Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Stole The Ruby Slippers From The Wizard of Oz, Worth $28 Million Dollars

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

Terry Martin, a 76-year-old former criminal from Grand Rapids, Minnesota, confessed in 2023 to breaking into the Judy Garland Museum in 2005, smashing a display case with a hammer, and stealing an authentic pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz. Believing the items were real rubies, he intended to sell them through a criminal fence—but soon discovered the gems were merely glass and sequins and abandoned the shoes days later.

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Like he's been in and out of prison for a long time for all kinds of stuff, but eventually he has cleaned himself up. But then, in 2005, everything changes. Because that's when an old mob friend of his approach. him about doing one final job. See, his mob friend knows of a way to steal an original pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in the movie Wizard of Oz. He knows where they're kept, and he's thinking they're probably worth a lot of money, maybe millions. But remember, Terry's clean now. He hasn't committed any crimes in a long time. So he's like, nah, I don't do that stuff anymore and he turns the offer down. However, Terry goes home and he can't stop thinking about it. This might be a big opportunity, like it keeps him up at night. This could be one last score and

it could set him up for life. So finally, he goes back to his mob friend and he's like, all right. And so, boom, they start to plan out this crime. Now, lucky for Terry, the slippers are kept at the Judy Garland Museum, which is like a small place that they have a bunch of stuff from the Wizard of Oz movie, like they keep a bunch of stuff there. And this museum is not too far from where Terry lives. And so one morning when the place is closed, he drives there and he finds a locked glass door and he takes a sledgehammer and pow, he smashes it open and he enters. Then he finds the slippers. They're in like a plexiglass case. And again, he uses the sledgehammer and And pow, he smashes up the display.

Then he grabs the shoes and he flees. So now Terry's got all the loot. All he needs to do is sell them. Here's the thing, though. Terry has never actually seen the Wizard of Oz. So he has no idea who Judy Garland is. He doesn't know what role these shoes play in the movie. All he knows is that they're made of rubies.

And rubies are worth a lot of money. So Terry goes to an acquaintance of his, some shady guy who deals in all things stolen. And he shows him the shoes. And he's like, these are made of rubies. So they got to be worth millions, right? And the guy examines them and he's like, bro, these aren't rubies. They're beads and plastic sequins.

Which, yeah, he's right. And it's extremely obvious when you look at them up close. And so Terry's like, oh, damn it, all that worked for some stupid bedazzled shoes. And so after only having the ruby slippers for two days, he goes back to his old mob friend and he's like, here, you take these. They're worthless. And Terry gives him the slippers and who the hell knows what the mob friend eventually does with him. But Terry moves on with his life,

not knowing that during this time in 2005, the shoes are probably worth about a million dollars. But that's not the end of Terry's story. Because 12 years go by and it's now 2017. And we're now in Florida at an apartment complex. And there's a retired Secret Service agent hanging out by the pool. We'll call him agent. An agent is hanging out having a chat with another resident there,

this attorney who will just call lawyer. And so agent and lawyer are chatting by the pool. An agent randomly mentions that he used to work security for Judy Garland's adult daughter. And this leads them to chatting about the biggest art crime in Minnesota history, the theft of the Ruby slippers. And lawyer just happens to have some information on where the stolen slip. slippers might be. Like maybe he knows someone who knows someone who has them or something like that. The reporting on this actually isn't clear. But what is clear is that lawyer is like, you know,

the insurance company that originally insured the shoes are offering a reward. An agent is like, a reward. And then these two dummies come up with a plan to extort the insurance company into paying them a huge amount for this information. And so pretty quickly, boom, they put their plan into motion. Agent calls the insurance company and he's like, hey, I got a lead on those ruby slippers that were stolen back in 2005. And the insurance company's like, sweet. And I guess they let him know that there's a $200,000 reward. But agent is like, $200,000. No, that's not good enough. This info is worth a lot more. Which, by the way, at this point, the shoes are estimated to be worth about $3.5 million. So maybe the information is worth a lot more. And agent,

must be aware of this, so he lets them know that he wants a lot more money or he isn't talking. And I guess the insurance company realizes these guys are trying to extort money out of them, and so they call the police. And the police hits up the FBI, and so now the FBI is involved. And the FBI looks at this and they're like, yep, this is definitely extortion. And so they investigate, and they set up a whole sting operation, and they send someone undercover, and it's a whole thing. And we don't have all the details because they just actually haven't been released.

But in 2018, the FBI is able to go into Minneapolis where the shoes are now being stashed and boom, they swoop in and they finally recover them. And this is a huge deal. Like the FBI holds a whole ass press conference to announce that they were found. We're here today to share with you the recovery of one of the most significant and cherished pieces

of movie memorabilia. in American history. Dorothy's Ruby slippers. And as good of news as that is, the FBI still doesn't know that it was this guy Terry who originally stole them from the museum. And they're still actively looking for the thief. But Terry, he's an old man now. And no one knows it was him, so he basically got away with it. Like this guy is never going to get caught. Until four years go by. And Terry's around 74 years old now. And I guess bro really has a problem. The woman he's dating is an immigrant.

And I guess her visa is about to expire. Now, Terry, he is really into this woman, and he doesn't want her to leave the country. And so he's trying to figure out what he can do to help her. And that is when boom, it hits him. The Ruby Slippers. Maybe he can use what he knows as leverage to help the FBI find the Ruby Slipper Thief. Himself. I mean, he won't get into any trouble.

he's an old man now. Plus he's in terrible health. He's in a wheelchair and surely the statute of limitations on his crime has run out by now, right? And he's thinking that this will finally close the case for the FBI and that maybe in return for helping them, they'll pull some strings with immigration and allow his girlfriend to stay with him in the United States. And so he calls up the FBI and they bring him in and he ends up admitting that yeah, he's the one who stole the ruby slippers back in 2005, which he later gave away because he thought they were worthless. And, you know, I'm sure they all laughed at him because, you know, I would have. But here's the thing, though.

Apparently the statute of limitations on this crime has not run out. Because, bam, they eventually charged Terry with the theft of the slippers. And I don't have a mugshot, but here's a picture of him outside the courthouse, looking old as fuck. And so he takes a plea deal and he actually gets no prison time because I guess they figure He's old and he's in bad health and he's about to die anyway, but he does have to pay $23,000 restitution. Oh, and remember how he gave the slippers away in 2005 because he thought they were worthless? Well, in 2024, they were auctioned off for $28 million.