Stolen Ruby Slippers From ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Have Been Recovered by FBI

A 13-year crime mystery has now been solved, and film fans can finally rest easy, as one of the most important pieces of memorabilia has now been recovered: Dorothy’s lost ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz!

As you can see in the video report above (or the full NYT breakdown here), these key props from The Wizard of Oz were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, back on Aug. 28, 2005.

The robbery was untraceable because with no fingerprints or security footage, law enforcement had little evidence to go on; after federal, local and private investigators all exhausted any leads, a $1 million reward was offered for any strong leads in the case. For years, no solid leads panned out. Today, the F.B.I. finally announced that the slippers had been recovered, but did not reveal any assailants or arrests connected to the matter, nor did they reveal details about the current condition of the mission slippers

The slippers are actually one of four pairs used as props in The Wizard of Oz; they are actually a mismatched pair, with each shoe being the actual companion of a pair that is currently displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The missing pair were originally owned by collector Michael Shaw, who got them for $2,000 in 1970. After the theft, conspiracy theories pointed to Shaw possibly being a conspirator in the robbery, in order to collect the insurance money. Shaw was eventually paid $800,000 for the shoes, but has largely left the fervor of the issue behind, stating today when asked that, “there’s more to my life than a pair of pumps.”

At this point, the insurance company that paid Shaw is technically the legal owner of the recovered pumps, but where these pieces of movie memorabilia end up is a part of the story that’s still unfolding.