Dorothy’s ruby slippers vanished 17 years ago. A man has now been charged.

Man indicted in 2005 theft of Dorothy's ‘Wizard of Oz’ ruby slippers - The Washington Post

John Kelsch, then the executive director of the Judy Garland Museum, had just gotten out of the shower on the morning of Aug. 28, 2005, when he got the phone call. Answering, Kelsch heard the museum’s receptionist utter two words that have haunted him ever since.

On Wednesday, nearly 18 years after the theft that “devastated” Kelsch, federal prosecutors announced that a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota had indicted Terry Jon Martin in connection with the crime, charging him with stealing a major artwork and object of cultural heritage from the care, custody or control of a museum. Authorities described the shoes as among “the most recognizable memorabilia in American film history” and said that, although they were insured for $1 million in 2005, they’re currently appraised at $3.5 million.

“‘The Wizard of Oz’ is considered one of the most watched movies in the entire world still,” Janie Heitz, the museum’s current executive director, told The Washington Post. “The slippers resonate with people. They stick with people. They’re a symbol of hope. They’re a symbol of home.”

Martin, who could not immediately be reached for comment, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Court records don’t list an attorney for Martin, who is not in custody.

The stolen slippers were one of about six pairs that were made for the production of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz.” In the summer of 2005, the shoes, which were owned by collector Michael Shaw, were on loan to the museum, Kelsch said.

Then, late on Aug. 27 or early on Aug. 28, as the rest of the country was focused on Hurricane Katrina bearing down on New Orleans, a burglar or burglars smashed one of the museum’s windows to get inside and then shattered a Plexiglas case to get the shoes. Police estimated they were in and out in under a minute.

Hours later, Kelsch got the post-shower call and the bad news.

“My heart was beating. The adrenaline just kicked in,” he told The Post, “and of course, the museum was violated terribly.”

The hunt for the iconic ruby slippers took investigators to a collector’s mansion in California, a roadside diner in Missouri and the bottom of a pit mine right outside town. Nothing came of any of it, and the years turned into a decade.

In 2015, a wealthy “Wizard of Oz” fan turned up the heat by offering a $1 million reward for anyone who could tell investigators the location of the shoes and the name of the person who stole them. In September 2018, the FBI announced it had recovered the shoes during a sting operation that summer, though it gave little detail about where the slippers had been. After securing the ruby slippers, the FBI took them to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, where conservators examined them. They found “evidence of wear and details unique to their use in the 1939 film, the FBI said at the time. They also determined that their materials and construction were consistent with the pair already in the Smithsonian’s collection.

Then, the FBI went dark, at least as far as Kelsch and the museum could tell. For more than four years, they heard nothing. That was true until around noon Wednesday when he learned of Martin’s arrest, which he called surprising.

Over the years, Kelsch has heard myriad theories, rumors and stories about who stole the slippers. One involved the brother of a famous comedian. Another blamed drunk teenagers who broke into the museum on a dare. Kelsch said he’d never heard the name Terry Jon Martin until Wednesday.

After nearly 18 years, much of the mystery has dissipated. The shoes turned up and, according to the FBI, investigators have found at least one of the people responsible for stealing them.

There’s at least one question Heitz and Kelsch can’t answer: What’s going to happen with the slippers? Right now, the FBI has them, but Heitz doesn’t know what will happen once they’re no longer evidence. She’d like them to come back to the museum for Judy Garland and “The Wizard of Oz” fans to once again enjoy, all these years later.

“I feel like it would be a really, truly Hollywood ending to this sort of up-and-down life that these slippers have had,” she said, adding, “Maybe this is the best place for the slippers. They get to have a happy ending.

“There’s no place like home, right?”