Lori Erica Ruff
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Lori Erica Kennedy Ruff (born Kimberly Maria McLean, October 16, 1968 – December 24, 2010) was an American
identity thief ''Identity Thief'' is a 2013 American road comedy film directed by Seth Gordon, written by Craig Mazin from a story by Mazin and Jerry Eeten. It stars Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau, Amanda Peet, Tip 'T.I.' Harris, Genesis Rodrigu ...
who died by suicide in the driveway of her former
in-laws In law and in cultural anthropology, affinity is the kinship relationship created or that exists between two people as a result of someone's marriage. It is the relationship each party in the marriage has to the family of the other party in t ...
' home in
Longview, Texas Longview is a city in, and county seat of, Gregg County, Texas, United States. Longview is located in East Texas, where Interstate 20 and U.S. Highway system, U.S. highways U.S. Route 80, 80 and U.S. Route 259, 259 converge just north of the Sabi ...
on December 24, 2010. Following Ruff's death, her ex-husband and in-laws discovered through documents found in a lock box in her closet that she had been living under a false name when she married into the family. Coupled with her secretive behavior, which had contributed to the collapse of her marriage, Ruff's true identity remained unknown for nearly six years after her death. A 2013 ''Seattle Times'' feature article about the case was published in news outlets around the world and created enormous interest in the online " websleuth" community. Ruff's true origins remained a mystery until September 2016, when her identity was confirmed using a combination of public records and direct-to-consumer autosomal SNP analysis of her husband's and daughter's DNA, leading back to the McLean–Cassidy family on the
Philadelphia Main Line The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and Social class in the United States, social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's onc ...
.


Activities before marriage


Early life

Ruff was born as Kimberly Maria McLean in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
to James and Deanne McLean (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Cassidy). She grew up in the suburbs of
Delaware Valley The Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as Greater Philadelphia and informally called the Delaware Valley, the Philadelphia tri-state area, and locally and colloquially Philly–Jersey–Delaware, is a major metropolitan area in the Nor ...
, until her parents divorced, with her mother gaining custody of McLean and her sister, marrying her second husband Robert Becker and moving the family to Wyncote, where McLean attended Bishop McDevitt High School. She reportedly had a difficult time adjusting to the new environment, and did not get along with her mother and stepfather. In the fall of 1986, just after reaching
age of majority The age of majority is the threshold of legal adulthood as recognized or declared in law. It is the moment when a person ceases to be considered a minor (law), minor, and assumes legal control over their person, actions, and decisions, thus te ...
with her 18th birthday, McLean abruptly moved away from home to the nearby town of
King of Prussia The monarchs of Prussia were members of the House of Hohenzollern who were the hereditary rulers of the former German state of Prussia from its founding in 1525 as the Duchy of Prussia. The Duchy had evolved out of the Teutonic Order, a Roman C ...
, cutting off contact with her family shortly thereafter.


Identity theft

On May 20, 1988, McLean obtained the birth certificate of Becky Sue Turner, a two-year-old girl who had died, along with two of her siblings, in a house fire in
Fife, Washington Fife is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States and a suburb of Tacoma. The population was 10,999 at the 2020 census. Fife is contained within the Puyallup Indian Reservation and bisected by Interstate 5. It is east of Tacoma and t ...
in 1971. McLean requested the birth certificate in
Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...
, Becky Sue Turner's birthplace. She then traveled to
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...
, where she used the document to obtain a state ID card on June 16. McLean, posing as Becky Sue Turner, appeared before a judge in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
on July 5, 1988, and legally changed her name to Lori Erica Kennedy. A week later, she obtained a
Social Security number In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to United States nationality law, U.S. citizens, Permanent residence (United States), permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2 ...
, removing traces of her true identity. She retained Becky Sue Turner’s birth date of July 18, 1969. She received a Texas driver license in 1989 and qualified for a
GED Ged or GED may refer to: Places * Ged, Louisiana, an unincorporated community in the United States * Ged, a village in Bichiwara Tehsil, Dungarpur District, Rajasthan, India * Delaware Coastal Airport, in Delaware, US, callsign GED People * Ged B ...
the following year. She enrolled in Dallas County Community College, and in 1997 she graduated from the
University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is the second oldest university in the University of Texas System and was founded in 1895. It was in the Texas A& ...
with a degree in
business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...
. McLean was recorded as residing in California, Idaho, and
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
for "at least some time" under the Kennedy alias before moving to
Bedford, Texas Bedford is a city located in northeastern Tarrant County, Texas, United States, in the "Mid-Cities" area between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Worth. It is a suburb of Dallas and Fort Worth. The population was 49,928 at the 2020 United State ...
by 2001.


Marriage

In 2003, while residing in
Carrollton, Texas Carrollton is a city in Dallas County, Texas, Dallas, Denton County, Texas, Denton, and Collin County, Texas, Collin counties in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 133,434, making it the ...
, McLean met Jon Blakely "Blake" Ruff, the son of a socially prominent family in
East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...
, in a Bible study class. Ruff described her as being incredibly secretive, particularly regarding her past. She had told him she was from
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
, 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 A stockbroker is an individual or company that buys and sells stocks and other investments for a financial market participant in return for a commission, markup, or fee. In most countries they are regulated as a broker or broker-dealer and ...
. The couple
eloped Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. A ...
in January 2004 after Nancy Ruff, Blake's mother, inquired about placing a wedding announcement in the local newspaper. The only person in attendance at their wedding ceremony, held in a church outside Dallas, was the officiating preacher. After getting married, the Ruffs moved to
Leonard, Texas Leonard is a city in Fannin County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,987 at the 2020 census. Geography Leonard is located in southwestern Fannin County. U.S. Route 69 passes along the northern and eastern edges of the city, leading ...
. They tried several times to have a child, but she had trouble conceiving and suffered multiple
miscarriages Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion, is an end to pregnancy resulting in the loss and expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it can survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation i ...
. This led investigators to believe that Ruff was older than she claimed, although the difference turned out to be less than a year. She eventually gave birth to a baby girl via
in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...
in 2008.


