He found a birth certificate for one person that wasn't her. 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. If you can never get enough true crime Congratulations, youve found your people. At the time of this application, Lori quoted her age as 19. When he returned to his parents, he filed for a divorce. In 1986, Kimberly McLean ran away from her home at the age of 18. Over time the pair grew closer and eventually, they eloped to Dallas. [1] She then traveled to Idaho, where she obtained a state ID card on June 16 using the girl's birth certificate.[2]. They tried several times to have a child, but had trouble conceiving and suffered multiple miscarriages. She became distressed due to her parents divorce. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. Perhaps because of these miscarriages, Lori was ultra-protective of her daughter. [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. Trophy Wife: Dirigido por Christian Sesma. 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. Player FM is scanning the web for high-quality podcasts for you to enjoy right now. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Plot Summary submission guide. According to the man, whom Velling did not name, Jane Doe had more problems than he could deal with.. (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.) Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. When problems became too difficult for him to continue, Blake finally accepted that their marriage wasnt working and subsequently moved out of the home they shared. Before 1988, Lori Erica Kennedy simply did not exist. In the days following her death, he began the grim task of sorting . Lori's behavior caused immense tensions between Lori and the Ruffs, even keeping the new grandparents from visiting their granddaughter. There were two other pieces of paper. Additionally, she displayed many asocial behaviors, such as leaving social gatherings to take naps. Accept Read More, Jeffrey Alan Lash: His Remarkable Mystery. One of these had notes written and a collection of phone numbers and names. [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 woman told doctors in 2005 that she was 35 a claim Velling doubts. Sign up for The Lineup's newsletter, and receive our eeriest cases delivered straight to your inbox. The letter failed to mention crucial details such what was her role and responsibilities. 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. Different cultures define matrimony in different ways and tie the knot for various reasons. Lori Erica Ruff (2021 Podcast Episode) Plot Showing all 0 items Jump to: Summaries It looks like we don't have any Plot Summaries for this title yet. Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. She had ended her life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Henceforth, Lori would be known as Lori Erica Ruff. Buried deep in the back of Lori's closet, Blake pulled out a sealed lockbox. Hosted on Acast. How had their marriage fallen apart? 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. The Varangians: Viking Conquerors turned Byzantium Honor Guard, The Secret Necropolis of Ancient Varna and the First Goldsmiths. 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.' Lori Ruff & The Dark Secret She Hid From Everyone 864,142 views Feb 5, 2019 13K Dislike Share Save Weird History 3.81M subscribers Few stories have fascinated the Internet quite like the one of. Numerous theories regarding her identity can be found on various internet websites. Related: Girl in the Green Mac: The Baffling, Unsolved Disappearance of Sheila Fox. The family members identified the picture of the mystery woman as Kimberly Mclean. It had the instructions to open on her 18th birthday. The harassment was so severe that the Ruffs were planning to file a cease and desist order just before Lori's death. Lori definitely was not who she portrayed herself to be, so who was she? Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher. The family tried everything to find her but she changed her name and location regularly, making it difficult for Kimberlys family to find her. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. 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. Although plenty of questions about the case still have not been answered, Lori Ruff's name was removed from the federal government's database of missing and unidentified persons. Yes! Nancy said it was like that all afternoon she asked questions, and Lori provided evasive answers. [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. It was signed by a man called Roger Steinbeck. And when asked about her days in high school, she said she skipped it and went straight to college. When a woman known as Lori Erica Ruff died in Texas three years ago, she left behind a mystery that has investigators baffled. In the box, which she told her husband never to touch, were all the documents exposing her elaborate ruse the paperwork showing the name change and the application for a Social Security number, among other receipts. The tall and slender brunette met Ruff at a bible study group and introduced herself as Lori Kennedy. Lori left behind two suicide notes, one of which was addressed to her husband and the other to her young daughter. 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. It took hard work on the part of investigators and some unique forensic genealogy for the truth to come out. 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. To her husband, she was Lori Kennedy. Market data provided by Factset. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. So, join us, plug in, sit back and prepare for scares. Historic Mysteries provides captivating articles on archaeology, history, and unexplained mysteries. This is a true crime podcast that spares none of the details and delves into what makes these killers tick. Legal Statement. They believed she fled because she did not like her mothers new husband. Velling said hes determined to uncover Jane Doe's true identity because he suspects she may have used a so-called identity broker to pull off such a complex crime. In the days that followed, Blake tried to make sense of how things had gone so wrong. 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. 2021 Emash Digital & Mike Ferguson, Mike Morford. Also found in the lock box was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings.[6]. She left behind an 11-page suicide note but apparently no clue that she had lived a secret life. But who she really was is still a mystery. Investigators then began to search of hertrue identitya process that would take six years to complete. 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 Fife, Washington, in 1988, and then changed her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. Whomever she was, the woman Blake knew as Lori Ruff was not who she claimed to be. Why had Lori begun behaving so erratically? Blake Ruff thought he had found someone special. 