A pair of the ruby slippers made famous by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz has been successfully recovered after a manhunt of more than a decade in Minnesota, according to a story in The Guardian. Police found the footwear, originally taken from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in Minneapolis.
The slippers were stolen in August 2005, shortly after owner Michael Shaw loaned them to the museum and specifically requested that the pair not be taken to a vault each night for fear of overhandling causing damage. Shaw originally insured the slippers for $1 million, and after a fraudulent claim lawsuit against him by the insurance company, was eventually paid $800,000 for the loss.
An informant who contacted the insurance company in 2017 claiming to have information about the slippers turned out to be interested in extorting the owner, providing police the lead that eventually yielded the slippers’ return. Garland may have worn as many as seven pairs of slippers during the shooting of The Wizard of Oz, and the whereabouts of many of the pairs today are shrouded in mystery.
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