Lori Erica Ruff

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 the box a number of documents were discovered which revealed that, in 1988, Ruff had stolen the identity of Becky Sue Turner, a 2-year-old girl killed in a fire in 1971 in Fife, Washington and then changed her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. Ruff was identified in September 2016 as Kimberly McLean, who grew up in the Philadelphia area and cut off all contact with her family in 1986. Activities prior to marriage: 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. The request was made in Bakersfield, California. She then traveled to Idaho, where she obtained a state ID card on June 16 using the girl's birth certificate. 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. She then received a Texas driver license in 1989, and the next year qualified for a GED, then enrolled in Dallas County Community College. She eventually graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1997, with a degree in Business Administration. A man who knew Ruff during this time has stated that she worked as a stripper in the early 1990s. She also received breast implants during this time. Marriage: In 2003, she met Blake Ruff, the son of a well‑established family in East Texas, in a Bible study class. Blake Ruff admitted that he is not completely sure what drew him to Lori. He describes her as being incredibly secretive, particularly regarding her past. She had told him she was from Arizona, that both her parents were dead, and that she had no siblings. She also said her father was a failed stockbroker. Despite the questions Blake's family had about Lori, the couple married in January 2004. The only person in attendance was the preacher. After getting married, the Ruffs moved to Leonard, Texas. They tried several times to have a child, but had trouble conceiving and suffered multiple miscarriages. This led investigators to believe that Ruff was older than she claimed. She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via in vitro fertilization in 2008. Divorce and suicide- Marriage breakdown: Ruff was "extremely protective" of her daughter, often refusing to let anyone else hold her, which angered her husband's family. 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. Additionally, she displayed many socially‑inappropriate behaviors, such as leaving social gatherings to take naps. Eventually, Ruff did not want her in-laws to have any contact with her daughter. 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. Suicide: In the months between the separation and Lori's suicide, she behaved very erratically. A neighbor recalled that she and her daughter appeared to be very thin and that Lori would often ramble incoherently about her problems. 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 harassment was so severe that the Ruffs were planning to file a cease and desist order just before Lori's death. On December 24, 2010, Ruff's body was discovered in her car in the Ruffs' driveway, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot. In the car were two suicide notes: One 11‑page note addressed to "my wonderful husband" and another addressed to her daughter, to be opened on her 18th birthday. The Ruffs opened and read the letter, but it contained no details about Lori's past. Investigation- Discovery of past: After Lori's funeral, some of the Ruffs drove to Leonard to see if they could find out more about her in her house. 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. They then discovered the lockbox in a closet, pried it open with a screwdriver, and discovered the documentation of Ruff's past. Also found in the lockbox was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings. Theories: The suicide notes were quickly determined to be incoherent ramblings that offered no clues to Ruff's identity 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 the name of an attorney. 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. However, Perkins stated that he had no memory of the woman, and there were no matches for the woman in fingerprint and facial recognition databases. 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". Numerous theories regarding her identity can be found on various internet websites. In May 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. Other commentators noted that Ruff briefly attended UT Arlington and may have become familiar with the film prior to changing her identity. Rule-outs: The following people were ruled out as possible identities for Ruff: - Clara Giusti - Michelle Giusti - Helen Green - Parley Pate - Denise Sheehy - Tina Walls - Susan Luxen Williams Fingerprints were not a match on 08/05/2016 - Cynthia Perry (NamUs MP 8281) DNA is not a match on 08/15/2016 DNA results: Colleen Fitzpatrick, a nuclear-physicist-turned-forensic genealogist, heard about the case. With extensive experience in using DNA markers to match family members, she volunteered her help. Using a saliva sample from Ruff's daughter, she began to match records of DNA samples with the young girl. Fitzpatrick found several possible relatives, but except for one Michael Cassidy they either were distant cousins, and all she could learn about Cassidy was only his name. She remained at an impasse for several years until she was able to construct a family tree from one possible third cousin, and used that to identify Michael Cassidy; with that, she was able to narrow her search and provide a lead for Joe Velling, the retired Social Security Administration investigator who was still in charge of providing a birth name for Ruff. Velling then approached the family, who immediately identified the deceased Lori Ruff as Kimberly McLean, the daughter of Michael Cassidy's aunt. McLean's parents had divorced when she was a teenager, and after her mother remarried, McLean had been unable to get along her new step father. Eventually she left, after telling her mother she was leaving for good and to not go looking for her. Her whereabouts between that time and when she appeared in Dallas are yet unknown. Description: Ruff was a white female, who was approximately 41 to 50 years old when she committed suicide. She was above average height at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall, and weighed 160 pounds (73 kg). She had brown hair and hazel eyes.