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 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). Ruff gradually acquired more documents in her new name, including a Social Security number. Lori attended the University of Texas regularly and graduated with a business administration degree in 1997. There were no dates and the letter itself was a little vague. 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. 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. However, several weeks after getting the new identification, Becky legally changed her identity to Lori Erica Kennedy in Dallas. According to the Seattle Times , a crowd-sourced investigation into Ruff's background began after the paper ran . Within a few months of Blake moving out, Lori had completely deteriorated. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. She parked her car, left it running, and shot herself. Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher. When asked about her background,Lori was guarded and evasive; she claimed her parents were dead and she had no siblings. In addition, there were no matches for the woman in any existing fingerprint and facial recognition databases. The pair set up a home together and tried to start a family. The investigation into her suicide hit dead end after dead end. 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. Investigators wondered if she had been a KGB agent, or if she had been in the military and gone AWOL. She was never too keen to go into further detail. The only person in attendance at their wedding ceremony, held in a church outside Dallas, was the officiating preacher. Hosts Mike Ferguson and Mike Gibson guide you through the most interesting true crime stories. Lori Ruffs handwritten notes. 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. One was for her daughter. 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. Lori would also spend time fidgeting and stare at the palms and back of her hands. There was a successful application for a new social security number. She then moved to Idaho and obtained a driver's license using Becky's birth certificate, according to news.com.au. They looked for signs of gambling addiction and sex trafficking. During all of this, Blake continued in his efforts to pry more details from the mother of his baby. Or, maybe she was none of them. She also began sending harassing e-mails to the Ruffs, created a scene at a custody hearing, and stole a set of house keys from them. Lori began to complain to Blake about his parents whenever she was even mildly inconvenienced. Lori kept to herself, rarely speaking Finally, in 2008, the pair had a daughter, conceived with in vitro fertilization. Lori didnt take this at all well. For several years, nobody suspected anything. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Her father-in-law discovered her body inside Blakes car. Prior to marrying Blake, Loriwas known as Lori Erica Kennedy. Sometime later, Blake's father left the house to pick up the paper. 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. 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. Lori acquired Turner's birth certificate in 1988, a time when you could just send a letter requesting a birth certificate with little resistance. Although she left notes for her husband and her daughter, they didn't provide any clues. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Lori Erica Ruff - identity SOLVED? After earning a GED and a college degree, she married into a wealthy East Texas family and gave birth to a daughter. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers. [3], In 2003, she met Blake Ruff, the son of a well-established family in East Texas,[2][3] in a Bible study class. 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. The suicide notes were quickly determined to be incoherent ramblings that offered no clues to Ruff's identity. As far as the authorities were concerned, once Blake called them in, she was an identity thief now given the name "Jane Doe.". That created a lot of heartburn for the family.. The only person in attendance was the preacher. She also took a birth date of July 18, 1969. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. 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. All rights reserved. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff, was an American identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. Lori Erica Ruff was the alias of an unidentified American woman and identity thief who committed suicide on December 24, 2010 in Longview, Texas. And she was aggressive about it, Velling said. Many of these sessions tended to feature increasingly strange behavior on her part. [1] She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via in-vitro fertilization in 2008. 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. Or, Becky Sue Turner? Whatever the motivation behind one man entering wedlock to one woman, both parties usually do know each other intimately. Or, Lori Erika Kennedy? Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theywalkamongus. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. With little to no clues about who shemight actually be, the woman once known as Lori Erica Ruffwas registered in the federal governments database of missing and unidentified persons as a Jane Doe. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. The tall and slender brunette met Ruff at a bible study group and introduced herself as Lori Kennedy. When contacted, however, Perkins stated that he had never heard of Becky Sue Turner or Lori Kennedy. She began to lose weight and attended counseling sessions held at the local church. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. Real Life is Horror. A Net Inceptions project. After several miscarriages, the couple finally had a daughter in 2008. 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. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. According to the Seattle Times, a crowd-sourced investigation into Ruffs background began after the paper ran a story on her in 2013. They tried several times to have a child, but she had trouble conceiving and suffered multiple miscarriages. Market data provided by Factset. 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. A man who knew Ruff during this time has stated that she worked as a stripper in the early 1990s. 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. It is generally believed that a new identity was already being considered either for herself or others. 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. Lori refused to allow anyone else to babysit her child. Shortly after marrying Ruff, Jane Doe tried repeatedly to conceive a child of her own with much difficulty, according to Velling. 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. As Blake began the daunting task of sorting through his wife's possessions, he knew that he would have to deal with one thing that Lori had always told him he was to never touch. McLean requested the birth certificate in Bakersfield, California, Becky Sue Turner's birthplace. 