FBI, Grand Rapids Police to Reveal Details in Discovery of Stolen ‘Wizard of Oz’ Ruby Slippers

A piece of Hollywood history, stolen from a museum in Minnesota more than a decade ago, has been found.

On Tuesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is expected to reveal how and where they found one of only four remaining pairs of the iconic ruby slippers worn by Minnesota native Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz.”

This pair of shoes had been missing since 2005, when it was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids. The slippers were insured for $1 million.

“I felt like I had been punched in the stomach my knees literally buckled from under me,” Morgan White, director of the documentary “The Slippers,” said about finding out the shoes had been stolen.

Police said the suspect or suspects broke through the museum’s rear emergency window. Motion detectors failed to alert authorities and a security camera was not installed.

The theft garnered significant interest, leading to a million-dollar reward offered by a Wizard of Oz fan in Arizona as well as an underwater search by the Itasca County Sheriff’s Dive Team in 2015. Also this summer, the mystery was featured on the Discovery Channel show “Expedition Unknown.”

“The police department really had no evidence and no clues to work with,” Grand Rapids Police Sergeant Robert Stein said in a statement.  “Over the years, our officers investigated numerous tips as they came in, eliminating each one. The problem is that there are a great many reproductions out there and people believed that these were the stolen slippers. Each proved not to be the missing slippers. As recently as two weeks ago, we received a telephone call from a psychic telling us that she was sure she knew where the slippers were.”

Many were disheartened by the theft.

“Whoever took them not only took a physical pair of shoes but they stole a lot of people’s memories,” White said.

Police, working with members of the FBI, were able to recover the missing slippers in Minneapolis this summer. Stein said the exact details of the investigation haven’t been released, as it remains an active investigation.

The FBI, along with Grand Rapids police officers, are expected to reveal more about the discovery Tuesday afternoon.