Eager to meet her, the family invited her to lunch. Watch 48 Hours Saturday 10/9c on CBS and Paramount+ and hear all new episodes every Sunday. 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. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Plot Summary submission guide. 2009-2021 Historic Mysteries. When he returned to his parents, he filed for a divorce. Four years filled with miscarriages and disappointments passed. Before she took her own life with a shotgun, Lori placed a pair of letters inside the car. Lori refused to allow anyone else to babysit her child. Lori Erica Ruff. When Lori Erica Kennedy took her own life, she left behind evidence that she'd stolen another's identity. [9][6], After Lori's funeral, some of the Ruffs drove to Leonard to see if they could find out more about her in her house. The new Mrs. Ruff was an unusually private person, particularly around her in-laws, according to Velling, special agent in charge of the Social Security Office of the Inspector General in Seattle, Wash. When people made small talk with her like asking where she went to high school she would say, 'Its none of your business.' Be the first to contribute! We cover everything from big time serial killers (and those you may never have heard of), to hauntings, possessions, disturbing mysteries, bizarre whodunits and basically anything that tickles our creepy fancy. He noticed the car and called the police. Lori Erica Ruff's true identity was Kimberly McLean. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Blake was caught in the middle, and eventually he couldn't take it anymore. [1][10] Fitzpatrick had Ruff's husband and daughter tested by a direct-to-consumer testing company, through which she was able to obtain Ruff's DNA results using genetic genealogy phasing techniques, which essentially subtracted Blake Ruff's DNA from Lori's. It is one thing to suspect Lori Erica Ruff of being a simple identity thief, but it is another thing to understand why. In the car were two suicide notes: an 11-page one addressed to "my wonderful husband" and another addressed to her daughter, to be opened on her 18th birthday. Who Was Lori Ruff: DNA Evidence Sheds Light on Texas Mystery Woman [1], Fitzpatrick informed Joe Velling, who had in the meantime retired from the SSA. She had told him she was from Arizona, that both her parents were dead, and that she had no siblings. But, it didn't happen easily and it took the hard work of a number of people and a little She had ended her life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. She created a false identity for the sole purpose of getting lost in America, Velling told FoxNews.com. Her student loan applications listed three references, one of whom was a former classmate she had briefly dated. So, join us, plug in, sit back and prepare for scares. Also found in the lock box was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings.[6]. Authorities believe she initially traveled to the home with the intent of harming the family.[6]. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices. The Varangians: Viking Conquerors turned Byzantium Honor Guard, The Secret Necropolis of Ancient Varna and the First Goldsmiths. Related: Lady of the Dunes: Was the Unidentified Cape Cod Murder Victim an Extra in Jaws? She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. In 2010, he moved back across the state to live with his parents. The Bizarre Truth About Lori Ruff, The Woman Without An Identity. She was eventually identified as a native. Hosts Mike Ferguson and Mike Gibson guide you through the most interesting true crime stories. She then moved to Idaho and procured a drivers license using the deceased girls birth certificate. 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. Lori Ruffs handwritten notes. Police also found a curious letter within the safe. Nancy said it was like that all afternoon she asked questions, and Lori provided evasive answers. ", "Texas woman's true identity baffles ex-husband, authorities years after her suicide", "Live chat with investigator, reporter about Jane Doe case", "Mystery woman: After 30 years and a suicide, Lori Ruff's real identity emerges", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lori_Erica_Ruff&oldid=1125479355, Articles with minor POV problems from October 2022, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from October 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 4 December 2022, at 06:14. In the days that followed, Blake tried to make sense of how things had gone so wrong. The Strange Life and Death of Lori Erica Ruff One of these had notes written and a collection of phone numbers and names. At the time, a request of this nature was hardly unusual. 2010 42- , . Sign up for The Lineup's newsletter, and receive our eeriest cases delivered straight to your inbox. Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. Lori kept to herself, rarely speaking Finally, in 2008, the pair had a daughter, conceived with in vitro fertilization. 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. She had told him she was from Arizona, that both her parents were dead, that she had had an unhappy childhood, and that she had no siblings; she also said her father had been a failed stockbroker. It had the instructions to open on her 18th birthday. ", "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. About: Lori Erica Ruff - dbpedia.org During all of this, Blake continued in his efforts to pry more details from the mother of his baby. Blake's parents were suspicious of Lori right from the beginning. Lori acquired Becky Turners birth certificate in 1988. The other was for Blake. According to the Seattle Times , a crowd-sourced investigation into Ruff's background began after the paper ran . 