At 4:03 am ND time, Valley News Live (as well as on The Today Show at 7 am eastern time), reported the FBI announced they have located the infamous stolen Michael Shaw Ruby Slippers from the Judy Garland film, “The Wizard Of Oz” which were stolen in 2005. Later this afternoon the FBI will hold a full press conference.
The iconic movie props owned by Hollywood memorabilia collector, Michael Shaw, were stolen from The Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota on August 5th, 2005. The slippers on loan to the museum by Mr. Shaw were stolen after 2 a.m. when a thief (or thieves) broke a window in the museum’s back door and easily entered the building which had the alarm system shut off. The criminals approached a Plexiglas case containing the slippers resting on a podium. They then broke the case and grabbed the shoes leaving the way they came in. Nothing else was stolen and no fingerprints or clues were found.
Update 9/5 12 noon eastern: Josh Gates, host of Expedition Unknown on Discovery Channel, and Joe Maddalena , historical document and Hollywood memorabilia expert, will have more details on this story when Expedition Unknown airs a special episode 8PM EST this Wednesday night. Additionally Detective Brian Mattson, from the Grand Rapids, MN, Police Department was quoted as saying, “I appreciate Joe and Josh’s help very much, in authenticating the photos and bringing so much awareness to the case.”
Joe Maddalena, CEO of Profiles in History added, “Thirteen years ago when I learned of the theft of the ruby slippers, I made it a personal mission to see it to the end and find them. “I never believed anyone would have it in them to destroy them and I definitely knew Michael played no part in their theft. The stars aligned and the day is here, they are recovered. Thank you to all the investigators who aided in this recovery.”
For many years Joe Maddalena CEO and president of the well known historical document & Hollywood memorabilia auction house Profiles in History, has been searching for these same slippers. Mr. Maddalena a recognized as an expert of historical documents, Hollywood memorabilia and comic art has stated for many years that The Wizard of Oz is one of, if not the favorite of his films. He promised Mr. Shaw that he would never give up in trying to find the stolen historical artifacts. In 2012 Maddalena hosted the wildly successful Sy Fy channel show, “Hollywood Treasure” and offered an additional $10,000 for information on the whereabouts of the slippers.
In 2011 Mr. Maddalena‘s auction house, Profiles in History sold the hero close up ruby slippers to a group of Hollywood artists including Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg, who donated those slippers to the Academy Awards Museum which is in the process of being completed.
Joe recently searched for the slippers with Josh on his Discovery show earlier this year. Josh and Joe went diving in a lake where a prison inmate informant had said the slippers were thrown into not long after being stolen from the museum. Unfortunately, or fortunately in this matter, they weren’t in the body of water which most likely would have ruined the slippers.
Update 9am ET: Here is the official Today Show video I shot above from NBC’s website:
Here is the live stream video by the FBI: When a better quality version is available I will post:
Update: 2:45PM. The FBI has posted this on their website:
Additional information can be found at the FBI‘s site HERE.
Photos & video courtesy Judy Garland Museum, the FBI, and The Smithonian
