After she died, her ex-husband's family discovered a lockbox in a closet in her home. Whomever she was, the woman Blake knew as Lori Ruff was not who she claimed to be. Blake, who was close with his parents, couldn't take it anymore. In 2016, she was identified as. 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. Sometime later, Blake's father left the house to pick up the paper. 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. But, it didn't happen easily and it took the hard work of a number of people and a little Interesting history topics are just a click away. Lori Erica Ruff. To give you the best possible experience, this site uses cookies. While the hotel was genuine and a favored haunt of numerous celebrities, there was no trace of the author. They then discovered the lockbox in a closet, pried it open with a screwdriver, and discovered the documentation of Ruff's past. 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. 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 met her future husband, Blake, in 2003. In 1989, her new identity was completed with a Texas drivers license. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Prior to marrying Blake, Loriwas known as Lori Erica Kennedy. However, it was written on hotel stationery from Bangkok, Thailand. Investigators then began to search of hertrue identitya process that would take six years to complete. Knowing the identity of the third cousin led her to Ruff's identity. 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. 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. 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. Sign up for The Lineup's newsletter, and receive our eeriest cases delivered straight to your inbox. [6], After getting married, the Ruffs moved to Leonard, Texas. Shewas an accomplished identity thief. But nobody in the world knew Lori Erica Ruff. Hersuicide cameafter Blake had filed fordivorce and moved back in with his parents. But to a dogged federal investigator, she is "Jane Doe," a Texas mother who killed herself three years ago in her famil. She had told him she was from Arizona, that both her parents were dead, and that she had no siblings. So, join us, plug in, sit back and prepare for scares. Any time she got around the family, they would ask her questions and it was uncomfortable for her. They married and had a daughter together. True Crime. 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. It is one thing to suspect Lori Erica Ruff of being a simple identity thief, but it is another thing to understand why. 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. Lori Erica Ruff's true identity was Kimberly McLean. Photo Credit: Alchetron. Image: http://reallifeishorror.blogspot.co.uk/. The letter failed to mention crucial details such what was her role and responsibilities. In the days following her death, hebegan the grim task of sortingthrough his wifespossessions. Within the next two years, she obtained the birth certificate of Becky Sue Turner, a two-year-old girl who had died with her two sisters in a house fire in 1971. 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? I think she was born sometime between 1960 and 1968., Records gathered by Velling provide tantalizing clues. The woman told doctors in 2005 that she was 35 a claim Velling doubts. After the birth of their daughter, Lori's behavior became increasingly strange. 2021 Emash Digital & Mike Ferguson, Mike Morford. [1] After two years, Fitzpatrick finally identified Ruff when she discovered a third cousin match who was related to the Cassidys. There were no dates and the letter itself was a little vague. There were two other pieces of paper. For several years, nobody suspected anything. 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. She died by suicide in the driveway of her former in-laws' home in Longview, Texas, on Christmas Eve 2010. [1] She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via in-vitro fertilization in 2008. The other had dates and the letters D and M on it. She was above average height at 5feet 10inches (1.78m) tall, and weighed 160 pounds (73kg). Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices. 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. [7] She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via in vitro fertilisation in 2008. Dismayed by having to move and attend a new school, she told Deanne shed be leaving for good. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. After her death, her husband and his family found the evidence of her falsified identity in a lock box in her closet. One was for her daughter. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Or, Becky Sue Turner? However, the Mclean family now has a granddaughter who offers a glimpse of their beloved Kimberly. To her husband, she was Lori Kennedy. She wasn't Lori Erica Ruffshe was a Pennsylvania woman named Kimberly McLean. Hosted on Acast. When he returned to his parents, he filed for a divorce. She also took a birth date of July 18, 1969. Days later, she applied for and received a Social Security number - a. 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. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. She was sending deranged emails to the Ruffs. Real Life is Horror. By changing her name, she created a clean identity a person with no past.. Prior to that, she was known as Becky Sue Turner, an identity forged with the birth certificate of a long-dead child. Related: A Killer Calls: The Unsolved Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott. Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. Ruff described her as being incredibly secretive, particularly regarding her past. As far as the authorities were concerned, once Blake called them in, she was an identity thief now given the name "Jane Doe.". I also want to get the Early Bird Books newsletter featuring great deals on ebooks. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theywalkamongus. Review our. It's not exactly clear why Kimberly McLean fled (most family accounts suggest it was due to a dislike of her new stepfather), but extended family immediately recognized the woman in the investigator's photo. She then moved to Idaho and obtained a driver's license using Becky's birth certificate, according to news.com.au. