All rights reserved. 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. 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. 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. But, it didn't happen easily and it took the hard work of a number of people and a little Or at least they should. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. After she died, her ex-husband's family discovered a lockbox in a closet in her home. Interesting history topics are just a click away. Host Charlie brings in appropriate historic and cultural context to look beyond what happened and consider why it happened. After Lori Erica Ruff's death, Blake Ruff realized his wife was a complete stranger. Lori began to complain to Blake about his parents whenever she was even mildly inconvenienced. In July 1988, she moved to Dallas, where, according to court documents, she legally changed her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. 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 . 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. She was never too keen to go into further detail. True Crime. In the days following her death, he began the grim task of sorting . She became distressed due to her parents divorce. Lori acquired Becky Turners birth certificate in 1988. 2009-2021 Historic Mysteries. Four years filled with miscarriages and disappointments passed. She wanted to live in her little cocoon.. She was sending deranged emails to the Ruffs. Blake, who was close with his parents, couldn't take it anymore. We now need to revise that list to seven, since one of those mysteries has now been solved. 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 . 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. 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. | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA Notice, This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Eager to meet her, the family invited her to lunch. Perhaps Lori was creating parents for the benefit of Blake. All rights reserved. Days later, she applied for and received a Social Security number a move that effectively erased her past. Related: Girl in the Green Mac: The Baffling, Unsolved Disappearance of Sheila Fox. 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. 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 admitted knowledge of the box. Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (October 16, 1968-December 24, 2010), was an identity thief who remained unidentified for nearly six years after her death. After earning a GED and a college degree, she married into a wealthy East Texas family and gave birth to a daughter. Using a DNA analysis from Ruffs daughter, investigators were able to trace Ruffs identity back to a family in Pennsylvania, whose daughter had disappeared in 1986, when she was 17. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. According to the man, whom Velling did not name, Jane Doe had more problems than he could deal with.. 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. Within a few months of Blake moving out, Lori had completely deteriorated. 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. [1] Velling approached a relative, who immediately identified the deceased Lori Ruff as Kimberly McLean.[1]. One of these had notes written and a collection of phone numbers and names. After she died, her ex-husband's family discovered a lockbox in a closet in her home. Lori Erica Ruff. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. The harassment was so severe that the Ruffs were planning to file a cease and desist order just before Lori's death. 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. He revealed that Lori considered it to be a personal item that must never be opened. She arrived at this identity by way of a girl named Becky Sue Turner. Lori Erica Ruff went by many names. Kimberly Maria McLean, a.k.a. Les currently resides in London and is a freelance writer with a long standing passion for the unexplained and paranormal. She also received breast implants during this time. Now, as he opened it, he understood why it was forbidden territory. 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. At the time, a request of this nature was hardly unusual. The news of Kimberlys death saddened her mother deeply. [4] She also said her father was a failed stockbroker. However, several weeks after getting the new identification, Becky legally changed her identity to Lori Erica Kennedy in Dallas. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Days later, she applied for and received a Social Security number - a. The Varangians: Viking Conquerors turned Byzantium Honor Guard, The Secret Necropolis of Ancient Varna and the First Goldsmiths. Before she took her own life with a shotgun, Lori placed a pair of letters inside the car. 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. Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers. A Net Inceptions project. In a matter of months, Lori completely deteriorated. Investigation Discovery's ' Where Murder Lies: The Girl in the Lockbox' chronicles the story behind Lori Ruff's past. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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. Whatever the motivation behind one man entering wedlock to one woman, both parties usually do know each other intimately. Pic credit: Family pic. The tension between the Ruffs continued to grow as the new grandparents were rebuffed from visits. Synopsis In 2010, he moved back across the state to live with his parents. As with the birth certificate, it was relatively straight forward to acquire a new social security number. She didnt even allow the publication of the announcement of their nuptials in the local newspaper either. 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. Different cultures define matrimony in different ways and tie the knot for various reasons. [7] The couple eloped in January 2004 after Nancy Ruff, Blake's mother, inquired about placing a wedding announcement in the local newspaper. His recollection was that she was a dancer at a Dallas-area nightclub at the time [she was attending school], Velling said. Blake and Lori married in 2004the only witness to their marriage was the priest. Given some of the comments she made or suggested, she didnt appear to realize why the marriage ended. Early on Christmas Eve, Lori drove over to the Ruff house. According to the Seattle Times , a crowd-sourced investigation into Ruff's background began after the paper ran . You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology, Learn more about your ad choices. ", "Three years after Texas woman's suicide, a question lingers: Who was she? The letter failed to mention crucial details such what was her role and responsibilities. Erica Kelley is a native Tennessean exploring historical and contemporary true crime in the South. After her death, her husband and his family found the evidence of her falsified identity in a lock box in her closet. (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.) Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher. Her student loan applications listed three references, one of whom was a former classmate she had briefly dated. Unfortunately, it looks like Lori took all of her secrets to the grave. She had ended her life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher. Police also found a curious letter within the safe. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. 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. One was for her daughter. Yes! Papers belonging to Ruff, who had been married with a child, surfaced after her suicide indicating she had once been known as Lori Kennedy, and prior to that, as Becky Sue Turner, the name of a young girl who had died in a Washington state fire in 1971. But this could have simply been a number picked for convenience purposes only. 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. Market data provided by Factset. In 2010, after she took her own life, secrets were revealed and the truth about her past began to unravel. A man who knew Ruff during this time has stated that she worked as a stripper in the early 1990s. ", "Mystery of the woman with two names: Investigator tries to discover true identity of mother who committed suicide three years ago after husband finds evidence of a double life hidden in a lock box", List of unidentified decedents in the United States, List of unidentified decedents in California, List of unidentified murder victims in the United States, List of unidentified murder victims in California, List of unidentified murder victims in Texas, List of unidentified murder victims in New York, List of unidentified murder victims in Florida, List of unidentified murder victims in Michigan, List of unidentified murder victims in Pennsylvania, National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Lori_Erica_Ruff&oldid=718811075, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2016, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, About Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core. 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. Lori left behind two suicide notes, one of which was addressed to her husband and the other to her young daughter. They then discovered the lock box in a closet, pried it open with a screwdriver, and discovered the documentation of Ruff's past. Related: Jeffrey Alan Lash: His Remarkable Mystery. Blake's mom, Nancy Ruff, described facing a stone wall. Then, in September 2016, the case of Lori Erica Ruff was finally solved: her real name wasKimberly McLean. The response? This page was last modified on 5 May 2016, at 17:33. Or, Lori Erika Kennedy? In 1986, Kimberly McLean ran away from her home at the age of 18. These secrets Lori Ruff had kept from even her husband, Blake Ruff, and his family. She was very private and didn't open to people about her past. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices. She had ended her life with a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Related: Lady of the Dunes: Was the Unidentified Cape Cod Murder Victim an Extra in Jaws?
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