Was a Washington State Man A Serial Killer That Got Away?

Last week a 49-year-old cold case in Massachusetts was solved.  It was one of the most famous unsolved murders in ‘The Bay State’ and ‘The Lady of the Dunes’ was the oldest unidentified homicide victim in the State.

Ruth Marie Terry’s hands were removed from her body and she was found nearly decapitated, making identifications difficult for decades.  In another win for DNA sites, Terry was eventually identified, as was her killer…and that is what brings us to ‘The Evergreen State.

Terry married Guy Muldavin in February of 1974, less than six months later, her body would be discovered on Cape Cod.  She wasn’t the first wife of Guy Muldavin that would meet a tragic end, or the first person that Rockwell would be a person of interest in their disappearance.

Who Was Guy Muldavin?

Guy Muldavin, also known as Raoul Guy Rockwell, Guy Muldavin Rockwell, and Guy Raoul Rockwell, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1923.  Muldavin married his first wife, Joellen Mae Loop in 1946 in Pennsylvania.  The couple would make a stop in California before settling in Seattle where Muldavin would get a job at Bon Marche and also work at at a Seattle radio station.

The couple would divorce after ten years and Muldavin would soon meet, and then in 1958, marry Manzanita Aileen ‘Manzy’ Ryan.  Ryan had a daughter, Delores Ann Mearns, from a previous marriage.  Muldavin and Ryan would settle into a home on the Lake Union waterfront in Seattle with Ryan’s daughter.  April Fools Day 1960 would be the last time Manzy Ryan was seen alive.

Ryan’s body would be found April 3rd in the septic tank of their Seattle home.  At the time of Ryan’s disappearance Muldavin was known as Raoul Guy Rockwell.  In July of 1960 he would marry Evelyn Marie Emerson.  The couple would find their way to New York where Muldavin would be arrested in Greenwich Village in December of the same year and questioned by the FBI.  Muldavin was never charged in the case.

Muldavin Was Also Sought in California

Muldavin was also sought in connection with the disappearance of Barbara Joe Kelley of Fortuna, CA and the death of her boyfriend Henry “Red” Baird.

Baird’s body was found June 18, 1950 on the beach with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.  Personal items of Barbara Kelley were found near Baird’s body, but she has never been located.  What is interesting is in Joellen Loop’s obituary (Muldavin’s first wife), it said that Muldavin sang at KIEM radio when they were in California between roughly 1947 until 1950.  KIEM is in Eureka…Humboldt County.

Baird was a bread truck driver and Kelley was a waitress at one of the restaurants on Baird’s delivery route.  The restaurant Kelley worked in also happened to be owned by Muldavin’s father in law Jerome Loop, where Muldavin was also employed as a short order cook.

What Happened to Guy Muldavin?

Muldavin would marry once more after Ruth Marie Terry.  He wed Phyllis Roper in Los Angeles in 1975 and stayed married to her until he died in 2002 in Salinas, California.  It is unknown if Muldavin was linked to any other disappearances from 1975 until his death.  We know he murdered Ruth Terry and has been linked to the deaths and disappearances of four others.