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff, was an American identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. Related: The Strange Case of the Isdal Woman. Lori Erica Ruff went by many names. Was she Lori Erica Ruff? The harassment was so severe that the Ruffs were planning to file a cease and desist order just before Lori's death. Police also found a curious letter within the safe. [3], In 2003, she met Blake Ruff, the son of a well-established family in East Texas,[2][3] in a Bible study class. 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 . Join us for a good mix of lesser known cases as well as our take on what we call the "Big Timers". Although Blakes family was suspicious of Lori from the beginning, Blake himself was very much in love. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Perhaps because of these miscarriages, Lori was ultra-protective of her daughter. [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. When Blake met Lori, she went by the name of "Lori Erica Kennedy." Lori acquired Turner's birth certificate in 1988, a time when you could just send a letter requesting a birth certificate with little resistance. She and her young daughter had visibly lost weight. Nancy said it was like that all afternoon she asked questions, and Lori provided evasive answers. 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. He revealed that Lori considered it to be a personal item that must never be opened. She enrolled at Dallas County Community College in the fall of 1990 and eventually graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a business administration degree in 1997. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. She parked her car, left it running, and shot herself. They tried several times to have a child, but had trouble conceiving and suffered multiple miscarriages. The Ruff family declined to comment on the story, which was first reported by the Seattle Times on Saturday. A friend of the family verified that Becky Sue Turner had died in a house fire at the age of 2. Although she left notes for her husband and her daughter, they didn't provide any clues. The contents of this safe put into sharp focus everything that Blake thought he knew about Lori Kennedy. 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. Lori kept to herself, rarely speaking Finally, in 2008, the pair had a daughter, conceived with in vitro fertilization. The news of Kimberlys death saddened her mother deeply. 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. Related: Jeffrey Alan Lash: His Remarkable Mystery. Lori's behavior caused immense tensions between Lori and the Ruffs, even keeping the new grandparents from visiting their granddaughter. The other was for Blake. [1] She then traveled to Idaho, where she obtained a state ID card on June 16 using the girl's birth certificate.[2]. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. (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.) Ruff did his best to find out as much about his new partner as he could. Blake's parents were suspicious of Lori right from the beginning. Lori Erica Ruff - identity SOLVED? 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). Authorities believe she initially traveled to the home with the intent of harming the family.[6]. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. 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. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (October 16, 1968-December 24, 2010), was an identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. She told them her parents were dead and that she had no living siblings or extended family. The grieving husbandrecognized the box. 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. In 2010, he moved back across the state to live with his parents. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. 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. Given some of the comments she made or suggested, she didnt appear to realize why the marriage ended. Where is the Body of the Legendary King Gorm of Denmark. In July 1988, she moved to Dallas, where, according to court documents, she legally changed her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. 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. Lori Ruffs handwritten notes. However, according to records, Becky Sue Turner asphyxiated in a house fire when she was just 2 years old. Lori refused to allow anyone else to babysit her child. Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. It took hard work on the part of investigators and some unique forensic genealogy for the truth to come out. 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. Or, maybe she was none of them. The house belonged . 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. Related: Girl in the Green Mac: The Baffling, Unsolved Disappearance of Sheila Fox. In addition, there were no matches for the woman in any existing fingerprint and facial recognition databases. The harassment was so severe that the Ruffs filed a cease and desist order just before Lori's death. They then discovered the lock box in a closet, pried it open with a screwdriver, and discovered the documentation of Ruff's past. In 2013, a nuclear-physicist-turned-forensic genealogist Collen Fitzpatrick worked on Ruffs case and new details emerged about her past. The family members identified the picture of the mystery woman as Kimberly Mclean. NY Daily News Lori Erica Ruff was the alias of an unidentified American woman and identity thief who committed suicide on December 24, 2010 in Longview, Texas. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Related: Lady of the Dunes: Was the Unidentified Cape Cod Murder Victim an Extra in Jaws? McLean also asked them not to come after her. She would regularly be seen with her in some of her favorite tea shops. 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. 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. 