When I first posted to this forum, I felt the problem was that the known evidence had been so picked over there was nothing left to say, & that anyone who wanted the answer had to find more evidence. Almost a year has passed, now that we know LEK's birth name & some of her earlier history, but my opinion hasn't changed: anyone who wants the answer for how she got from Kimberly McLean to Lori Eric Ruff needs to find more evidence. What we are likely to learn thru Google searches will not contain the answer.
(FWIW, my own theory is that she met someone who gained her friendship & trust, & convinced KM/LEK to leave her family. The same person likely convinced her to adopt a new identity, then disappeared from her life at some point after KM/LEK moved to Dallas. I don't have any clinching proof this is true, but it's what I will believe is true until someone proves me wrong.)
Her bankruptcy records are a matter of public record: that alone would provide an interesting snapshot of her life. IMHO, she didn't declare bankruptcy due to reckless spending, but as a means to cope with repaying her student loans. But to speculate on her motivations for declaring bankruptcy without reading them really is a disservice to her.
And there's a lot of other information out there waiting to be found. Unfortunately, much of it won't be uncovered thru an Internet forum, but thru one determined researcher -- or maybe a team of two or three -- with the skill & time to interview all the people involved at length, & elicit the clues needed to help us follow this woman from the Philadelphia suburb where she grew up to Dallas. In other words, anyone who wants to know the answer needs to wait for someone to write a book about her. Which should not be an unrewarding project for a journalist/author: a book about KM/LEK's life is bound to have a large audience.
