The Mystery of Lori Erica Ruff

[2-B]

Here's a new topic for anyone who wants a diversion from the Brown/Wilson conversation. (I noticed a comment or two from folks who said they were tired of it.)

This one's a real head-scratcher and might be fun to try to work through.

In 2003 in Texas, a woman purportedly named Lori Erica Kennedy married a fellow named Blake Kennedy. Lori was tall, dark-haired, attractive if somewhat reserved. Blake, a twin, was from a close knit Texas family. A friend described him as "not having much of an inner monologue," (or apparently an outer one, for that matter). He tended to follow rather than lead, to mimic what his twin brother did, to question few things. When his brother began attending church and Bible studies, Blake followed, and there he met Lori Kennedy.

They married, and Lori very much wanted to start a family, although that proved challenging. Some suspected Lori was actually older than the age she gave Blake and his family, perhaps accounting for the challenges in starting their family. But eventually a daughter was born of the union.

The marriage hadn't been smooth sailing, and the child's birth exacerbated the root of the problems. From the start, Lori was downright secretive with Blake's family about her past, saying only that her parents were deceased and that she had no siblings. For the most part, she made little effort to bond with Blake's family, something which distressed both her husband and in-laws. She was by all accounts rather cool and aloof even with her own husband, unable or unwilling to share much of herself. And when the baby was born, that unwillingness to share extended to the rest of the family. One account claims she wouldn't even let the baby's grandmother hold the baby while she, Lori, went to the rest room.

[continued next post]

[2-B]

Eventually, the strain on the marriage grew, Blake packed up, and he moved 125 miles back to his parents' home, leaving Lori and the baby to fend for themselves.

Neighbors later said they'd see Lori walking the perimeter of the property from time to time, head down, looking gaunt and disheveled.

On Christmas Eve 2010, Lori's vehicle appeared in the driveway of Blake's parents' home. Blake's father found her dead inside the vehicle. And here the real mystery began, because following Lori's suicide, Blake's family went to the house Lori and Blake had shared and began investigating things Lori had always instructed Blake he was NEVER to touch.....

Read more about what they found here

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021243552_janedoexml.html

and see the documents from the strong box, including the birth certificate for the deceased child Becky Sue Turner, whose identity Lori had stolen/borrowed.

Who was Becky Sue, and how did Lori know of her?

Why did Lori need or want to change her identity?

Was she herself a criminal? Was she running from a criminal? Does she fit the profile of any current missing but unidentified person? Could she have escaped from a cult/religion and left her prior identity behind?

[karmakazi]

That is incredibly facinating...

[Poltergeistnz]

Wow! I want to solve this now! Shame I don't have the skills etc. I want to know more. Thanks for this.

[Vincennes]

This really is an interesting case. A couple of things that I noticed there is nothing that states she had a Social Security number as Becky Sue. It's a while back yes, but people generaly got SSNs at least when they became teenagers. The name change from Becky Sue to Lori had to have an application which is actually mentioned in the official document and there would have been a SSN required on that application ?? So why does this article just have the journal entry which tells really nothing and not the application ??

Or did I miss mention of it somewhere along the line ?

Edit: I just went back and found that there is a SSN listed on Becky's Idaho Driver's license. Was that never used ? Perhaps because she just "appeared" as a late teen with that name, it wasn't.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Vincennes

[Poltergeistnz]

Good point Vincennes.

I note there was a FB page created about it, but it hasn't been updated for over a year.

[mbrn30000]

Very interesting case 2-B. Boise in 1988, changes her name in Dallas in 1988 yet has a PO Box in Boulder City NV, right outside Las Vegas in the late 80's. lots of traveling during 1988 at least. Why go to Dallas for the name change. Does TX have the easiest laws? Ok breast implants? I am thinking stripper who travels a circuit or prostitute. Probably raised in foster care. Check out strip joints in Vegas, Boise and other northwest towns. She must have never been arrested if they do not have her prints on file. Of course if she was a pro she got out of the business around the name change. Maybe that was the reason she went to all this effort. So wonder if anyone bothered entering old prints from prostitution or indecency charges into print data bases when they started spreading to the various states. Also check to see if they kept records for legal prostitution in the counties in NV that allow it. So she was a bit psycho, abused as a child then as an adult. She went into the sex business then desperately wanted out. Turns into a dedicated church goer with breast implants.

And I have heard of this kind of identity theft back then. I think since computers they have closed the gap with computers but I remember hearing about using dead infants birth certs. I think it was commonly done thing for people wanting to start over. Now with most babies getting SSN right away for tax purposes, it doesn't work.

