The bead Dawn Wallace noticed was clear glass with flecks of red paint. It sat on the bow of a left shoe the FBI had brought to the Smithsonian. Wallace had seen clear beads painted red on the museum’s own ruby slippers. Conservators had reason to think they were repairs made during filming. The same small detail on this shoe gave Wallace something better to compare than the fact that both pairs sparkled. [6]
A pair worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz had disappeared from the museum bearing her name in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in August 2005. Thirteen years later, the FBI had recovered two shoes. It asked the Smithsonian’s conservators what they could tell it about them. [1] [6]
A call to the insurer
The slippers had been on loan in Garland’s hometown. Police spent years on tips and even searched an abandoned iron-ore pit. In 2017, federal authorities said, someone approached the insurer that owned the missing shoes in an attempted extortion scheme. The insurer called the FBI. An undercover operation recovered the slippers in Minneapolis in July 2018, and officials announced the recovery in September. The operation brought the shoes back without establishing where they’d spent every year in between. [1]
Two lefts and two rights
Wallace and the other conservators examined the materials, construction and wear. The deterioration of the sequins looked consistent with what they knew from their own slippers. There was another surprise: neither set was a matching pair. The recovered left shoe went with the Smithsonian’s right, and the recovered right went with its left. For the time it took to put all four side by side, the shoes made two matching pairs again. [6]
The conservators shared what they could see in the shoes. That helped the FBI determine it had recovered the stolen film artifacts. Finding out who took them was still a separate piece of work. [1] [6]
The theft charge and the second case
In October 2023, Terry Jon Martin pleaded guilty to theft of major artwork. In January 2024, a federal judge sentenced him to time served and a year of supervised release. The judge ordered $23,500 in restitution to the Judy Garland Museum. That was the amount owed to the museum under the order, rather than an estimate of what the slippers might sell for. [2] [3]
Jerry Hal Saliterman separately faced charges connected with the slippers. His planned plea hearing was postponed, and he died in March 2025 before entering a plea. The charges were dismissed. The case ended without a conviction. [5]
Heritage Auctions reported a December 2024 sale price of $32.5 million including the buyer’s premium. By then the shoes had a public price again. In the lab, what had helped explain who made them and where they came from was a bead someone had painted red. [4] [6]
Case brief
Grand Rapids, Minnesota · 2005
- Recorded outcome
- Terry Jon Martin pleaded guilty in 2023 and was sentenced in 2024; charges against Jerry Hal Saliterman were dismissed after his 2025 death.
Key moments
People and case photographs
Judy Garland Actor who wore the ruby slippers as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
Publicity photograph · Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer via Wikimedia Commons · U.S. public domain- Recovered ruby slippers
The pair recovered by the FBI after the 2005 museum theft
Photo at source · FBI · recovery photographs
Look closer · 3 visuals
Inside the evidence.
Open a visual to explore what it contributed to the case—and the limits of what it shows. These original illustrations explain the record; they are not photographs of the actual evidence.
The recovered red slippers
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The recovered film artifacts returned after thirteen years; recovery and prosecution occurred at different times.
Stylized shoes, not photographs or a replica of the actual exhibits.
The unexpected matching pairs
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
Conservators compared the recovered shoes with the Smithsonian pair and found reciprocal matches.
Generic conservation symbol. Object comparison did not identify the burglar.
An admission five years later
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
Martin’s guilty plea admitted the theft separately from the earlier examination of the shoes.
No authentic signed plea reproduced. This concerns Martin, not the unadjudicated allegations against Saliterman.
★ Key evidence used in a conviction · ✓ Exclusion or reversal · ◇ Disputed evidence · ⊘ Excluded at retrial · ◆ Identity / investigative finding, not a conviction. A symbol does not mean one item proved the whole case.
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Follow the dated entries, then select an event to find its regional setting. Shared-location pins open a group of events. Evidence symbols identify important findings and their limitations.
Open the map in its own window ↗Sources & further reading
- FBI Recovers Stolen Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz2005 theft, 2017 extortion lead, July 2018 recovery and Smithsonian authentication.
- Minnesota Man Pleaded Guilty to Theft of Ruby SlippersMartin's guilty plea and admitted museum theft.
- Minnesota Man Sentenced for Theft of Ruby SlippersTime served, one year supervised release and $23,500 restitution.
- Heritage Auctions: Dorothy's Ruby Slippers Sell for $32.5 MillionAuction house's reported sale total, including buyer's premium.
- Minnesota man accused of hiding Wizard of Oz ruby slippers has died; his charges have been droppedSaliterman's death, dismissal of pending charges and absence of an entered guilty plea.
- Smithsonian museum staff: examining the recovered ruby slippersConservators describe material comparisons and reciprocal mismatched pairs; not an identification of the thief.
Editorial review: 2026-11-12 · 476 words