Identified! MA - Provincetown, Race Point, 'Lady in the Dunes' WhtFem 27-49, UP11840, Jul'74 - Ruth Marie Terry

[PamCake]

Thank you for all your genealogical research. I was wondering what happened to Evelyn Marie Emerson, Rockwell Muldavin’s third wife( He remarried in 1975 with his last wife Phyllis S/R). I hope he did not kill her as well. I did not find a death certificate.

I also want to know what happened to poor Evelyn. I can find NOTHING.

 

[RSuth07]

Has anyone come across anyone who knew Ruth Marie Terry as Teri Vizina, Terry Vizina, or Teri Shannon? Those are some of the names she was known as when she was living in Southern California. We've learned so much about Guy Muldavin but Ruth's life in CA is still such a mystery.

 

[AutumnShadows]

Any account of Ruth life in the '60s seems to have faded away like a shadow. She was described by her family as a kind person and a “free spirit.” Merriam-Webster defines a "free Spirit” as a nonconformist. The hippie and earlier beatnik movements were groups of nonconformists. Her hands were removed which prevented any attempt to ID by fingerprints. When she was identified by DNA 50 years later it was stated she also known by several different names.

1961 Her future husband Guy Rockwell Muldavin was convicted in Seattle on larceny charges for swindling his third wife's family out of $10,000. He was described as a bunco artist, womanizer and was known around Greenwich Village, NY for his evening parties with beatniks, art lovers, and celebrities all drawn by his magnetism and offbeat philosophy. This almost sounds like a profile of Charles Manson.​

Coincidentally, in 1961 Charles Manson was transferred to the McNeil Island Federal Prison in Seattle for check forgery. His mother was living in Seattle during the 1960s.

1967 “The Summer of Love.” Manson was living in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. The “family” moved to the "Spahn Movie Ranch" about 1968.

The entrance to the historic Spahn Movie Ranch was 12000 Santa Susana Pass Road.

1969 an interesting Legal Notice was published by the Simi Valley Moving and Storage Co. in the Simi Valley Star for an auction to satisfy a lien for hauling and storage which mentions a Ruth M. Terry. It's possible this could be a different person but the location and date is interesting. Sometime would have lapsed prior to the notice being published. Perhaps this person had a change in living arrangements and had her possessions hauled and stored at a location nearby. Google Maps shows the distance from 4262 Valley Fair Street to 12000 Santa Susana Pass Road is approximately 5 to 6 miles. ​

Notice of Public to Satisfy Lien

Notice is hereby given that on June 20th, 1969, at the hour of 10:00 at 4262 Valley Fair Street, Santa Susana, Ventura County, California, the undersigned will sell at public auction for cash, in lawful money of the United States, the articles herein-after mentioned, belonging to, or deposited with, the person undersigned by the person herein-after mentioned at 4262 Valley Fair Street, Santa Susana, Ventura County, California, to satisfy the lien thereon for storage and hauling.​

Said goods are being held on the account of Ruth M. Terry.
Sunday, June 01, 1969 – Page 9 - Simi Valley Star

The itemized list of articles sound like all the contents of a young woman's apartment. Possibly everything was sold at auction.

1974 - When Ruth went missing where did her husband get the idea for his alibi?

My father, well, he left in '74, he went to California looking for her. And her husband at the time said she sold everything she had and joined a cult," said nephew John Randall Terry.
Notorious 'Lady of the Dunes' murder case officially solved, closed By Hearst Television Aug 29, 2023

1976 police mention a tip:

Detectives were tipped the woman might have been either of two women on the "fringes" of the Charles Manson cult … But one of those women turned up in a California jail on drug charges. The other woman was one of her regular visitors.
Police Hope Watch Will Unravel Mystery of ’74 Cape Cod Murder Evening Express (Portland, Maine) July 27, 1976 Page 15.

There where a number of potential disillusioned "fringe" members.

“Manson’s cult at one time included roughly 100 members.” While some former members of Manson's Cult have spent time behind bars, others have gone on to live seemingly normal lives.
All In The Family: What Happened To The Non-Jailed Members Of Charles Manson's Cult? Jill Sederstrom Sep 17, 2018

Former "fringe" members may have been known by several names.

One-time Manson follower Dianne Lake told “Manson: The Women” producers that “Manson gave everyone alternative names when he got fake ID’s for everybody. That’s how Susan Atkins became Sadie Mae Glutz, Patricia Krenwinkle became Katie and Ella Bailey became Cinder Ella, she said.” Squeaky Fromme, Catherine "Gypsy" Share; Why Did The Manson Family Members Have Nicknames? | Crime News (oxygen.com)

“The ones who aren’t in prison are scattered across the country. Some live under assumed names to hide their past from friends and business associates.”
Free Manson ‘family’ members haunted by horror By Linda Deutsch, The Associated Press Aug. 9, 2009