In 2016, she was identified as. She didnt even allow the publication of the announcement of their nuptials in the local newspaper either. He found a birth certificate for one person that wasn't her. Lori Erica Ruff - identity SOLVED? Over time the pair grew closer and eventually, they eloped to Dallas. 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. She also received breast implants during this time. I think she was born sometime between 1960 and 1968., Records gathered by Velling provide tantalizing clues. Within a few months of Blake moving out, Lori had completely deteriorated. [1] She then traveled to Idaho, where she obtained a state ID card on June 16 using the girl's birth certificate.[2]. A week later, she obtained a Social Security number, removing traces of her true identity. Additionally, she displayed many asocial behaviors, such as leaving social gatherings to take naps. 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. 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.' 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. 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. She wanted to live in her little cocoon.. The investigation into her suicide hit dead end after dead end. But to a dogged federal investigator, she is "Jane Doe," a Texas mother who killed herself three years ago in her famil. Related: A Killer Calls: The Unsolved Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott. (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.) Related: Lady of the Dunes: Was the Unidentified Cape Cod Murder Victim an Extra in Jaws? It was in 2010 when events finally took their toll on her. Interesting history topics are just a click away. I find her case fascinating, especially in a post-9/11 world where there are so many avenues for identifying individuals. She died by suicide in the driveway of her former in-laws' home in Longview, Texas, on Christmas Eve 2010. Lori's behavior caused immense tensions between Lori and the Ruffs, even keeping the new grandparents from visiting their granddaughter. [1] She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via in-vitro fertilization in 2008. To her husband, she was Lori Kennedy. She was eventually identified as a native. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. The news of Kimberlys death saddened her mother deeply. His wifewas not who she claimed to be. 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. Yes! [1] Despite the questions Blake's family had about Lori, the couple married in January 2004. The Minds of Madness - True Crime Stories. Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. [4] She also said her father was a failed stockbroker. But nobody in the world knew Lori Erica Ruff. 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. This led investigators to believe that Ruff was older than she claimed, although the difference turned out to be less than a year. She arrived at this identity by way of a girl named Becky Sue Turner. Numerous theories regarding her identity can be found on various internet websites. Whomever she was, the woman Blake knew as Lori Ruff was not who she claimed to be. 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? This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. But Blake was in love. 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. 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. They then discovered the lockbox in a closet, pried it open with a screwdriver, and discovered the documentation of Ruff's past. Related: Girl in the Green Mac: The Baffling, Unsolved Disappearance of Sheila Fox. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. ", "Three years after Texas woman's suicide, a question lingers: Who was she? Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. Lori Erica Ruff went by many names. In 2010, he moved back across the state to live with his parents. [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. According to the Seattle Times , a crowd-sourced investigation into Ruff's background began after the paper ran . Hosts Mike Ferguson and Mike Gibson guide you through the most interesting true crime stories. After four years of attempts, miscarriages, and disappointments, the couple had a daughter. 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. Everyone in Dallas has an accent and she did not. After her death, her husband and his family found the evidence of her falsified identity in a lock box in her closet. All rights reserved. Find a Grave 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. According to Deannes brother, Tom, Kimberly grew irate after her mother and father separated in the 1980s. 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. The writings on the paper found in the lock box included the scribblings "North Hollywood police," "402 months," and "Ben Perkins." It did. 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." [3], Ruff was incredibly overprotective of her daughter, often refusing to let anyone else hold her, which angered her husband's family. [7] She then traveled to Idaho, where she used the document to obtain a state ID card on June 16.[8]. Marriage is a sacred act between two people that care deeply for one another. At the time, a request of this nature was hardly unusual. 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. 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. Blake and Lori married in 2004the only witness to their marriage was the priest. [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. As many of you know, "Lori Ruff" is the assumed name of an otherwise anonymous woman who died in 2010. 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. Ruff's earliest known activity dates back to May 1988, when she requested the birth certificate of Becky Sue Turner, a two-year-old girl who was killed, along with two of her siblings, in a house fire in Fife, Washington in 1971. 