Authorities inspected both letters, which they described asramblings from a clearly disturbed person.They contained no reference toLoris life as an identity thief, nor a confession of her trueidentity. 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. Lori Ruffs handwritten notes. We don't take ourselves too seriously but we take true crime very seriously. [8], In the months between the separation and Lori's suicide, she behaved very erratically. She was above average height at 5feet 10inches (1.78m) tall, and weighed 160 pounds (73kg). There were two other pieces of paper. Days later, she applied for and received a Social Security number a move that effectively erased her past. Blake's mom, Nancy Ruff, described facing a stone wall. 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. [3], Eventually, Ruff did not want her in-laws to have any contact with her daughter. Lori Ruff & The Dark Secret She Hid From Everyone - YouTube NY Daily News When Lori Erica Kennedy took her own life, she left behind evidence that she'd stolen another's identity. Anyone with credible tips on this case is urged to email this reporter at cristina.corbin@foxnews.com. Ruff did his best to find out as much about his new partner as he could. RedHanded the podcast jumps head first into all manner of macabre madness. Eager to meet her, the family invited her to lunch. And, why had she changed her identity and hid her past from those closest to her? Or at least they should. Unfortunately, it looks like Lori took all of her secrets to the grave. Lori Erica Ruff and Her Various Identities - Historic Mysteries 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). Using DNA analysis from Ruff's daughter, investigators were able to trace Ruff's identity back to a family in Pennsylvania, whose teenage daughter had disappeared in 1986, per Mental Floss. [3], In 2003, she met Blake Ruff, the son of a well-established family in East Texas,[2][3] in a Bible study class. 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. Join Jim Clemente (former FBI profiler), Laura Richards (criminal behavioral analyst, former New Scotland Yard) and Lisa Zambetti (Casting director for CBS' Criminal Minds) as they profile behavior from real criminal cases. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. One of these had notes written and a collection of phone numbers and names. The Generation Why Podcast: Lori Erica Ruff on Apple Podcasts She had ended her life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Before 1988, Lori Erica Kennedy simply did not exist. [3], After getting married, the Ruffs moved to Leonard, Texas. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff, was an American identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. But who she really was is still a mystery. Lori Ruff | Unidentified Wiki | Fandom 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Then, in September 2016, investigators believed they solved the case. As far as the police officers could tell, Lori never traveled abroad before 1990, as there is no passport with that name. True Crime. Follow along with 48 Hours every week as award-winning CBS News correspondents investigate the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience. Les currently resides in London and is a freelance writer with a long standing passion for the unexplained and paranormal. Lori didnt take this at all well. How had their marriage fallen apart? The Bat Bombs of WWII: Presidentially Approved, Totally Anna Anderson: Imposter of Duchess Anastasia, End of the World Predictions that Never Happened. 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: The Strange Case of the Isdal Woman. or redistributed. 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.' She arrived at this identity by way of a girl named Becky Sue Turner. Ordinary people who do unthinkable thingsThe Minds of Madness is a True Crime Podcast that examines the most disturbing criminal minds and the impact violent crimes have on survivors of homicide. That created a lot of heartburn for the family.. 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. Lori Erica Ruff - identity SOLVED? This was very sophisticated, Velling said. Investigation Discovery's ' Where Murder Lies: The Girl in the Lockbox' chronicles the story behind Lori Ruff's past. Her father-in-law discovered her body inside Blakes car. [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]. Historic Mysteries is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases. It must have been for some horrific reasoneither she was running away from a crime or an abusive family or relationship., She wanted a complete break from her past, said Velling. "True identity of Lori Ruff revealed six years after she committed suicide", "After 30 Years, Lori Ruff's True Identity Finally Revealed", "5 Creepy-As-Hell Stories Of Real People With No Identity", "She stole another's identity, and took her secret to the grave. The writings on the paper found in the lock box included the scribblings "North Hollywood police," "402 months," and "Ben Perkins." In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. Before she took her own life with a shotgun, Lori placed a pair of letters inside the car. The house belonged . Or, Lori Erika Kennedy? Lori Erica Ruff - YouTube 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. She was eventually identified as a native. After the birth of their daughter, Lori's behavior became increasingly strange. DNA taken from the body might also help crack the case. But to a dogged federal investigator, she is "Jane Doe," a Texas mother who killed herself three years ago in her famil. 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. But nobody in the world knew Lori Erica Ruff. The investigation into her suicide hit dead end after dead end. She then moved to Idaho and procured a drivers license using the deceased girls birth certificate. El Sorprendente Caso de Lori Erica Ruff -Documental - YouTube Due to her off-putting[opinion][clarification needed], secretive[citation needed] behavior, she clashed with her husband's family, and her marriage eventually collapsed. Historic Mysteries provides captivating articles on archaeology, history, and unexplained mysteries. Southern charm is attempted but southern sass is bountiful. Various identification cards of Lori Ruff (AKA: Kimberly McLean) retrieved from the Social Security Administration. About a month afterward, the certificate was used to obtain legal identification in Idaho. It was either she or his family, and he chose his family, Velling said. Upon opening the container, Blakediscovered why: Inside was a birth certificate and IDs belonging to several different people. 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. [6], Ruff was "extremely protective" of her daughter, often refusing to let anyone else hold her and even taking the baby with her to use the bathroom. Authorities believe she initially traveled to the home with the intent of harming the family.