There’s no place like home.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that, yes, the ruby slippers Judy Garland (Dorothy) wore in the Wizard of Oz have been found 13 years after they were stolen.
In a Tuesday press release, Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis Division of the FBI Jill Sanborn announced that the shoes were seized in a sting operation this summer.
They were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in 2005.
Interestingly, while the FBI has executed search warrants in both Minnesota and Florida and identified suspects (they did not name them), they still haven’t figured out everything about the theft and apparent extortion plot.
“[I]nvestigators are seeking the public’s help to identify all parties associated with the initial theft and the more recent scheme to defraud and extort the Markel Corporation, the owner of the slippers,” authorities said.
The alleged extortion plot came to light in 2017.
The shoes are valued in the millions.
“At the heart of nearly every art crime, we see greed woven into the fabric of the scheme—greed to take it, and greed to profit from its return,” Sanborn said. “Dorothy’s slippers are a treasured piece of Americana, and we are hoping members of the public can help us better fill in the details that will finish the script of this mystery so we can hold accountable all those who were behind the scheme.”
The FBI has posted a few pictures of the shoes on Twitter, along with the announcement of their recovery.
The reaction to the story has been mixed. Some have reacted to the news with jokes about who the suspect might be.
https://twitter.com/Kingspades_/status/1037045215968677888
Others are asking if the FBI has anything better to do.
https://twitter.com/TamiAilshie/status/1037042287602270208
https://twitter.com/garrynaples/status/1037046170571423746
https://twitter.com/TamiAilshie/status/1037046570351558656
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History verified that the shoes the FBI recovered were indeed the stolen shoes.
[Image via FBI]
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