Lori Ruff Identified as Kimberly McLean of PA

[LucyOso]

The nose, I can see her having had work done, but to me her chin looks like she just gained some weight later on in life.

Yes, a bit of a nose job and the chin...we are comparing the jawline and chin of a younger teenage girl and a woman. Weight gain and normal maturation could be a huge part of the difference. Plus, the angles of the photos. In the youthful one, she has her head tipped forward, the others tipped back a bit...

 

[bradfordsleuth]

I don't think anyone is saying it's not her. Some are just admitting/realizing they are bad at recognizing younger pics of the same person. We compared so many photos over the years and some people had strong feelings that other people they found "looked just like her". I'm sure most people had a favorite they thought would turn out to be her (Jennifer Wictor is one that got brought up a lot but I never saw the resemblance). Now that we have a photo that IS her people who had a different person in mind are probably shocked at how far off they were in the photos they thought looked like her younger self. That's all that is happening. People are shocked. A lot of people were also "sure" her real name would be Lori or some variant (Laurie/Laura/Loretta, etc). Well a lot of people were wrong. It's natural to be surprised and point these things out, IMO.

Exactly! Thank you for explaining this much better than I would have, Gardener1850.

 

[bears10]

Just saw the article over on the Philly.com website. It's a verbatim repost of the Seattle Times article, but with one difference -- a larger snapshot of the page KM's photo is on. On that page you can see other pictures of students, & it's clear she's wearing a school uniform. (And there's no mention of the forum on Websleuths. :-( )

Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/M...ing-mystery-of-identity-thief-Lori-Ruff-.html

The comments in the Philly.com article include one interesting fact. In response to a question if anyone at her high school remembered her:



Still reading the comments, so there might be more.

Makes sense. She turned 18 in the fall of her senior year and left without graduating IMO. Wonder if now that's it's on the philly website if any of her old friends or acquaintances are going to remember anything significant about her.

 

[Midge Montana]

Just saw the article over on the Philly.com website. It's a verbatim repost of the Seattle Times article, but with one difference -- a larger snapshot of the page KM's photo is on. On that page you can see other pictures of students, & it's clear she's wearing a school uniform. (And there's no mention of the forum on Websleuths. :-( )

Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/M...ing-mystery-of-identity-thief-Lori-Ruff-.html

The comments in the Philly.com article include one interesting fact. In response to a question if anyone at her high school remembered her:



Still reading the comments, so there might be more.

There's a 3rd grade photo of her on that alumni site. Sad that very few people even remember her from high school.

 

[EmiLove832]

Posting the 3rd grade photos that were found of her and posted on FB.

 

[anewman1022]

I believe the stepfather was likely the stockbroker. No judgment but it would seem unlikely for a blue collar carpenter and volunteer fireman to suddenly become a stockbroker.

I'm curious if her bio dad helped her if he was still alive. Maybe he's the person she kept the po boxes to keep in touch with or her sister? Sorry new to posting really got into this case.

 

[Gardener1850]

So, does anyone think her father or stepfather (whichever one was the stockbroker) could have written the notes page?
Stockbrokers need to know time zones right? Maybe all these people were potential clients he was researching?

 

[HerStory]

And if she says 'failed stockbroker and his wife'. She is being disparaging to her potential step-dad and disengaged from her mother. Very telling.

 

[lisapr355]

I'm curious if her bio dad helped her if he was still alive. Maybe he's the person she kept the po boxes to keep in touch with or her sister? Sorry new to posting really got into this case.

I was thinking that it was her bio dad she was in touch with, thus, the boxes. There is no mention of him in the story because the DNA was connecting her to her mother and that side of the family. No mention has been made of the sister which is interesting. She may have felt that she needed to keep in touch with him (bio dad) because of a sense of loyalty. I'd be curious to hear from that side of the family and the sister.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

15/16 is year 11 in the UK, just for comparison.

She definitely has early 1980s hair!

Which in old fashioned UK terms is 5th form i.e. GCSE year!

 

[AliceInPain]

She looks so modest and slightly sad and quiet and maybe even shy as Kimberly, but her first pic as Lori (that we know of) and a few of the later ones, she seems so genuinely happy and even excited.

I hope she had at least a few happy years in her life.

 

[Midge Montana]

I hope those that loved and missed her will find their way to these threads. If for no other reason than to know she was cared about and that WSers truly did try to find her identity for several reasons, one being so her family could have closure.

 

[jslk]

Which in old fashioned UK terms is 5th form i.e. GCSE year!

