[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]. Days later, she applied for and received a Social Security number a move that effectively erased her past. 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. And when asked about her days in high school, she said she skipped it and went straight to college. On the West Coast, we generally dont have a discernible accent, said Velling, a Seattle native. 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. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. They married and had a daughter together. She then moved to Idaho and procured a drivers license using the deceased girls birth certificate. Velling, a seasoned government sleuth, has been stumped in figuring out the true name and background of this Jane Doe, who took on aliases with spy-like sophistication. 2010 42- , . 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. Over time the pair grew closer and eventually, they eloped to Dallas. Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. In the days following her death, hebegan the grim task of sortingthrough his wifespossessions. 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. [1], Fitzpatrick informed Joe Velling, who had in the meantime retired from the SSA. 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. Other commentators noted that Ruff briefly attended UT Arlington and may have become familiar with the film prior to changing her identity. For years, it was nothing but a series of dead ends. The woman told doctors in 2005 that she was 35 a claim Velling doubts. The two moved to Leonard, about 60 miles northeast of Dallas and roughly 125 miles from Ruffs parents in Longview. 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. Shortly after marrying Ruff, Jane Doe tried repeatedly to conceive a child of her own with much difficulty, according to Velling. ", "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. Different cultures define matrimony in different ways and tie the knot for various reasons. This is a true crime podcast that spares none of the details and delves into what makes these killers tick. 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. 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.. After marrying, the couple moved away from the senior Ruffs, who lived in eastern Texas, settling in Leonard, Texas, in the southwestern region. She also began sending harassing emails to the Ruffs, created a scene at a custody exchange, and stole a set of house keys from them. 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. So, it was granted without question. 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? However, according to records, Becky Sue Turner asphyxiated in a house fire when she was just 2 years old. It did. This site uses cookies to improve user experience. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Lori Erica Ruff. Lori kept to herself, rarely speaking Finally, in 2008, the pair had a daughter, conceived with in vitro fertilization. As with the birth certificate, it was relatively straight forward to acquire a new social security number. However, over time he began to get the impression that he was the only one trying to make their marriage work. Numerous theories regarding her identity can be found on various internet websites. 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. One of these had notes written and a collection of phone numbers and names. A man who knew Ruff during this time has stated that she worked as a stripper in the early 1990s. Various identification cards of Lori Ruff (AKA: Kimberly McLean) retrieved from the Social Security Administration. "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. 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. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. She was overly protective, and she refused to let other people hold their daughter. Prior to that, she was known as Becky Sue Turner, an identity forged with the birth certificate of a long-dead child. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. [1] She eventually graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1997, with a degree in Business Administration. About a month afterward, the certificate was used to obtain legal identification in Idaho. Con Erica Peeples, Tiffany Black, Sean Patrick Thomas, Chris Sakyi. In a matter of months, Lori completely deteriorated. 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. Included among theitems was a sealed lockbox buried deep in Loriscloset. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Blake and Lori married in 2004the only witness to their marriage was the priest. Eager to meet her, the family invited her to lunch. They Walk Among Us is an award-winning weekly UK true crime podcast covering a broad range of cases from the sinister to the surreal. Lori Erica Ruff's true identity was Kimberly McLean. She told them her parents were dead and that she had no living siblings or extended family. She suffered a miscarriage before eventually giving birth to a baby girl in 2008. 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. 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. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/theywalkamongus. Lori Erica Ruff The Generation Why Podcast. Blake Ruff has admitted that he isn't completely sure what drew him to Lori. Everyone in Dallas has an accent and she did not. Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. She had told him she was from Arizona, that both her parents were dead, and that she had no siblings. The only person in attendance at their wedding ceremony, held in a church outside Dallas, was the officiating preacher. Many of these sessions tended to feature increasingly strange behavior on her part. Who was she? 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. She and her young daughter had visibly lost weight. Lori Erica Ruff. Related: A Killer Calls: The Unsolved Murder of Dorothy Jane Scott. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. How had their marriage fallen apart? 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. Blake Ruff married the woman he had known asLori in2004. She arrived at this identity by way of a girl named Becky Sue Turner. But this could have simply been a number picked for convenience purposes only. He filed for divorce a short time later. 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. Knowing the identity of the third cousin led her to Ruff's identity. All rights reserved. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers. There were two other pieces of paper. The family members identified the picture of the mystery woman as Kimberly Mclean. 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. 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. [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]. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. [1][10] Fitzpatrick had Ruff's husband and daughter tested by a direct-to-consumer testing company, through which she was able to obtain Ruff's DNA results using genetic genealogy phasing techniques, which essentially subtracted Blake Ruff's DNA from Lori's. And, with the child, Lori's behavior became even more erratic. She obtained this identity via a girl named Becky Sue Turner, who died in 1971 in a house fire near Seattle, Washington. 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. The trail leading backwards was in the forbidden lockbox. It's a big Universe full of wonders. 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. Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. 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. In July 1988, she moved to Dallas, where, according to court documents, she legally changed her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. 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. 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. Among the various documents was a certificate indicating that Lori Kennedy had changed her name from Becky Sue Turner. By the time Blake Ruff's wife died, he realized he didn't know her at all. [3], In 2003, she met Blake Ruff, the son of a well-established family in East Texas,[2][3] in a Bible study class. The woman received breast implants in 1991 and claimed to have suffered from bulimia in 1990. 2021 Wondery LLC. She refused to let other people hold the child and was overly protective, even for a first-time mother. Apparently, after Becky Sue Turner perished, a woman turned up and requested a copy of the birth certificate. She obtained a Texas drivers license in 1989, listing her age as 19. Lori met her future husband, Blake, in 2003. Additionally, she displayed many asocial behaviors, such as leaving social gatherings to take naps. Blake, who was close with his parents, couldn't take it anymore. And she had no accent, leading Velling to believe she originally came from the Pacific Northwest or West Coast. She was above average height at 5feet 10inches (1.78m) tall, and weighed 160 pounds (73kg). The news of Kimberlys death saddened her mother deeply. The Ruff family declined to comment on the story, which was first reported by the Seattle Times on Saturday. In 1986, Kimberly McLean ran away from her home at the age of 18. 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. Every day, stories unfold that have no resolution. "My God, that's Kimberly!," one Pennsylvania relative exclaimed, the Seattle Times reported. Whomever she was, the woman Blake knew as Lori Ruff was not who she claimed to be. 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. It was either she or his family, and he chose his family, Velling said. When contacted, however, Perkins stated that he had never heard of Becky Sue Turner or Lori Kennedy. They tried several times to have a child, but she had trouble conceiving and suffered multiple miscarriages. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. For the next couple of years, Blake worked on all aspects of the marriage. Yes! After earning a GED and a college degree, she married into a wealthy East Texas family and gave birth to a daughter. To her husband, she was Lori Kennedy. Also found in the lock box was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings.[6]. If Lori was trying to escape her past, then it could explain her reluctance for publicity. It is generally believed that a new identity was already being considered either for herself or others. Whatever the motivation behind one man entering wedlock to one woman, both parties usually do know each other intimately. Historic Mysteries is an Amazon Associate and earns from qualifying purchases. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. [3], On Christmas Eve 2010, Ruff's body was discovered in her car in the Ruffs' driveway, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. He revealed that Lori considered it to be a personal item that must never be opened. Some people can explain all of this with nothing more sinister than the Witness Protection Program. Blake's parents were suspicious of Lori right from the beginning. A Net Inceptions project. 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.
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