One more thought. In Nevada for most jobs in any hospitality or gaming establishment you need a sheriff's card or a gaming card. Sheriff cards or police cards are issued by the cops of course but back then you only gave your thumb print. gaming cards seems you gave all fingers and those were processed by the Gaming Control Board. Wonder if they ever compare those prints to whatever they store? Incidentally, Boulder City was the only town in NV without gaming back then. Don't know if its changed. Wonder why she chose that as her PO Box. its right near the Arizona border going over the dam, but you could easily commute to vegas perhaps 15 mil or so ride.

Edited December 4, 2014 by mbrn30000

[mbrn30000]

Play the audio file. I don't have time tonight but gonna listen tomorrow.

http://thinkingsidewayspodcast.com/tag/lori-erica-ruff/

[Poltergeistnz]

So I was thinking (with no proof at all or reasoning, so don't think too much about this cause even I don't really believe it) that Lori IS Becky!!!! Was just a passing thought that amused me enough to post.

Edited December 4, 2014 by Poltergeistnz

[danibear]

This is really interesting. Its unusual as well that she kept Blake away from the strongbox. Granted theres stuff that everyone has that is private, but to make such a massive point about it seems unusual. Especially as there isnt anything in there that can actually pin her to the 'real' person she is as proven by the PI.

I'd love to know more about this, its gripped my morbid little curiosity and now it wants more!

[mbrn30000]

Ok thanks 2-b for making me lose sleep on a good mystery. LOL. I am thinking why would she create an identity then change the name again. Perhaps her real first name is Lori. She needed the dead infant to get the SSN changed but perhaps she felt it too risky to be a Becky. She could run into someone who knew her and be exposed. But a woman can always explain a last name change to someone from her past. What if she is a Lori from Canada. She would be an instant American if she stole a dead American's identity. Very little or no accent. Probably from BC or Alberta. Maybe some missing Lori from the mid 80's somewhere in the NW or in Western Canada. I am also not sure she did not have some connection to Becky's family. She was into genealogy for the Ruffs. Perhaps she was for herself as well. I did see in an article by Fox that she was a stripper in Dallas at first. Searching her email address csengineer2002@yahoo.com on her resume I found these sites: http://www.personalityforge.com/userviewer.php?UserID=55526 and http://genforum.genealogy.com/ruff/messages/825.html that one signed as Blake. Strange.

[Ozfactor]

What a sad story . Living a lie for your whole adult life . I will follow this up when I have more time . Were was the baby when Lori killed herself, was the baby with her father ?

[Poltergeistnz]

Ok thanks 2-b for making me lose sleep on a good mystery. LOL. I am thinking why would she create an identity then change the name again. Perhaps her real first name is Lori. She needed the dead infant to get the SSN changed but perhaps she felt it too risky to be a Becky. She could run into someone who knew her and be exposed. But a woman can always explain a last name change to someone from her past. What if she is a Lori from Canada. She would be an instant American if she stole a dead American's identity. Very little or no accent. Probably from BC or Alberta. Maybe some missing Lori from the mid 80's somewhere in the NW or in Western Canada. I am also not sure she did not have some connection to Becky's family. She was into genealogy for the Ruffs. Perhaps she was for herself as well. I did see in an article by Fox that she was a stripper in Dallas at first. Searching her email address csengineer2002@yahoo.com on her resume I found these sites: http://www.personali...hp?UserID=55526 and http://genforum.gene...ssages/825.html that one signed as Blake. Strange.

I think she changed it to Lori to make it harder for people to trace her, rather than going around with a dead child's name.

She may have already been called Lori or it might have been a nickname. I do wonder how she came up with her entire name. What clues are in it?

What a sad story . Living a lie for your whole adult life . I will follow this up when I have more time . Were was the baby when Lori killed herself, was the baby with her father ?

So far I haven't seen an answer to that yet, as I too would like to know. I also would like to know how no-one heard her shoot herself.

[Regi]

I am also not sure she did not have some connection to Becky's family.

Yeah, I think there should be another look at that.

[Poltergeistnz]

I agree there may be a strong link with Becky's family.

[mbrn30000]

There were books telling people how to disappear back when people actually read books. I do remember the dead baby technique, but I wonder if they also recommended changing the name again as soon as you can. That almost sounds like folly. I don't think her Lori Kennedy is random. It meant something to her even if it involved fantasy. Maybe she always wanted to be a Kennedy. Maybe she had an old boyfriend named Kennedy. My money is on a missing woman named Lori with not much of a family. Foster kid, or orphaned. Still would check out Canada, the northwest and Vegas. Boulder City is a strange place to decide you want a PO Box. Back then it was more retirement oriented. Maybe she has some older person she was sponging off of for a bit. Or maybe she thought she didn't know anyone there and could get her mail unrecognized. This woman as a nut, but a smart nut.

[Careful_perspective]

I have been interested in this case since I first heard of it too. Its so frustrating because all you need is one person to step forward who knows who she is for all of this to be solved.

[mbrn30000]

I have been interested in this case since I first heard of it too. Its so frustrating because all you need is one person to step forward who knows who she is for all of this to be solved.

