### "Unraveling the Lady of the Dunes Mystery: A Son's Unbelievable Journey"

After years of searching for his birth mother, Richard Hanchett was startled when the FBI contacted him with an unexpected revelation. "The first thing they said to me was, 'Have you ever heard about the Lady of the Dunes?'" Hanchett recounted in an interview. This inquiry set him on a path that he could never have foreseen.

In 1974, the body of an unidentified woman was discovered in the dunes of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Authorities concluded she had died from blunt force trauma to her skull. The victim became enigmatically known as the "Lady of the Dunes" as the case went cold for almost five decades. Now, this long-unsolved mystery is the subject of an upcoming true-crime docuseries on Oxygen titled "The Lady of the Dunes: Hunting the Cape Cod Killer."

A breakthrough came in October 2022 when investigators identified the victim as Ruth Marie Terry from Tennessee. For Hanchett, this was a profound revelation—Terry was his biological mother. Unsettlingly, Hanchett had been plagued by nightmares of a woman being struck and fatally injured. "When the police gave me the news, I connected the dots... I just felt in my heart she saw something she shouldn't have," Hanchett shared.

Terry had given up Hanchett for adoption in Michigan shortly after his birth in 1958 due to financial struggles. Despite yearning to reunite with her for years, it wasn’t until 2018 that Hanchett made a breakthrough. A DNA test linked him to the Terry family, revealing that she had been missing for decades.

Terry had married Guy Muldavin in 1974, just months before her body was discovered. Muldavin returned from a trip driving what was believed to be Terry's vehicle and told witnesses that she had died. Following her murder, Muldavin became the primary suspect. Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois confirmed, "Ms. Terry was never seen by her family again."

Hanchett’s exploration into his mother's life revealed disturbing details about Muldavin. Described by Hanchett’s cousin as a "sick person," Muldavin was also connected to other suspicious deaths, including another wife and a stepdaughter in Seattle during the 1960s. Human remains were discovered in his home's septic tank, and he was eventually charged with "unlawful flight."

Muldavin had even written a book, "Cooking with Rump Oil," which was published two years after Terry’s death. The book contained eerie illustrations and a recipe, "Cape Cod Shid," that seemed to hint at the crime. One character in the book bore a striking resemblance to Terry, featuring auburn hair like hers.

The identification of Terry has pivoted the investigation squarely towards Muldavin, an antiques dealer whose past is shadowed by a trail of death. Hanchett poignantly remarked, "Everywhere he lived, someone died."

As Hanchett continues to seek justice and closure, the world watches in anticipation as more details about the infamous Lady of the Dunes finally come to light.