Lori acquired Becky Turners birth certificate in 1988. However, over time he began to get the impression that he was the only one trying to make their marriage work. [citation needed], After Lori's funeral, some of the Ruffs drove to Leonard to see if they could find out more about her in her house. Police also found a curious letter within the safe. Hosted on Acast. And, why had she changed her identity and hid her past from those closest to her? [2], In the months between the separation and Lori's suicide, she behaved very erratically. But this could have simply been a number picked for convenience purposes only. Ruffs apparent identity theft pulled in former Social Security Administration investigator Joe Velling, who hoped that publicity from the Times piece would urge amateur sleuths to provide some leads. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. They tried several times to have a child, but she had trouble conceiving and suffered multiple miscarriages. In 2016, she was identified as. ", "Mystery of the woman with two names: Investigator tries to discover true identity of mother who committed suicide three years ago after husband finds evidence of a double life hidden in a lock box", List of unidentified decedents in the United States, List of unidentified decedents in California, List of unidentified murder victims in the United States, List of unidentified murder victims in California, List of unidentified murder victims in Texas, List of unidentified murder victims in New York, List of unidentified murder victims in Florida, List of unidentified murder victims in Michigan, List of unidentified murder victims in Pennsylvania, National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Lori_Erica_Ruff&oldid=718811075, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, About Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. The nature of these scribblings led some followers of the case to believe that Ruff was trying to avoid prison time, due to the references to police, a possible jail-term length, and the name of Ben Perkins, a Los Angeles attorney. Lori Erica Ruff was as evasive as she had always been but did reveal that both of her parents had passed away and that she had no living relatives. But, it didn't happen easily and it took the hard work of a number of people and a little bit of luck to learn the truth.Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the mysterious Lori Erica Ruff. Although she left notes for her husband and her daughter, they didn't provide any clues. If Lori was trying to escape her past, then it could explain her reluctance for publicity. However, several weeks after getting the new identification, Becky legally changed her identity to Lori Erica Kennedy in Dallas. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. He describes her as being incredibly secretive, particularly regarding her past. She was never too keen to go into further detail. But nobody in the world knew Lori Erica Ruff. For several years, nobody suspected anything. Velling traveled to the city and approached a member of the Cassidy family, who saw Loris drivers license photo. She then moved to Idaho and obtained a driver's license using Becky's birth certificate, according to news.com.au. She was eventually identified as a native of suburban Philadelphia who left home at age 18, in the fall of 1986, because she did not get along with her mother and stepfather. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. [1] Despite the questions Blake's family had about Lori, the couple married in January 2004. Lori Ruffs handwritten notes. Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher. McLean assumed a series of aliases before marrying Blake Ruff in 2004 and settling downleaving no trace of Kimberly McLean, at least until Fitzpatrick began researching her family tree. Within the next two years, she obtained the birth certificate of Becky Sue Turner, a 2-year-old girl who had died with her two sisters in a house fire in 1971. All rights reserved. When Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff took her own life on Christmas Eve, 2010 in Longview, Texas, she took with her all of the secrets of her true identity. Lori Erica Ruff, a Texan who committed suicide in 2010 and left behind a series of puzzling documents hinting that she wasnt who her family thought she was, has now been identified. The house belonged to his parents and it was his father who discovered her [] The post Lori Erica Ruff 93 Generation Why appeared first on The Generation Why Podcast.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Lori didnt take this at all well. Lori's husband, Blake Ruff, was devastated. Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. They married and had a daughter together. The tall and slender brunette met Ruff at a bible study group and introduced herself as Lori Kennedy. She was much older than that, he said. [6] The fact that Ruff was able to cover up her identity so well in a time before the Internet has led to speculation that she had enlisted the services of a so-called identity broker.