Has it ever been on a national tv broadcast? I have never heard of this case until now. I bet if they ran it nationwide in US and Canada they will find out who she was very quickly.

[timewarrior]

This is the Timewarrior speaking. . .Even if you run her picture on national tv, i think you might have a hard time finding her. . .I did a double take when I saw her myself. . .she seemed so familiar. . .I think she has one of those faces. . .the kind that give you that warm fuzzy feeling of deja vu. . .

[Vincennes]

There is just so much information that should be available that is not in this article. Such as did she list any employer during that initial time period under the Becky name ? She took that SSN on with her and went to college. Did she pay for college entirely on her own or were their any student loans ? If there were student loans she should have had to list former employers, source of income and references.

True, with all that she did get around, she might have dodged all this also but if she did, I think there would be even more question as to how.

I thought she was really quite pretty. With her height and boob job, along with traces of Las Vegas, even if the FBI denies it, I'm thinking this was a girl who was given a new identity.

[Regi]

I just try to start with the simplest scenario, and so I'm more of the notion that she started out as a mentally disturbed young woman who must have somehow had firsthand knowledge of the family of the fire victim.

[mbrn30000]

I think the note with all the scribbles on it might tell us something. We don't know when it was written, but it seems most of the phone numbers are Los Angeles. Some area code 213 and some 818. Area code 818 was created in 1984, so we know she was calling after Jan 7 1984 those numbers. In 1988 seems to be when she decides to become someone else. So I am guessing LA is where she went to make her fame and fortune and found something else. She gets the birth cert in 1988, gets the Idaho ID in June 1988 and then changes the name in Texas in July 1988. Then goes about creating Lori Kennedy living in Texas. Her resume goes back to 1992 and again only Texas. If she was born in 1960-65 like some suppose, she would be 27-32 by 1992 but with 1969 like Becky she would be 23. So Lori Kennedy is born at the age of 23 in 1992 and did not exist before. Her saying she was a self employed marketing executive 1992-1998 tells me she was basically unemployed and probably stripping. Her Texas boyfriend she was a stripper when he knew her. If you look at this note, it appears like a note you would keep by your phone to scribble something down. She writes all over it as if she is using it over a long period of time. There is one to a lawyer who some say was a bankruptcy lawyer later disbarred ( he was disbarred and later assisted in a non lawyer way with bankruptcy filings, but I cannot find his previous specialty), there is a Jeung lady that is said to be in television, there is one that says These Eyes and shoot...and some say this number is to a photography company that was named that back then, The number is still active and does come back to a photography company. Did she have a model shoot or maybe she was working with advertisers. On her resume she seems to think she is a marketing and art specialist. So my guess, she is either looking for work as an employee or working on her consulting business in LA. The lawyer does not recall her. But maybe these numbers were running ads for receptionists or something and she was job hunting. Also there is a reference to 402 months. Some take that to suggest either she or someone in her life, ie husband, abuser,, parent, was facing or had been sentenced to 402 months for a crime...33.5 years. I have stared at it and can almost see 40 2 months. she does put three exclamation points under it. So I am narrowing the years that caused her to do this between 84- June 1988. Most likely 1987 in LA.

if you have not already, save the pic so you can spin this note around as you read it. lol

Edited December 8, 2014 by mbrn30000

[Regi]

Who would measure time in terms of 402 months?

I think what struck me most about those notes was the reference to three different phone companies.

[mbrn30000]

Who would measure time in terms of 402 months?

I think what struck me most about those notes was the reference to three different phone companies.

I thought that to about the months. I have heard sentences expressed in months, but usually when a lawyer talks to a layman he translates it to years, at least I think. The press does too. I am wondering if it does not mean 40 something for 2 months.

I also thought that the three phone companies were interesting. But remember back then it was all landlines and all hardbound phone books. I thought it could be related to her marketing business or the one she claims to be doing in 1992 Texas. I am thinking that was her deal before the name change to. Maybe she was checking the pricing for add in different yellow pages or maybe she was looking for a job in ad sales. I wonder if her real identity started out much like her new identity. College, stripping, marketing consulting business whether real, trying to start one or a delusion of hers. Her biggest con victim might have been herself.

[Regi]

I am wondering if it does not mean 40 something for 2 months.

That makes more sense to me, which then sounds like 40 marked an anniversary of some sort.

I thought it could be related to her marketing business or the one she claims to be doing in 1992 Texas. I am thinking that was her deal before the name change to. Maybe she was checking the pricing for add in different yellow pages or maybe she was looking for a job in ad sales.

Yeah, that sounds reasonable!

Since it struck me as rather odd and mainly, since I wasn't familiar with Mountain Bell, I looked that one up and if I understood the wiki info. correctly, the name changed in Jan. '91. (Now, I'm not sure that's helpful in the least, but I thought I'd share it anyway.)