Lori Erica Ruff Kept Her Past Locked Up in a Secret Safe Blake Ruff thought he had found someone special. She suffered a miscarriage before eventually giving birth to a baby girl in 2008. Due to her off-putting[opinion][clarification needed], secretive[citation needed] behavior, she clashed with her husband's family, and her marriage eventually collapsed. 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. Both fingerprints and DNA testing turned up nothing to help get to the bottom of her true identity. Historic Mysteries provides captivating articles on archaeology, history, and unexplained mysteries. Blake Ruff thought he had found someone special. The news of Kimberlys death saddened her mother deeply. The Bat Bombs of WWII: Presidentially Approved, Totally Anna Anderson: Imposter of Duchess Anastasia, End of the World Predictions that Never Happened. Investigation Discovery's ' Where Murder Lies: The Girl in the Lockbox' chronicles the story behind Lori Ruff's past. Lori Ruffs handwritten notes. 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. Every day, stories unfold that have no resolution. 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.. 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. His recollection was that she was a dancer at a Dallas-area nightclub at the time [she was attending school], Velling said. 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. [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. Review our. But this could have simply been a number picked for convenience purposes only. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. Many of these sessions tended to feature increasingly strange behavior on her part. The trail leading backwards was in the forbidden lockbox. Whatever the motivation behind one man entering wedlock to one woman, both parties usually do know each other intimately. Copyright 2023 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. 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. [4] She also said her father was a failed stockbroker. 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. 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. With the help of investigator Joe Velling, he traced the DNA to a family in Pennsylvania. 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. [6] The article was subsequently republished in numerous newspapers around the world. 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. 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. Numerous theories regarding her identity can be found on various internet websites. 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 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. A man who knew Ruff during this time has stated that she worked as a stripper in the early 1990s. Find ratings and reviews for the newest movie and TV shows. See acast.com/privacy for more information. 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. In his spare time he enjoys astronomy and Xboxing. 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. 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. 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. 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. Knowing the identity of the third cousin led her to Ruff's identity. But Blake was in love. The Minds of Madness - True Crime Stories. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices. In the days that followed, Blake tried to make sense of how things had gone so wrong. Or, Becky Sue Turner? Crimelines walks you through true crime events, pairing captivating tales with clear storytelling. 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. [5], From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core, "Three years after Texas woman's suicide, a question lingers: Who was she? The harassment was so severe that the Ruffs were planning to file a cease and desist order just before Lori's death. This site uses cookies to improve user experience. McLean requested the birth certificate in Bakersfield, California, Becky Sue Turner's birthplace. Buried deep in the back of Lori's closet, Blake pulled out a sealed lockbox. 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. 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. Also found in the lockbox was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings. Trophy Wife: Dirigido por Christian Sesma. 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. Then, in September 2016, investigators believed they solved the case. 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. The only person in attendance at their wedding ceremony, held in a church outside Dallas, was the officiating preacher. Before she took her own life with a shotgun, Lori placed a pair of letters inside the car. A friend of the family verified that Becky Sue Turner had died in a house fire at the age of 2. 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. The pair set up a home together and tried to start a family. 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 grieving husbandrecognized the box. 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. This is a true crime podcast that spares none of the details and delves into what makes these killers tick. 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. Lori would also spend time fidgeting and stare at the palms and back of her hands. All rights reserved. After they married, Lori and Blake moved across the state from his parents, and they tried to have a child almost immediately. How had their marriage fallen apart? She didnt even allow the publication of the announcement of their nuptials in the local newspaper either. 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. Investigators wondered if she had been a KGB agent, or if she had been in the military and gone AWOL. And when asked about her days in high school, she said she skipped it and went straight to college. While the hotel was genuine and a favored haunt of numerous celebrities, there was no trace of the author. To her husband, she was Lori Kennedy. This led investigators to believe that Ruff was older than she claimed, although the difference turned out to be less than a year. When asked about her background,Lori was guarded and evasive; she claimed her parents were dead and she had no siblings. For example, Lori would often ramble to the minister on a variety of topics; mainly her perceived flaws, problems, and the failure of her marriage. Apparently, after Becky Sue Turner perished, a woman turned up and requested a copy of the birth certificate. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. [1], Fitzpatrick informed Joe Velling, who had in the meantime retired from the SSA. Southern charm is attempted but southern sass is bountiful. Different cultures define matrimony in different ways and tie the knot for various reasons. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. 