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 . She suffered a miscarriage before eventually giving birth to a baby girl in 2008. If Lori was trying to escape her past, then it could explain her reluctance for publicity. But to a dogged federal investigator, she is "Jane Doe," a Texas mother who killed herself three years ago in her family's driveway after spending decades using stolen identities to erase a past that remains mired in mystery. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. She enrolled in Dallas County Community College,[7] and in 1997 she graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a degree in business administration. Others, including a private detective, tasked with finding out more about her, consider that an incident in her past concerned her sufficiently to create an entirely new identity. Lori Erica Ruff was the alias of an unidentified American woman and identity thief who committed suicide on December 24, 2010 in Longview, Texas. Although Blakes family was suspicious of Lori from the beginning, Blake himself was very much in love. Ruff did his best to find out as much about his new partner as he could. She would regularly be seen with her in some of her favorite tea shops. Blake admitted knowledge of the box. [3] 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 visited an "identity broker".[3]. I think she was born sometime between 1960 and 1968., Records gathered by Velling provide tantalizing clues. Perhaps Lori was creating parents for the benefit of Blake. But who she really was is still a mystery. The writings on the paper found in the lock box included the scribblings "North Hollywood police," "402 months," and "Ben Perkins." According to the Seattle Times, a crowd-sourced investigation into Ruffs background began after the paper ran a story on her in 2013. Follows Toni, who has a complete breakdown and ends up in a mental facility after the unexpected news that her husband was murdered, and even she is a suspect. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Lori Erica Ruff Criminology podcast The family members identified the picture of the mystery woman as Kimberly Mclean. [7] She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via in vitro fertilisation in 2008. Lori Erica Ruff Kept Her Past Locked Up in a Secret Safe Blake Ruff thought he had found someone special. Photo Credit: Alchetron. For two years, Social Security investigator Joseph Velling has been working to uncover the real identity of Lori Erica Ruff, who was Lori Erica Kennedy before marrying into an East Texas family in 2004. And, as he flipped through multiple IDs with pictures of his wife at different ages, he realized they all had different names printed on them, according to the Daily Mail. Blake Ruff has admitted that he isn't completely sure what drew him to Lori. Or at least they should. She began to lose weight and attended counseling sessions held at the local church. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the mysterious Lori Erica Ruff. Loris husband, Blake Ruff, was devastated. Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. Whatever the motivation behind one man entering wedlock to one woman, both parties usually do know each other intimately. Three years after Texas woman's suicide, a question lingers: Who was Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. The Ruff family declined to comment on the story, which was first reported by the Seattle Times on Saturday. I find her case fascinating, especially in a post-9/11 world where there are so many avenues for identifying individuals. Investigators wondered if she had been a KGB agent, or if she had been in the military and gone AWOL. The house belonged . Upon opening the container, Blakediscovered why: Inside was a birth certificate and IDs belonging to several different people. They tried several times to have a child, but had trouble conceiving and suffered multiple miscarriages. [6], On December 24, 2010, Ruff's body was discovered in her car in the Ruffs' driveway, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. 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. Numerous theories regarding her identity can be found on various internet websites. Then, in September 2016, investigators believed they solved the case. Velling agreed to help identify her as a case of identify theft. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. 1,529 likes. She wanted to live in her little cocoon.. Also found in the lockbox was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings. But to a dogged federal investigator, she is "Jane Doe," a Texas mother who killed herself three years ago in her famil. This page was last modified on 5 May 2016, at 17:33. Lori would also spend time fidgeting and stare at the palms and back of her hands. He filed for divorce a short time later. 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. 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. In 1986, Kimberly McLean ran away from her home at the age of 18. 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. That created a lot of heartburn for the family.. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theywalkamongus. The house was in total shambles. The Bizarre Truth About Lori Ruff, The Woman Without An Identity In a matter of months, Lori completely deteriorated. Days later, she applied for and received a Social Security number - a. Yes! Many of these sessions tended to feature increasingly strange behavior on her part. Real Life is Horror. ", "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. [6], After getting married, the Ruffs moved to Leonard, Texas. 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. The request was made in Bakersfield, California. Join her as she shows you just how southern fried the justice system can be in the Deep South. In 2013, a nuclear-physicist-turned-forensic genealogist Collen Fitzpatrick worked on Ruffs case and new details emerged about her past. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology, Learn more about your ad choices. Blake did learn that Lori was born somewhere in Arizona. In May 1988, McLean obtained the birth certificate of Becky Sue Turner, a two-year-old girl who had died, along with two of her siblings, in a house fire in Fife, Washington in 1971. [4] She also said her father was a failed stockbroker. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. [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]. "My God, thats Kimberly! The family member confirmed Ruff was actually Kimberly McLean, daughter of Deanne Cassidy and James McLean, who had run away from home in Pennsylvania at the age of 18. The Minds of Madness - True Crime Stories. At some point in the past, Lori had been a dancer at an exclusive gentlemans club, and a post-mortem examination revealed that Lori, not Becky, had received breast implants. Due to her off-putting[opinion][clarification needed], secretive[citation needed] behavior, she clashed with her husband's family, and her marriage eventually collapsed. And when he asked her to marry him in 2004, she said yes, but insisted on no announcement in the newspaper, and wanted a wedding where only the minister was present. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (October 16, 1968-December 24, 2010), was an identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. They looked for signs of gambling addiction and sex trafficking. Now, as he opened it, he understood why it was forbidden territory. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices. Who was she? It is generally believed that a new identity was already being considered either for herself or others. To her husband, she was Lori Kennedy. 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. For the next couple of years, Blake worked on all aspects of the marriage. With the help of investigator Joe Velling, he traced the DNA to a family in Pennsylvania. A 2013 Seattle Times feature article about the case was published in news outlets around the world and created enormous interest in the online "websleuth" community. A week later, she obtained a Social Security number, removing traces of her true identity. His wifewas not who she claimed to be. Was she Lori Erica Ruff? She was eventually identified as a native of suburban Philadelphia who left home at age 17, in the fall of 1986, because she did not get along with her mother and stepfather. She obtained a Texas drivers license in 1989, listing her age as 19. For several years, nobody suspected anything. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. She obtained this identity via a girl named Becky Sue Turner, who died in 1971 in a house fire near Seattle, Washington. But it wasn't until Lori ended her life on Christmas Eve that the Ruffs would get answers. When contacted, however, Perkins stated that he had never heard of Becky Sue Turner or Lori Kennedy. However, several weeks after getting the new identification, Becky legally changed her identity to Lori Erica Kennedy in Dallas. But all that he managed to discover was that Lori had something of a difficult upbringing. Investigators then began to search of hertrue identitya process that would take six years to complete. All rights reserved. [3], The suicide notes were quickly determined to be incoherent ramblings that offered no clues to Ruff's identity. Where is Lori Ruff's Daughter Now? - The Cinemaholic However, over time he began to get the impression that he was the only one trying to make their marriage work. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. Before 1988, Lori Erica Kennedy simply did not exist. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. 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.. Lori definitely was not who she portrayed herself to be, so who was she? In addition, there were no matches for the woman in any existing fingerprint and facial recognition databases. Ruff described her as being incredibly secretive, particularly regarding her past. Both fingerprints and DNA testing turned up nothing to help get to the bottom of her true identity. But Lori tragically died by suicide just before Christmas in 2010. Southern charm is attempted but southern sass is bountiful. Included among theitems was a sealed lockbox buried deep in Loriscloset. Becky was born in one state and died in another, making it much less likely that a fraudulent use of her identity would be noticed. After several months living as Becky Sue Turner, she legally changed her name to Lori Kennedy and moved to the Dallas area, where she met Blake Ruff. After four years of attempts, miscarriages, and disappointments, the couple had a daughter. Strange life of identity thief Lori Ruff, aka Kimberly McLean Accept Read More, Jeffrey Alan Lash: His Remarkable Mystery. 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. And she was aggressive about it, Velling said. 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? [1] Despite the questions Blake's family had about Lori, the couple married in January 2004. Hosted on Acast. The letter failed to mention crucial details such what was her role and responsibilities. Lori Erica Ruff - identity SOLVED? : r/UnresolvedMysteries - reddit Les currently resides in London and is a freelance writer with a long standing passion for the unexplained and paranormal. NY Daily News But Blake was in love. Although she left notes for her husband and her daughter, they didn't provide any clues. 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. Lori Erica Ruff - YouTube Sources Lori Erica Ruff (born Kimberly McLean, October 16, 1968 - December 24, 2010) was a woman who took her own life while living in Longview, Texas. After Lori Erica Ruff's death, Blake Ruff realized his wife was a complete stranger.
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