Divorce and suicide


Marriage breakdown

Ruff was "extremely protective" of her daughter, often refusing to let anyone else hold her and even taking the baby with her to use the bathroom. She would also obsessively track the Ruffs' family history and try to find out their family recipes, but she still refused to talk about her own past. Eventually, Ruff did not want her in-laws to have any contact with her daughter; as a result, the Ruffs began encouraging Blake to get out of the marriage. After some failed marriage therapy sessions, 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 undernourished and that Lori would often ramble incoherently to herself while pacing back and forth outside. 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 filed a
cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...
order just before Lori's death. On December 24, 2010, Lori's body was discovered in her car in the Ruffs' driveway, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. 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 only "ramblings from a clearly disturbed person" and no details about Lori's past. Authorities believe she initially traveled to the home with the intent of harming the family.


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 lock box in a closet, pried it open with a screwdriver, and discovered the documentation of Ruff's past. Also found in the lock box was a paper with several seemingly random scribblings. The suicide notes were quickly determined to be incoherent ramblings that offered no clues to Ruff's identity. Other papers included the birth certificate of Becky Sue Turner and a judge's ruling granting a name change to Lori Erica Kennedy. A friend of the family verified that Becky Sue Turner had died in a house fire at the age of 2. The writings on the paper found in the lock box included the scribblings "
North Hollywood North Hollywood is a neighborhood and district in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, El Portal Theater, several art galleries, and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...
police," "402 months," and "Ben Perkins." 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 Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
attorney. When contacted, however, Perkins stated that he had never heard of Becky Sue Turner or Lori Kennedy. (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.) In addition, there were no matches for the woman in any existing 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 enlisted the services of a so-called identity broker. In September 2011, the Ruff family, with the help of a congressional aide, sought the help of Joe Velling, an investigator for the
Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...
(SSA) who specialised in solving identity theft cases. Velling agreed to help identify her as a case of identity theft. After following numerous leads, he was still unable to find any information about Lori from before 1986; being stumped, he sought the help of the general public to identify her through an article published June 22, 2013, in ''
The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...
''. The article was subsequently republished in numerous newspapers around the world.


Identification

Colleen Fitzpatrick, a former nuclear physicist and a pioneer in the field of
forensic genealogy Investigative genetic genealogy, also known as forensic genetic genealogy, is the emerging practice of utilizing genetic information from direct-to-consumer companies for identifying suspects or victims in criminal cases. As of December 2023, the ...
, learned of Lori Ruff in 2013 and began work on the case. Fitzpatrick had Ruff's husband and daughter had been tested by a direct-to-consumer testing company, through which Fitzpatrick was able to obtain Ruff's DNA results using genetic genealogy phasing techniques, which essentially subtracted Blake Ruff's DNA from their daughter's. Ruff had a first cousin named Cassidy on her list of matches; however, the name was very common and the cousin was not responsive. After two years, Fitzpatrick finally identified Ruff when she discovered a third-cousin match who was related to the Cassidys. Knowing the identity of the third cousin led her to Ruff's identity. Fitzpatrick informed Joe Velling, who had in the meantime retired from the SSA. He flew to Pennsylvania to meet the potential family. Velling approached a relative, who immediately identified the deceased Lori Ruff as Kimberly McLean. McLean's mother took a DNA test which confirmed the match.


See also

*
List of solved missing person cases Lists of solved missing person cases include: * List of solved missing person cases: pre-1950 * List of solved missing person cases: 1950–1999 * List of solved missing person cases: post-2000 See also

* List of kidnappings * List of murder ...
*
Lyle Stevik Lyle Stevik (died September 16, 2001) was the alias used by an American man who, in 2001, died by suicide inside a motel room in Amanda Park, Washington. Although his body was quickly discovered, and fingerprints, DNA and dental information c ...
, a 2001 suicide in
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
. The man used this alias at the hotel in which he stayed. He then hanged himself in his room. He was identified on May 8, 2018. His identity has been withheld at the request of his family. *
Joseph Newton Chandler III Robert Ivan Nichols, alias Joseph Newton Chandler III (September 12, 1926 – July 23, 2002), was a formerly unidentified American identity thief who committed suicide in Eastlake, Ohio, in July 2002. After his death, investigators were unab ...
, a 2002 suicide in
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
who was also discovered to have been living under of the identity of someone who died in childhood years before; he was identified as Robert Nichols in 2018. *
Peter Bergmann Peter Gabriel Bergmann (24 March 1915 – 19 October 2002) was a German-American physicist best known for his work with Albert Einstein on a unified field theory encompassing all physical interactions. He also introduced primary and seconda ...
, the alias of a man who arrived in
Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...
, Ireland, in 2009 and was found dead a few days later. His true identity remains unknown. * Suzanne Sevakis, a woman who lived and died under the name Sharon Marshall, the stepdaughter of convicted murderer Franklin Delano Floyd who passed her off as his wife. * Ghosting


References


Further reading

*Maureen O'Hagan, ''The Woman in the Strongbox'' Amazon Original Stories (July 31, 2018
Amazon page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruff, Lori 1968 births 1980s missing person cases 2010 in Texas 2010 suicides 2010 deaths Formerly missing American people Identity theft incidents Longview, Texas Missing person cases in Pennsylvania People from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania People from Leonard, Texas Suicides by firearm in Texas University of Texas at Arlington alumni History of women in Texas