[6]. With each question she asked, Lori deflected, the Seattle Times reported. Host Charlie brings in appropriate historic and cultural context to look beyond what happened and consider why it happened. Blake's mom, Nancy Ruff, described facing a stone wall. By changing her name, she created a clean identity a person with no past.. The contents of this safe put into sharp focus everything that Blake thought he knew about Lori Kennedy. [6], After getting married, the Ruffs moved to Leonard, Texas. Accept Read More, Jeffrey Alan Lash: His Remarkable Mystery. After following numerous leads he was stumped, and sought the help of the general public to identify her through an article published June 22, 2013, in The Seattle Times. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. The response? The Minds of Madness - True Crime Stories. Ruff gradually acquired more documents in her new name, including a Social Security number. She received a Texas driver license in 1989 and qualified for a GED[8] the following year. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. After some failed marriage therapy meetings, Blake Ruff moved back to his parents' house in Longview and filed for divorce, leaving Lori with their daughter in Leonard. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theywalkamongus. Due to her off-putting[opinion][clarification needed], secretive[citation needed] behavior, she clashed with her husband's family, and her marriage eventually collapsed. They separated, but on Christmas Eve, 2010, the woman everyone knew as Lori Erica Ruff pulled into the driveway of the Ruff family home and shot herself. After obtaining the driver's license, Ruff went before a judge in Dallas on July 5 1988 and legally changed her name to Lori Erica Kennedy; a week later she obtained a social security number, effectively erasing her past. In May of 2016, several commentators on the internet noticed similarities to Ruff's story and to the plot of a 1987 crime drama called Positive I.D., which was directed by a professor of film at UT Arlington. [2] The writings on the paper found in the lockbox included the scribblings "North Hollywood police", "402 months", and "Ben Perkins", who turned out to be an attorney. At the time of this application, Lori quoted her age as 19. Who was she? It had the instructions to open on her 18th birthday. There was a birth and death certificate in the box. The house was in total shambles. She must now fight to clear her name and figure out who betrayed her husband. Based on her own research, and a DNA sample the Ruff family submitted that indicated Lori had a first cousin named Michael Cassidy, Fitzpatrick suggested Velling contact the Cassidy family in Philadelphia. If you can never get enough true crime Congratulations, youve found your people. Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Lori Erica Ruff. She began to lose weight and attended counseling sessions held at the local church. In 1989, her new identity was completed with a Texas drivers license. But it wasn't until Lori ended her life on Christmas Eve that the Ruffs would get answers. 1,529 likes. She had stolen the identity of deceased Becky Sue Turner in May 1988 before legally changing her name to "Lori Erica Kennedy ." Following her marriage in 2001, she assumed the surname "Ruff." She was overly protective, and she refused to let other people hold their daughter. The tension between the Ruffs continued to grow as the new grandparents were rebuffed from visits. She had ended her life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. And she did it all pre-InternetShe may have done this on her own, but its possible she sought out one of these identity brokers.. These secrets Lori Ruff had kept from even her husband, Blake Ruff, and his family. [4] She was eventually identified as a native of suburban Philadelphia who left home at age 17, in the fall of 1986,[5] because she did not get along with her mother and stepfather. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers. But all that he managed to discover was that Lori had something of a difficult upbringing. Ruff's true origins remained a mystery until 2016, when her identity was confirmed using a combination of public records and direct-to-consumer autosomal SNP analysis of her husband's and daughter's DNA, leading back to the McLeanCassidy family on Philadelphia's Main Line. Related: A Killer Calls: The Unsolved Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott. They looked for signs of gambling addiction and sex trafficking. The news of Kimberlys death saddened her mother deeply. The family tried everything to find her but she changed her name and location regularly, making it difficult for Kimberlys family to find her. ", "Texas woman's true identity baffles ex-husband, authorities years after her suicide", "She stole another's identity, and took her secret to the grave. It's not exactly clear why Kimberly McLean fled (most family accounts suggest it was due to a dislike of her new stepfather), but extended family immediately recognized the woman in the investigator's photo. When asked about her background,Lori was guarded and evasive; she claimed her parents were dead and she had no siblings. This led investigators to believe that Ruff was older than she claimed, although the difference turned out to be less than a year. The truth of Ruff's deception only came to light after she committed suicide, and some determined investigators began looking into . After the birth of their daughter, Lori's behavior became increasingly strange. Lori Erica Ruff's true identity was Kimberly McLean. The investigation into her suicide hit dead end after dead end. [1] She then traveled to Idaho, where she obtained a state ID card on June 16 using the girl's birth certificate.