", "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. ", "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. However, several weeks after getting the new identification, Becky legally changed her identity to Lori Erica Kennedy in Dallas. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Join us for a good mix of lesser known cases as well as our take on what we call the "Big Timers". See acast.com/privacy for more information. The letter failed to mention crucial details such what was her role and responsibilities. ", "Three years after Texas woman's suicide, a question lingers: Who was she? Lori's husband, Blake Ruff, was devastated. He noticed the car and called the police. Or, Lori Erika Kennedy? 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. While the hotel was genuine and a favored haunt of numerous celebrities, there was no trace of the author. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff, was an American identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. 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. Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. On Christmas Eve 2010, the body of 42-year-old Lori Erica Ruff was found in a car parked outside the Ruff family home in Longview, Texas. When he returned to his parents, he filed for a divorce. The Bizarre Truth About Lori Ruff, The Woman Without An Identity. Blake had enough with her inability to get along with his family. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (October 16, 1968 - December 24, 2010), was an identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six ye Lori Erica Ruff - Top podcast episodes 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." Her student loan applications listed three references, one of whom was a former classmate she had briefly dated. Blake Ruff married the woman he had known asLori in2004. After several months living as Becky Sue Turner, she legally changed her name to Lori Kennedy. This site uses cookies to improve user experience. Synopsis She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. And she had no accent, leading Velling to believe she originally came from the Pacific Northwest or West Coast. DNA taken from the body might also help crack the case. It was signed by a man called Roger Steinbeck. Her Idaho identification card listed her as 5 feet, 6 inches tall and her Dallas drivers license had her at 5 feet, 10 inches, but she was really somewhere in-between, Velling said. But this could have simply been a number picked for convenience purposes only. Sources (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.) Who was she? It took hard work on the part of investigators and some unique forensic genealogy for the truth to come out. Marriage is a sacred act between two people that care deeply for one another. [6] The Ruffs opened and read the letter, but it contained only "ramblings from a clearly disturbed person" and no details about Lori's past. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Lori kept to herself, rarely speaking Finally, in 2008, the pair had a daughter, conceived with in vitro fertilization. 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. The other was for Blake. 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. Pic credit: Family pic. There were two other pieces of paper. However, the Mclean family now has a granddaughter who offers a glimpse of their beloved Kimberly. By changing her name, she created a clean identity a person with no past.. But nobody in the world knew Lori Erica Ruff. By the time Blake Ruff's wife died, he realized he didn't know her at all. One was for her daughter. Authorities believe she initially traveled to the home with the intent of harming the family.[6]. It was under this new assumed name that sheeventually moved to the Dallas area, where she met andmarried Blake Ruff. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. When Lori Erica Kennedy took her own life, she left behind evidence that she'd stolen another's identity. And, why had she changed her identity and hid her past from those closest to her?You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminologyAn Emash Digital productionLearn more about your ad choices. When contacted, however, Perkins stated that he had never heard of Becky Sue Turner or Lori Kennedy. 1,529 likes. Many of these sessions tended to feature increasingly strange behavior on her part. 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. It wasnt until the Ruffs found a safebox hidden inside their daughter-in-laws bedroom closet that showed the woman wasnt who she had claimed to be. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers. Although Blakes family was suspicious of Lori from the beginning, Blake himself was very much in love. Upon opening the container, Blakediscovered why: Inside was a birth certificate and IDs belonging to several different people. 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. She had ended her life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. The local police department began a routine investigation and quickly found a safe at the bottom of a closet. He describes her as being incredibly secretive, particularly regarding her past. His recollection was that she was a dancer at a Dallas-area nightclub at the time [she was attending school], Velling said. 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. Due to her off-putting[opinion][clarification needed], secretive[citation needed] behavior, she clashed with her husband's family, and her marriage eventually collapsed. The mystery surrounding Jane Does identity begins in May 1988, when the unknown woman requested the Bakersfield, Calif., birth certificate of a 2-year-old girl, Becky Sue Turner, who died in a 1971 house fire in Fife, Wash., Velling said. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Some people can explain all of this with nothing more sinister than the Witness Protection Program. She became distressed due to her parents divorce. For the next couple of years, Blake worked on all aspects of the marriage. Also found in the lock box was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings.[6]. She told them her parents were dead and that she had no living siblings or extended family. 2010 42- , . Nothing. However, Perkins has no memory of the woman, and there were no matches for the woman in fingerprint and facial recognition databases. I think she was born sometime between 1960 and 1968., Records gathered by Velling provide tantalizing clues. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. They Walk Among Us is an award-winning weekly UK true crime podcast covering a broad range of cases from the sinister to the surreal. [1] He flew to Pennsylvania to meet the potential family. [1] She then traveled to Idaho, where she obtained a state ID card on June 16 using the girl's birth certificate.[2]. The family tried everything to find her but she changed her name and location regularly, making it difficult for Kimberlys family to find her. Although questions about the case remain, Lori Ruff's name has now been removed from the federal government's database for missing and unidentified persons. Join her as she shows you just how southern fried the justice system can be in the Deep South. Blake did learn that Lori was born somewhere in Arizona. Her mothers remarriage didnt help either and she told her family she was going away. McLean requested the birth certificate in Bakersfield, California, Becky Sue Turner's birthplace. Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher. The harassment was so severe that the Ruffs filed a cease and desist order just before Lori's death. 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. Crimelines walks you through true crime events, pairing captivating tales with clear storytelling. Unresolved is an investigative and immersive look at those stories, as host Micheal Whelan tries to determine why these stories - unsolved crimes and other unexplained phenomena - have no ending. She was never too keen to go into further detail. Legal Statement. Sign up for The Lineup's newsletter, and receive our eeriest cases delivered straight to your inbox. 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. Both fingerprints and DNA testing turned up nothing to help get to the bottom of her true identity. Lori acquired Becky Turners birth certificate in 1988. 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. Included among theitems was a sealed lockbox buried deep in Loriscloset. During all of this, Blake continued in his efforts to pry more details from the mother of his baby. The following people have been ruled out as possible identities for Ruff:[5], Ruff was a white female, who was approximately 41 to 50 years old when she committed suicide. In 2003 McLean met Jon Blakely "Blake" Ruff, the son of a socially prominent family in East Texas,[8][6] in a Bible study class. One of these had notes written and a collection of phone numbers and names. 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. 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. They then discovered the lock box in a closet, pried it open with a screwdriver, and discovered the documentation of Ruff's past. Mother and child spent a lot of time together, which is normal for such a doting mother. She also began sending harassing emails to the Ruffs, created a scene at a custody exchange, and stole a set of house keys from them. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Blake and Lori married in 2004the only witness to their marriage was the priest. [8], In the months between the separation and Lori's suicide, she behaved very erratically. It did. According to the Seattle Times , a crowd-sourced investigation into Ruff's background began after the paper ran . Photo Credit: Alchetron. The tension between the Ruffs continued to grow as the new grandparents were rebuffed from visits. 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. Whatever the motivation behind one man entering wedlock to one woman, both parties usually do know each other intimately. | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA Notice, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. 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. How had their marriage fallen apart? It took hard work on the part of investigators and some unique forensic genealogy for the truth to come out. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Prior to that, she was known as Becky Sue Turner, an identity forged with the birth certificate of a long-dead child. ", "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.