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. Jane Doe had a simple narrative and stuck to it: She was the only child of a failed stockbroker and his wife, who both died. Her mothers remarriage didnt help either and she told her family she was going away. 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. In the car were two suicide notes: One 11page note addressed to "my wonderful husband" and another addressed to her daughter, to be opened on her 18th birthday. After earning a GED and a college degree, she married into a wealthy East Texas family and gave birth to a daughter. 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. By the time Blake Ruff's wife died, he realized he didn't know her at all. [4] She also said her father was a failed stockbroker. 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. Early on Christmas Eve, Lori drove over to the Ruff house. However, several weeks after getting the new identification, Becky legally changed her identity to Lori Erica Kennedy in Dallas. Upon opening the container, Blakediscovered why: Inside was a birth certificate and IDs belonging to several different people. [6], Eventually, Ruff did not want her in-laws to have any contact with her daughter; as a result, the Ruffs began encouraging Blake to get out of the marriage. Blake's mom, Nancy Ruff, described facing a stone wall. She obtained a Texas drivers license in 1989, listing her age as 19. 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. 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. Lori Erica Ruff Kept Her Past Locked Up in a Secret Safe Blake Ruff thought he had found someone special. And she was aggressive about it, Velling said. The response? In the days that followed, Blake tried to make sense of how things had gone so wrong. 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. She was eventually identified as a native. With the help of investigator Joe Velling, he traced the DNA to a family in Pennsylvania. Ruff gradually acquired more documents in her new name, including a Social Security number. In life, Lori hadwarnedhimto stay away from it. Buried deep in the back of Lori's closet, Blake pulled out a sealed lockbox. Lori attended the University of Texas regularly and graduated with a business administration degree in 1997. ", "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. 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. Her father-in-law discovered her body inside Blakes car. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. McLean requested the birth certificate in Bakersfield, California, Becky Sue Turner's birthplace. Blake Ruff married the woman he had known asLori in2004. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the mysterious Lori Erica Ruff. We don't take ourselves too seriously but we take true crime very seriously. On Monday though, Lori. His recollection was that she was a dancer at a Dallas-area nightclub at the time [she was attending school], Velling said. 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. For the next couple of years, Blake worked on all aspects of the marriage. 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. 2009-2021 Historic Mysteries. She must now fight to clear her name and figure out who betrayed her husband. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. It was under this new assumed name that sheeventually moved to the Dallas area, where she met andmarried Blake Ruff. When contacted, however, Perkins stated that he had never heard of Becky Sue Turner or Lori Kennedy. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers. Loris husband, Blake Ruff, was devastated. McLean, posing as Becky Sue Turner, then appeared before a judge in Dallas on July 5, 1988, and legally changed her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. [8], In the months between the separation and Lori's suicide, she behaved very erratically. 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. Signup to sync subscriptions across devices. The investigation into her suicide hit dead end after dead end. But all that he managed to discover was that Lori had something of a difficult upbringing. But Blake was in love. Over time the pair grew closer and eventually, they eloped to Dallas. His wifewas not who she claimed to be. Velling traveled to the city and approached a member of the Cassidy family, who saw Loris drivers license photo. 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. 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. She refused to let other people hold the child and was overly protective, even for a first-time mother. Also found in the lockbox was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings. Little Beckywas just two years old when she diedin a house fire outside of Seattle, Washington in 1971. Investigation Discovery's ' Where Murder Lies: The Girl in the Lockbox' chronicles the story behind Lori Ruff's past. These secrets Lori Ruff had kept from even her husband, Blake Ruff, and his family. Unfortunately, it looks like Lori took all of her secrets to the grave. [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. The Bizarre Truth About Lori Ruff, The Woman Without An Identity. Erica Kelley is a native Tennessean exploring historical and contemporary true crime in the South. Blake was caught in the middle, and eventually he couldn't take it anymore. This led investigators to believe that Ruff was older than she claimed, although the difference turned out to be less than a year. 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. Synopsis [3], Ruff was incredibly overprotective of her daughter, often refusing to let anyone else hold her, which angered her husband's family. The writings on the paper found in the lock box included the scribblings "North Hollywood police," "402 months," and "Ben Perkins." However, over time he began to get the impression that he was the only one trying to make their marriage work. 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. Blake Ruff has admitted that he isn't completely sure what drew him to Lori. Mother and child spent a lot of time together, which is normal for such a doting mother. The Minds of Madness - True Crime Stories. A week later, she obtained a Social Security number, removing traces of her true identity.