[6]. To her husband, she was Lori Kennedy. The only person in attendance was the preacher. 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. Yes! 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. Lori Erica Ruff was the alias of an unidentified American woman and identity thief who committed suicide on December 24, 2010 in Longview, Texas. When given the chance for an extravagant and lavish wedding day to remember, Lori declined the offer. Investigators then began to search of hertrue identitya process that would take six years to complete. The Ruff family declined to comment on the story, which was first reported by the Seattle Times on Saturday. Related: A Killer Calls: The Unsolved Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott. All rights reserved. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. ", "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. One of television's most popular true-crime series adapted for your ears. Blake's parents were suspicious of Lori right from the beginning. 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. According to the man, whom Velling did not name, Jane Doe had more problems than he could deal with.. Lori Erica Ruff was the alias of an unidentified American woman and identity thief who committed suicide on December 24, 2010 in Longview, Texas. It outlined work that Lori had done for him until 1988. The request was made in Bakersfield, California. When Blake met Lori, she went by the name of "Lori Erica Kennedy." 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. With the help of investigator Joe Velling, he traced the DNA to a family in Pennsylvania. [2] She would also obsessively track the Ruffs' family history and try to find out their family recipes, but still refused to talk about her past. The two moved to Leonard, about 60 miles northeast of Dallas and roughly 125 miles from Ruffs parents in Longview. Lori definitely was not who she portrayed herself to be, so who was she? He found a birth certificate for one person that wasn't her. The trail leading backwards was in the forbidden lockbox. In 2010, he moved back in with his parents and filed for divorce. Among the various documents was a certificate indicating that Lori Kennedy had changed her name from Becky Sue Turner. In the days following her death, he began the grim task of sorting . A man who knew Ruff during this time has stated that she worked as a stripper in the early 1990s. Lori kept to herself, rarely speaking Finally, in 2008, the pair had a daughter, conceived with in vitro fertilization. After her death, her husband and his family found the evidence of her falsified identity in a lock box in her closet. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. 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. After several months living as Becky Sue Turner, she legally changed her name to Lori Kennedy. She had told him she was from Arizona, that both her parents were dead, and that she had no siblings. She then moved to Idaho and obtained a driver's license using Becky's birth certificate, according to news.com.au. She refused to let other people hold the child and was overly protective, even for a first-time mother. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. It was signed by a man called Roger Steinbeck. In life, Lori hadwarnedhimto stay away from it. [1] After two years, Fitzpatrick finally identified Ruff when she discovered a third cousin match who was related to the Cassidys. But all that he managed to discover was that Lori had something of a difficult upbringing. 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.. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. She died by suicide in the driveway of her former in-laws' home in Longview, Texas, on Christmas Eve 2010. 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. 2010 42- , . Was she Lori Erica Ruff? The woman used the birth certificate to obtain a valid Idaho identification card under the name Becky Sue Turner, issued on June 16, 1988, and bearing the photo of Jane Doe. Prior to that, she was known as Becky Sue Turner, an identity forged with the birth certificate of a long-dead child. 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. Accept Read More, Jeffrey Alan Lash: His Remarkable Mystery. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theywalkamongus. It was under this new assumed name that sheeventually moved to the Dallas area, where she met andmarried Blake Ruff. Lori Erica Ruff Kept Her Past Locked Up in a Secret Safe Blake Ruff thought he had found someone special. However, according to records, Becky Sue Turner asphyxiated in a house fire when she was just 2 years old. Lori acquired Becky Turners birth certificate in 1988. Lori Erica Ruff - Top podcast episodes She and her young daughter had visibly lost weight. She wasn't Lori Erica Ruffshe was a Pennsylvania woman named Kimberly McLean. A Net Inceptions project. This has led investigators to believe that Ruff was much older than she claimed to be. And, with the child, Lori's behavior became even more erratic. 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 . [1] She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via in-vitro fertilization in 2008. Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. 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. [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. 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. In 2010, he moved back across the state to live with his parents. They then discovered the lockbox in a closet, pried it open with a screwdriver, and discovered the documentation of Ruff's past. Lori Erica Ruff - Wikipedia Con Erica Peeples, Tiffany Black, Sean Patrick Thomas, Chris Sakyi. Henceforth, Lori would be known as Lori Erica Ruff. There was a successful application for a new social security number. After she died, her ex-husband's family discovered a lockbox in a closet in her home. Lori began to complain to Blake about his parents whenever she was even mildly inconvenienced. She must now fight to clear her name and figure out who betrayed her husband. Blake was caught in the middle, and eventually he couldn't take it anymore. 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. Who was she? Fitzpatrick found matching DNA records using saliva samples of Blake and Loris daughter. | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA Notice, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. She suffered a miscarriage before eventually giving birth to a baby girl in 2008. For several years, nobody suspected anything. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. McLean requested the birth certificate in Bakersfield, California, Becky Sue Turner's birthplace. 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. 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.
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