[2]. 2010 42- , . Interesting history topics are just a click away. On December 24, 2010, the body of Lori Erica Ruff was found in her car parked in the driveway of the Ruff family's Texas home. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. Ruff did his best to find out as much about his new partner as he could. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. 2009-2021 Historic Mysteries. [7] She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via in vitro fertilisation in 2008. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Blake Ruff married the woman he had known asLori in2004. On Christmas Eve in 2010, Lori Erica Ruff sat in her car outside her in-laws' Longview, Texas home, and ended her life with a gunshot to the head. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (October 16, 1968 December 24, 2010), was an American identity thief[3] whose true identity remained unknown for nearly six years after her death. After marrying, the couple moved away from the senior Ruffs, who lived in eastern Texas, settling in Leonard, Texas, in the southwestern region. And she was aggressive about it, Velling said. Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. Any time she got around the family, they would ask her questions and it was uncomfortable for her. Eager to meet her, the family invited her to lunch. McLean used the child's birth certificate to obtain an Idaho state identification card, then moved to Texas and had her name legally changed to Lori Erica Kennedy . Lori Erica Ruff was the alias of an unidentified American woman and identity thief who committed suicide on December 24, 2010 in Longview, Texas. She and her young daughter had visibly lost weight. Velling, a seasoned government sleuth, has been stumped in figuring out the true name and background of this Jane Doe, who took on aliases with spy-like sophistication. She became distressed due to her parents divorce. [3], The suicide notes were quickly determined to be incoherent ramblings that offered no clues to Ruff's identity. Why had Lori begun behaving so erratically? He found a birth certificate for one person that wasn't her. At the time, a request of this nature was hardly unusual. In 2010, a woman in Texas named Lori Ruff parked her Tahoe in the driveway of the house where her estranged husband Blake had been living since he had walked out on her after their relationship had soured. Market data provided by Factset. Review our. ", "Three years after Texas woman's suicide, a question lingers: Who was she? After some failed marriage therapy sessions, Blake Ruff moved back to his parents' house in Longview and filed for divorce, leaving Lori with their daughter in Leonard. 2021 Emash Digital & Mike Ferguson, Mike Morford. The request was made in Bakersfield, California. But, it didn't happen easily and it took the hard work of a number of people and a little bit of luck to learn the truth. Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. McLean requested the birth certificate in Bakersfield, California, Becky Sue Turner's birthplace. He filed for divorce a short time later. The writings on the paper found in the lock box included the scribblings "North Hollywood police," "402 months," and "Ben Perkins." His letter contained pages of incoherent rambling. It is generally believed that a new identity was already being considered either for herself or others. One of television's most popular true-crime series adapted for your ears. [1] He flew to Pennsylvania to meet the potential family. We don't take ourselves too seriously but we take true crime very seriously. Within the next two years, she . The only person in attendance was the preacher. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the mysterious Lori Erica Ruff. Shortly after marrying Ruff, Jane Doe tried repeatedly to conceive a child of her own with much difficulty, according to Velling. | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA Notice, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. It's clear that even at this time, Lori knew what she was doingBecky had been born in one state and died in another, making it far less likely that the fraudulent use of her identity would be discovered. Erica Kelley is a native Tennessean exploring historical and contemporary true crime in the South. When a woman known as Lori Erica Ruff died in Texas three years ago, she left behind a mystery that has investigators baffled. As far as the police officers could tell, Lori never traveled abroad before 1990, as there is no passport with that name. A friend of the family verified that Becky Sue Turner had died in a house fire at the age of 2. This page was last modified on 5 May 2016, at 17:33. In September 2011 the Ruff family, with the help of a congressional aide, sought the help of Joe Velling, an investigator for the Social Security Administration (SSA). She arrived at this identity by way of a girl named Becky Sue Turner. It was signed by a man called Roger Steinbeck. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Plot Summary submission guide. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. As many of you know, "Lori Ruff" is the assumed name of an otherwise anonymous woman who died in 2010. Although Blakes family was suspicious of Lori from the beginning, Blake himself was very much in love. Lori Erica Ruff - identity SOLVED? This site uses cookies to improve user experience. She was eventually identified as a native. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (October 16, 1968 - December 24, 2010), was an American identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. During all of this, Blake continued in his efforts to pry more details from the mother of his baby. The house was discovered in disarray, with piles of dirty dishes, laundry, and trash stacked up around the house, as well as shredded documents and papers with incoherent scribblings on them. So, join us, plug in, sit back and prepare for scares. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. In the box a number of documents were discovered which revealed that Ruff had stolen the identity of Becky Sue Turner, a 2-year-old girl killed in a fire in 1971 in . Prior to that, she was known as Becky Sue Turner, an identity forged with the birth certificate of a long-dead child. [1] After two years, Fitzpatrick finally identified Ruff when she discovered a third cousin match who was related to the Cassidys. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! And, with the child, Lori's behavior became even more erratic. It is one thing to suspect Lori Erica Ruff of being a simple identity thief, but it is another thing to understand why. Loris behavior was highly erratic in the timebetween theseparationand her death; she sent threatening emails to Blake and his family, and might have even attempted a break-in at Blakes parents home. Lori definitely was not who she portrayed herself to be, so who was she? Lori's behavior caused immense tensions between Lori and the Ruffs, even keeping the new grandparents from visiting their granddaughter. Lori definitely was not who she portrayed herself to be, so who was she? It did. Blake, who was close with his parents, couldn't take it anymore. Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Investigation Discovery's ' Where Murder Lies: The Girl in the Lockbox' chronicles the story behind Lori Ruff's past. [8] Other papers included the birth certificate of Becky Sue Turner and a judge's ruling granting a name change to Lori Erica Kennedy. Years later, in the life she created with Ruff, tensions between the Verizon account manager and the wife he never really knew eventually reached a breaking point. Until now, Lori Erica Ruff was known to authorities as Jane Doe a woman of mystery who jumped from state to state, taking on the identities of other people. (Perkins, who was black and who marketed his legal services to LA's African-American community, had never taken on a white client during his career.) [7] The couple eloped in January 2004 after Nancy Ruff, Blake's mother, inquired about placing a wedding announcement in the local newspaper. On the West Coast, we generally dont have a discernible accent, said Velling, a Seattle native. One was for her daughter. Colleen Fitzpatrick, a former nuclear physicist who created[citation needed] the field of forensic genealogy, learned of Lori Ruff in 2013 and began work on the case. In a matter of months, Lori completely deteriorated. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (October 16, 1968-December 24, 2010), was an identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. Related: The Strange Case of the Isdal Woman. Last spring, we brought you 8 Mysterious People Without a Past, a list of individuals who seemed to have had much of their early existence wiped from history. A neighbor recalled that she and her daughter appeared to be undernourished and that Lori would often ramble incoherently to herself while pacing back and forth outside. [1], Fitzpatrick informed Joe Velling, who had in the meantime retired from the SSA. Yes! The house was discovered in disarray, with piles of dirty dishes, laundry, and trash stacked up around the house, as well as shredded documents and papers with incoherent scribblings on them. Photo Credit: Alchetron. Whilethe file on Lori Erica Ruff may be closed, her bizarre case continues to fascinate, and will forever raise thechillingquestion: Just how well do you know those closest to you? The tall and slender brunette met Ruff at a bible study group and introduced herself as Lori Kennedy. Nancy said it was like that all afternoon she asked questions, and Lori provided evasive answers. Using a DNA analysis from Ruffs daughter, investigators were able to trace Ruffs identity back to a family in Pennsylvania, whose daughter had disappeared in 1986, when she was 17. Blake admitted knowledge of the box. Or, Becky Sue Turner? Was she Lori Erica Ruff? El Caso de Lori Erica Ruff -Documental Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/HypnosMorfeoPaginaoficial/?fref=ts Sigueme en Twitter: https://twitter.com/hypnosmo.
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