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. Then, in September 2016, the case of Lori Erica Ruff was finally solved: her real name wasKimberly McLean. Police also found a curious letter within the safe. 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. 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 . Her student loan applications listed three references, one of whom was a former classmate she had briefly dated. Blake, who was close with his parents, couldn't take it anymore. Photo Credit: Alchetron. But it wasn't until Lori ended her life on Christmas Eve that the Ruffs would get answers. After marrying, the couple moved away from the senior Ruffs, who lived in eastern Texas, settling in Leonard, Texas, in the southwestern region. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices. [3], Eventually, Ruff did not want her in-laws to have any contact with her daughter. Blake Ruff married the woman he had known asLori in2004. She had told him she was from Arizona, that both her parents were dead, and that she had no siblings. [3], The suicide notes were quickly determined to be incoherent ramblings that offered no clues to Ruff's identity. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. 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 . Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. The truth of Ruff's deception only came to light after she committed suicide, and some determined investigators began looking into . Blake's parents were suspicious of Lori right from the beginning. [1] He flew to Pennsylvania to meet the potential family. [8] She would also obsessively track the Ruffs' family history and try to find out their family recipes, but she still refused to talk about her own past. But nobody in the world knew Lori Erica Ruff. She refused to let other people hold the child and was overly protective, even for a first-time mother. But to a dogged federal investigator, she is "Jane Doe," a Texas mother who killed herself three years ago in her famil. The house belonged . | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA Notice, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Ruff described her as being incredibly secretive, particularly regarding her past. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Lori Erica Ruff. 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. She was above average height at 5feet 10inches (1.78m) tall, and weighed 160 pounds (73kg). Apparently, after Becky Sue Turner perished, a woman turned up and requested a copy of the birth certificate. Little Beckywas just two years old when she diedin a house fire outside of Seattle, Washington in 1971. Lori Erica Ruff The Generation Why Podcast. 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? They married and had a daughter together. Days later, she applied for and received a Social Security number - a. She had ended her life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Find a Grave Lori Erica Ruff was the alias of an unidentified American woman and identity thief who committed suicide on December 24, 2010 in Longview, Texas. Blake admitted knowledge of the box. The trail leading backwards was in the forbidden lockbox. 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. He revealed that Lori considered it to be a personal item that must never be opened. After four years of attempts, miscarriages, and disappointments, the couple had a daughter. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. Late in 2015, Velling received a call from a former nuclear physicist and forensic genealogist named Colleen Fitzpatrick, who had been following the case online. On Monday though, Lori. With the help of investigator Joe Velling, he traced the DNA to a family in Pennsylvania. Shewas an accomplished identity thief. Marriage is a sacred act between two people that care deeply for one another. True Crime. [1] Despite the questions Blake's family had about Lori, the couple married in January 2004. Investigation Discovery's ' Where Murder Lies: The Girl in the Lockbox' chronicles the story behind Lori Ruff's past. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (October 16, 1968-December 24, 2010), was an identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. Upon opening the container, Blakediscovered why: Inside was a birth certificate and IDs belonging to several different people. NY Daily News It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. In a matter of months, Lori completely deteriorated. Lori and Blake tried to have a child almost immediately after they were married, but found themselves experiencing fertility issues. She and her young daughter had visibly lost weight. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. However, it was written on hotel stationery from Bangkok, Thailand. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Within the next two years, she . Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. Be the first to contribute! In 2013, a nuclear-physicist-turned-forensic genealogist Collen Fitzpatrick worked on Ruffs case and new details emerged about her past. The response? While the hotel was genuine and a favored haunt of numerous celebrities, there was no trace of the author. And she may have even attempted to break into the family's home, according to the Seattle Times. Erica Kelley is a native Tennessean exploring historical and contemporary true crime in the South. Or at least they should. She obtained this identity via a girl named Becky Sue Turner, who died in 1971 in a house fire near Seattle, Washington. 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. I also want to get Early Bird Books newsletter featuring book deals, recommendations, and giveaways. Eager to meet her, the family invited her to lunch. Mother and child spent a lot of time together, which is normal for such a doting mother. 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. [1], Fitzpatrick informed Joe Velling, who had in the meantime retired from the SSA. Interesting history topics are just a click away. Sources Yes! 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. 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. 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. 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. She was sending unhinged, threatening emails to the Ruffs; she and her daughter were losing weight; she even possibly tried to break into the Ruffs' home. If Lori was trying to escape her past, then it could explain her reluctance for publicity. [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]. ", "Three years after Texas woman's suicide, a question lingers: Who was she? The other had dates and the letters D and M on it. "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. Knowing the identity of the third cousin led her to Ruff's identity. It was either she or his family, and he chose his family, Velling said. And, with the child, Lori's behavior became even more erratic. Most of these discoveries came from talking to those that she had worked with previously. RedHanded the podcast jumps head first into all manner of macabre madness. To her husband, she was Lori Kennedy.