There are only four pairs of the iconic ruby-red slippers from "The Wizard of Oz," and a man has just been charged with stealing one of them. And if convicted, he may soon find himself following the yellow brick road to prison.
They are the most famous pair of shoes in the world.
There are only four pairs of the iconic Ruby Red slippers from "The Wizard of Oz," and a man has just been charged with stealing a pair almost two decades after the fact. And if convicted, he may soon find himself following the yellow brick road to prison for stealing the shoes worth $3.5 million.
The sequined showstoppers, worn by Judy Garland in the classic 1939 movie, were stolen from The Judy Garland Museum in her birthplace, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, back in 2005.
They were recovered in a sting operation in Minneapolis in 2018, but no one was charged until now.
A one-page indictment says that 76-year-old Terry Jon Martin allegedly stole the authentic pair of ruby slippers 18 years ago.
There was an international search at the time, but Martin lives just 12 miles from the museum where the slippers were on display.
When asked to comment on his upcoming arraignment, Martin said: " I gotta go on trial. I don't want to talk to you."
Janie Heitz is executive director of the museum, and she says she had hoped the person behind this crime was from anyplace but home.
"We are excited that there's a movement in the case but also kind of sad that it's a local person," says Heitz.
FBI agents were able to tell they had the right pair of slippers thanks to a single sequin that had fallen off and was left at the scene when they were stolen.
The are also pairs of the shoes at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, and one in private hands.
The stolen shoes were loaned to the museum by their owner, Hollywood collector Michael Shaw.
"I think is special to everybody. Not necessarily because of what they are but what they represent," says Shaw. "They represent hope and love and security."
Martin is not the first to allegedly steal the ruby slippers. Dorothy Gale stole the original pair from the Wicked Witch of the East after killing her with her house.
Gale later said the death of the Wicked Witch was unintentional and noted that Glinda gave her the slippers after taking them of the dead woman's feet.