Yup! I was in Year 11 though (the new numbering started when I was in year 6, 4th year junior's old money &#128521

Sent from my SM-J500FN using Tapatalk

 

[SavetheQueen]

Is there a way to add all the media links that are coming out to the front page of the forum? The Seattle Times, FoxNews, etc?

*All statements are that of my own opinion unless otherwise specified. *

 

[llywrch]

And if she says 'failed stockbroker and his wife'. She is being disparaging to her potential step-dad and disengaged from her mother. Very telling.

I'm probably reading too much into these facts, but I am noticing a likely pattern here.

KM was born & raised for her first years in Wynnewood, PA; her father is reportedly a carpenter & a volunteer fireman. According to Wikipedia, Wynnewood straddles two townships: Lower Merion, which WP describes as having " the 5th highest per-capita income and the 12th highest median household income in the country", & Haverford Township, whose per capita income figures aren't much lower. Her mother divorces her father & ends up marrying a stock-broker.

Last I checked, while many carpenters do make enough money to raise a family on, very few make enough to fit into an affluent locale like Wynnewood. And stock-brokers do make a lot more money than carpenters -- & sometimes live in a community like Wynnwood, although in KM's case her step-father moved them to Wynecote. Wyncote also appears to be pretty affluent, too.

I wonder just how much money played a role in the life of KM during those few years before she left her family.

BTW: Does anyone know if KM's father is still alive? (I tried to search the county records for that part of Pennsylvania & only discovered accessibility to court records vary greatly by county.) If he is dead, I wonder if he died around 1995, when LEK is no longer known to be renting a mail box.

 

[SavetheQueen]

Now is the time to go ask your questions on the Seattle Times Facebook page for Colleen Fitzpatrick and the reporter:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154427499431215&id=38472826214

*All statements are that of my own opinion unless otherwise specified. *

 

[south fishy]

I'm probably reading too much into these facts, but I am noticing a likely pattern here.

KM was born & raised for her first years in Wynnewood, PA; her father is reportedly a carpenter & a volunteer fireman. According to Wikipedia, Wynnewood straddles two townships: Lower Merion, which WP describes as having " the 5th highest per-capita income and the 12th highest median household income in the country", & Haverford Township, whose per capita income figures aren't much lower. Her mother divorces her father & ends up marrying a stock-broker.

Last I checked, while many carpenters do make enough money to raise a family on, very few make enough to fit into an affluent locale like Wynnewood. And stock-brokers do make a lot more money than carpenters -- & sometimes live in a community like Wynnwood, although in KM's case her step-father moved them to Wynecote. Wyncote also appears to be pretty affluent, too.

I wonder just how much money played a role in the life of KM during those few years before she left her family.

BTW: Does anyone know if KM's father is still alive? (I tried to search the county records for that part of Pennsylvania & only discovered accessibility to court records vary greatly by county.) If he is dead, I wonder if he died around 1995, when LEK is no longer known to be renting a mail box.

If you research her past addresses and google map what looks to be an address around the time she attended the Carholic school, it is most definitely affluent. Although today, that neighborhood has big, old, crumbling houses where older people have moved out and younger people are not moving in for a variety of reasons.

And didn't she make a comment to S/S88 about being shocked he wasn't stuck up when she saw where he lived? He described himself as "only" upper middle class, but I think that is how most people would describe her new life (especially accurate when you consider there were multi-millionaires living in the various townships/neighborhoods around her in Philly).

There is a palpable class structure around here, and she could have very well felt allegiance to her real dad. Good observations!

 

[lisapr355]

I have in-laws in both areas. Wynnewood is exactly how you have stated. Lower Merion is part of the "Main Line" which my one in-law likes to throw around when she speaks of where she lives. "We are on the Main Line and it's so expensive here." Lots of history to it. Wynecote is more middle to upper middle, not as affluent as Wynnewood.
I have only found record of her father burying her grandfather but nothing more on him or that side of her family but I do know how to look through those PA records due to my family research.

 

[bears10]

Now is the time to go ask your questions on the Seattle Times Facebook page for Colleen Fitzpatrick and the reporter:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154427499431215&id=38472826214

*All statements are that of my own opinion unless otherwise specified. *

I'm hoping for some new info but I am getting the vibe they don't know all that much and we aren't going to learn many new details unfortunately

 

[south fishy]

Comments from alumni seem to be referencing remembering her from at least 2 different grade schools and 2 different Jr./high schools (all Catholic schools). If correct that's a lot of moving around and adds to the understanding of no one really remembering her.