Reconstructions of the victim by NCMEC, Melissa Clark Maglio, Judy Reimer and Mary Mise; age regressions by Samantha Steinberg.
Identified...Identified...Identified
Reconstructions of the victim by NCMEC, Melissa Clark Maglio, Judy Reimer and Mary Mise; age regressions by Samantha Steinberg.
Date of Discovery: July 26, 1974
Location of Discovery: Race Point Dunes, Provincetown, Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Estimated Date of Death: 10 days to 3 weeks prior
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction
Cause of Death: Homicide by blunt-force trauma to the head.
Estimated Age: 20-49 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'6" to 5'8"
Weight: 145 lbs.
Hair Color: Auburn
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Athletic build. Toenails painted pink.
Dentals: Available.Extensive dental work. She had gold crowns on her teeth worth $5000 up to $10,000 at that time. The dental work was done in what dentists call "the New York style" of dental work. Several teeth were removed by her killer.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Available
Clothing: Wrangler jeans and a blue bandana were placed under the victim's head.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Elastic hair-tie with gold-colored flecks. The body was laid on top of a light green, heavy cotton beach blanket.
The victim was discovered in the dunes about a mile east of the Race Point ranger station in the summer of 1974.
The woman's hands were missing, presumably removed by the killer so she could not be identified through fingerprints - and her head was nearly severed from her body with an instrument similar to a military entrenching tool. The reasoning behind this may suggest she had been fingerprinted before, possibly due to a criminal past. Several of her teeth had been removed as well.
The left side of her skull had been crushed and this was ruled as the cause of death. She had nearly been decapitated, possibly from strangulation. She also appeared to have been sexually assaulted with a block of wood. No weapon was found at the site.
Her nude body was discovered lying on a beach towel with her head resting on her folded jeans. There was no sign of a struggle, and the woman lay on half the towel, as if she'd been sharing it with a companion. Authorities surmised that she may have known her killer or had been asleep at the time of death.
The body was exhumed in both 1980 and 2000, in attempts to confirm her identity.
Serial killer Hadden Clark confessed to murdering the woman in 2004. Clark has a history of paranoid schizophrenia, which led police to doubt his credibility.
Whitey Bulger, a former FBI Top Ten Most Wanted fugitive remains a person of interest in the case. Bulger was known to be in Provincetown at the time and was witnessed to be in company of a woman who bore a resemblance to the victim.
She is known as "Lady of the Dunes" or "Lady in the Dunes."
Agency Name: Provincetown Police Department
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 508-487-1212 or 508-487-1213
Agency Address: 26 Shankpainter Road, Provincetown, MA 02657
Agency E-Mail: [email protected]
Agency Case Number: Unknown
Agency Name: Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Agency Contact Person: James Pokines
Agency Phone Number: 617 267 6767 x176
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 2000-876
NCIC Case Number: U615805149
NamUs Case Number: 11840
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Added: Prior to 2010; Last Updated: 5/17/17
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information may be estimated.
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