CNN
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A woman found dead on Cape Cod, Massachusetts in 1974 has been identified nearly 50 years later using “investigative genealogy,” Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division Joseph R. Bonavolonta announced Monday.

Previously dubbed the “Lady of the Dunes” due to her being found in the sand dunes in Provincetown, authorities identified her as Ruth Marie Terry, 37. Prior to her identification, she was the oldest unidentified homicide victim in the state of Massachusetts, Bonavolonta said.

Assistant Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Josh Levy called Monday’s announcement the “product of tireless and exceptional police work and work by law enforcement.”

The use of investigative genealogy by law enforcement combines the use of DNA analysis with “traditional genealogy research and historical records to generate investigative leads for unsolved violent crimes,” Bonavolonta said.

Terry was found on July 26, 1974. Her cause of death was determined at the time to be a blow to the head, several weeks prior, Bonavolonta said. Her hands were missing from her body and her head was “nearly severed,” he added.

The FBI Boston Field Office said in a news release Terry’s hands were “presumably removed by the killer so she could not be identified through fingerprints.”

Bonavolonta, who was joined at a news…