2010 42- , . As with the birth certificate, it was relatively straight forward to acquire a new social security number. 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. McLean also asked them not to come after her. Blake admitted knowledge of the box. A neighbor recalled that she and her daughter appeared to be very thin and that Lori would often ramble incoherently about her problems. 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. [5], From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core, "Three years after Texas woman's suicide, a question lingers: Who was she? 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. But it wasn't until Lori ended her life on Christmas Eve that the Ruffs would get answers. They believed she fled because she did not like her mothers new husband. Lori Erica Ruff Kept Her Past Locked Up in a Secret Safe Blake Ruff thought he had found someone special. However, several weeks after getting the new identification, Becky legally changed her identity to Lori Erica Kennedy in Dallas. Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. 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. [1] He flew to Pennsylvania to meet the potential family. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. When asked about her background,Lori was guarded and evasive; she claimed her parents were dead and she had no siblings. After marrying, the couple moved away from the senior Ruffs, who lived in eastern Texas, settling in Leonard, Texas, in the southwestern region. "My God, that's Kimberly!," one Pennsylvania relative exclaimed, the Seattle Times reported. Lori Erica Ruff. Authorities believe she initially traveled to the home with the intent of harming the family.[6]. He revealed that Lori considered it to be a personal item that must never be opened. Many of these sessions tended to feature increasingly strange behavior on her part. In 2010, he moved back in with his parents and filed for divorce. The letter failed to mention crucial details such what was her role and responsibilities. The request was made in Bakersfield, California. Knowing the identity of the third cousin led her to Ruff'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. Photo Credit: Alchetron. Ruff gradually acquired more documents in her new name, including a Social Security number. Crimelines walks you through true crime events, pairing captivating tales with clear storytelling. Lori Erica Ruff The Generation Why Podcast. Lori attended the University of Texas regularly and graduated with a business administration degree in 1997. She suffered a miscarriage before eventually giving birth to a baby girl in 2008. 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. The nature of these scribblings has led some 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 an attorney. Due to her off-putting[opinion][clarification needed], secretive[citation needed] behavior, she clashed with her husband's family, and her marriage eventually collapsed. Lori acquired Turner's birth certificate in 1988, a time when you could just send a letter requesting a birth certificate with little resistance. We don't take ourselves too seriously but we take true crime very seriously. Lori left behind two suicide notes, one of which was addressed to her husband and the other to her young daughter. As far as the police officers could tell, Lori never traveled abroad before 1990, as there is no passport with that name. With each question she asked, Lori deflected, the Seattle Times reported. And, why had she changed her identity and hid her past from those closest to her? The response? Blake's mom, Nancy Ruff, described facing a stone wall. Was she Lori Erica Ruff? [3], After getting married, the Ruffs moved to Leonard, Texas. In 2013, a nuclear-physicist-turned-forensic genealogist Collen Fitzpatrick worked on Ruffs case and new details emerged about her past. For years, it was nothing but a series of dead ends. 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. Historic Mysteries is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases. One was for her daughter. The truth of Ruff's deception only came to light after she committed suicide, and some determined investigators began looking into . 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. She was overly protective, and she refused to let other people hold their daughter. Prior to marrying Blake, Loriwas known as Lori Erica Kennedy. But this could have simply been a number picked for convenience purposes only. Lori Erica Ruff. In the days that followed, Blake tried to make sense of how things had gone so wrong. Lori Erica Ruff was the alias of an unidentified American woman and identity thief who committed suicide on December 24, 2010 in Longview, Texas.After she died, her ex-husband's family discovered a lockbox in a closet in her home. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theywalkamongus. 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. Be the first to contribute! She was sending deranged emails to the Ruffs. She became distressed due to her parents divorce. The only person in attendance was the preacher. Lori kept to herself, rarely speaking Finally, in 2008, the pair had a daughter, conceived with in vitro fertilization. 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. True Crime. The harassment was so severe that the Ruffs filed a cease and desist order just before Lori's death. 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. Eager to meet her, the family invited her to lunch. 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. She also took a birth date of July 18, 1969. However, Perkins has no memory of the woman, and there were no matches for the woman in fingerprint and facial recognition databases. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices. After her death, Lori's husband found a lockbox with papers inside that shed light on his wife's past. But Lori tragically died by suicide just before Christmas in 2010. I also want to get the Early Bird Books newsletter featuring great deals on ebooks. The family members identified the picture of the mystery woman as Kimberly Mclean. Ruff did his best to find out as much about his new partner as he could. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. Related: Jeffrey Alan Lash: His Remarkable Mystery. Real Life is Horror. Investigators wondered if she had been a KGB agent, or if she had been in the military and gone AWOL. The contents of this safe put into sharp focus everything that Blake thought he knew about Lori Kennedy. [1] After two years, Fitzpatrick finally identified Ruff when she discovered a third cousin match who was related to the Cassidys. It outlined work that Lori had done for him until 1988. In the days following her death, hebegan the grim task of sortingthrough his wifespossessions. His recollection was that she was a dancer at a Dallas-area nightclub at the time [she was attending school], Velling said. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the mysterious Lori Erica Ruff. During all of this, Blake continued in his efforts to pry more details from the mother of his baby. Then, in September 2016, investigators believed they solved the case. Where Murder Lies is investigating the mysterious case of identity thief Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff, aka Kimberly Maria McLean, who, unbeknown to her husband, led a secret life for decades. 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. Her student loan applications listed three references, one of whom was a former classmate she had briefly dated. [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. The house belonged . The other was for Blake. DNA taken from the body might also help crack the case. [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. Lori would also spend time fidgeting and stare at the palms and back of her hands. Blake did learn that Lori was born somewhere in Arizona. 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. The grieving husbandrecognized the box. Southern charm is attempted but southern sass is bountiful. She told them her parents were dead and that she had no living siblings or extended family. 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. 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. Shortly after marrying Ruff, Jane Doe tried repeatedly to conceive a child of her own with much difficulty, according to Velling. Various identification cards of Lori Ruff (AKA: Kimberly McLean) retrieved from the Social Security Administration. 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. His letter contained pages of incoherent rambling. On Christmas Eve 2010, the body of 42-year-old Lori Erica Ruff was found in acar parked outside the Rufffamily home in Longview, Texas. By changing her name, she created a clean identity a person with no past.. Although she left notes for her husband and her daughter, they didn't provide any clues. They then discovered the lock box in a closet, pried it open with a screwdriver, and discovered the documentation of Ruff's past. She then moved to Idaho and procured a drivers license using the deceased girls birth certificate. A Net Inceptions project. or redistributed. Market data provided by Factset. One of these had notes written and a collection of phone numbers and names. 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. In 1986, Kimberly McLean ran away from her home at the age of 18. How had their marriage fallen apart? 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 pair set up a home together and tried to start a family. Who was she? Police also found a curious letter within the safe. All of that work by the investigators traced several links back in the history of Lori Ruff's false identities, but they still didn't know who she really was. The Bat Bombs of WWII: Presidentially Approved, Totally Anna Anderson: Imposter of Duchess Anastasia, End of the World Predictions that Never Happened. Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. She obtained this identity via a girl named Becky Sue Turner, who died in 1971 in a house fire near Seattle, Washington. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! When Lori Erica Kennedy took her own life, she left behind evidence that she'd stolen another's identity. She had ended her life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. The woman received breast implants in 1991 and claimed to have suffered from bulimia in 1990. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. [3], Eventually, Ruff did not want her in-laws to have any contact with her daughter. 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. 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. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices. Also found in the lock box was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings.[6]. 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. This site uses cookies to improve user experience. After she died, her ex-husband's family discovered a lockbox in a closet in her home. Buried deep in the back of Lori's closet, Blake pulled out a sealed lockbox. In addition, there were no matches for the woman in any existing fingerprint and facial recognition databases. Lori Erica Kennedy / Lori Ruff - Identified. [6], On December 24, 2010, Ruff's body was discovered in her car in the Ruffs' driveway, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. It's a big Universe full of wonders.