers, symbolic of Dorothy's journey home in The Wizard of Oz, are now safely back where they belong.
