True criminal story of Wizard of Oz's ruby slippers worth millions | Television and radio

A pair of ruby slippers from the set of The Wizard of Oz, which were stolen in 2005, are now believed to be worth more than £1 million.

The famous red sequined shoes were one of four pairs worn by Judy Garland when she played Dorothy in the 1939 film – her most iconic role. They remained safe for decades until they were loaned to the Judy Garland Museum in 2005.

Hollywood child actor Michael Shaw gave the shoes for collection to the museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. But in August 2005, an unknown thief “entered the building through a window and broke into the small display case containing the slippers.”

Michael Shaw received an $800,000 payout at the time as an insurance settlement for the shoes. But now they are worth even more money.

There were no suspects in the theft and in 2015 a $1 million reward was offered to try to reunite the slippers with their rightful owner. In 2018, 13 years after the theft, the slippers were finally discovered during an FBI sting operation — but the perpetrator remained a mystery.

In 2023, career criminal Terry Jon Martin was finally charged with theft of a large work of art. According to his attorney Dane DeKrey, Martin was a gangster who decided to turn his life around when he got out of prison in 1996.

But less than a decade later, he was lured into a robbery by one of his former associates, who promised that the slippers were covered in real rubies and told him to sell them piece by piece. It was this idea of a ‘final score’ that tempted the career criminal to risk everything.

DeKrey said; “At first Terry declined the invitation to participate in the robbery. But old habits die hard, and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him awake at night.” He had a “criminal relapse” and went to the display case with a hammer to remove the shoes – but soon realized they were not covered in real gemstones.

Martin claims he got rid of the shoes just two days after the theft because he had never seen The Wizard of Oz and had no idea of their cultural significance. It is still unknown who owned them in the intervening years.

76-year-old Terry Jon Martin pleaded guilty to the theft, but avoided jail time because he was in hospice care for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). He had appeared in court in a wheelchair, with the help of supplemental oxygen, and in January 2024 he was given six months to live.

However, the story doesn’t end there. A second man was later charged in the theft: Jerry Hal Saliterman, also 76. His attorney John Brink said he planned to plead not guilty and insists his client “did nothing wrong.”

In 2023, the slippers were valued at $3.5 million – about £2.7 million.