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. We now need to revise that list to seven, since one of those mysteries has now been solved. ", "Three years after Texas woman's suicide, a question lingers: Who was she? By the time Blake Ruff's wife died, he realized he didn't know her at all. His letter contained pages of incoherent rambling. NY Daily News But to a dogged federal investigator, she is "Jane Doe," a Texas mother who killed herself three years ago in her famil. The contents of this safe put into sharp focus everything that Blake thought he knew about Lori Kennedy. It's the best podcast app and works on Android, iPhone, and the web. 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 harassment was so severe that the Ruffs filed a cease and desist order just before Lori's death. We don't take ourselves too seriously but we take true crime very seriously. [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]. Lori refused to allow anyone else to babysit her child. 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. This has led investigators to believe that Ruff was much older than she claimed to be. She had told him she was from Arizona, that both her parents were dead, and that she had no siblings. DNA taken from the body might also help crack the case. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. Her mothers remarriage didnt help either and she told her family she was going away. After several miscarriages, the couple finally had a daughter in 2008. After Lori Erica Ruff's death, Blake Ruff realized his wife was a complete stranger. They looked for signs of gambling addiction and sex trafficking. At the time of this application, Lori quoted her age as 19. I find her case fascinating, especially in a post-9/11 world where there are so many avenues for identifying individuals. 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. After her death, Lori's husband found a lockbox with papers inside that shed light on his wife's past. I also want to get the Early Bird Books newsletter featuring great deals on ebooks. 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], In 2003, she met Blake Ruff, the son of a well-established family in East Texas,[2][3] in a Bible study class. Lori Erica Ruff - identity SOLVED? Related: Jeffrey Alan Lash: His Remarkable Mystery. Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher. As with the birth certificate, it was relatively straight forward to acquire a new social security number. It is one thing to suspect Lori Erica Ruff of being a simple identity thief, but it is another thing to understand why. In July 1988, she moved to Dallas, where, according to court documents, she legally changed her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Plot Summary submission guide. In the days following her death, hebegan the grim task of sortingthrough his wifespossessions. 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. Blake was caught in the middle, and eventually he couldn't take it anymore. Lori acquired Becky Turners birth certificate in 1988. Blake did learn that Lori was born somewhere in Arizona. Synopsis 2010 42- , . She was much older than that, he said. 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. Blake, who was close with his parents, couldn't take it anymore. Sometime later, Blake's father left the house to pick up the paper. When he returned to his parents, he filed for a divorce. [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. There was a birth and death certificate in the box. Legal Statement. The other was for Blake. The tension between the Ruffs continued to grow as the new grandparents were rebuffed from visits. Nancy said it was like that all afternoon she asked questions, and Lori provided evasive answers. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. Eager to meet her, the family invited her to lunch. She wanted to live in her little cocoon.. Join us for a good mix of lesser known cases as well as our take on what we call the "Big Timers". One was for her daughter. Related: The Strange Case of the Isdal Woman. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (October 16, 1968-December 24, 2010), was an identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. Hair pulled from the woman's head had skin on it that helped forensic investigators learn she had one of the genes associated with coronary artery disease. Who was she? Prior to that, she was known as Becky Sue Turner, an identity forged with the birth certificate of a long-dead child. Market data provided by Factset. Lori Erica Ruff was a secretive person. For years, it was nothing but a series of dead ends. Lori met her future husband, Blake, in 2003. On Monday though, Lori. 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. Join her as she shows you just how southern fried the justice system can be in the Deep South. On the West Coast, we generally dont have a discernible accent, said Velling, a Seattle native. Early on Christmas Eve, Lori drove over to the Ruff house. 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. 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. [1] After two years, Fitzpatrick finally identified Ruff when she discovered a third cousin match who was related to the Cassidys. Perhaps because of these miscarriages, Lori was ultra-protective of her daughter. And she was aggressive about it, Velling said. She arrived at this identity by way of a girl named Becky Sue Turner. Lori acquired Turner's birth certificate in 1988, a time when you could just send a letter requesting a birth certificate with little resistance. ", "Texas woman's true identity baffles ex-husband, authorities years after her suicide", "She stole another's identity, and took her secret to the grave. 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. She must now fight to clear her name and figure out who betrayed her husband. After she died, her ex-husband's family discovered a lockbox in a closet in her home. After her death, her husband and his family found the evidence of her falsified identity in a lock box in her closet. That created a lot of heartburn for the family.. Unfortunately, it looks like Lori took all of her secrets to the grave. They believed she fled because she did not like her mothers new husband. She wasnt Lori Erica Ruffshe was a Pennsylvania woman named Kimberly McLean. 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. Police also found a curious letter within the safe. [7] She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via in vitro fertilisation in 2008. Sign up for The Lineup's newsletter, and receive our eeriest cases delivered straight to your inbox. Whomever she was, the woman Blake knew as Lori Ruff was not who she claimed to be. 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. Such things have happened in other cases, and are often traumatic events. "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. All rights reserved. [1] She eventually graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1997, with a degree in Business Administration.