Lori Ruff Identified as Kimberly McLean of PA

[SavetheQueen]

Hope all is well, been there, my little house of horrors is now peace in the valley, I can so identify... Hugs...

💜💜💜💜💜

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

 

[FrankieB]

Good observations about the perimeter walking, thanks guys! I agree, her identity theft secret was unlikely to survive a trial.

 

[KariKae]

Is it possible the identity was originally stolen for something as simple as a fake id to get into clubs and drink? That would be something a 19 y/o on her own may want to do. When I was 18, I remember sitting around talking one night how to get a fake id. I could see somebody knowing how to do it. Once she had the id, she had a major life event and decided to become BST permanently?

 

[lisapr355]

Is it possible the identity was originally stolen for something as simple as a fake id to get into clubs and drink? That would be something a 19 y/o on her own may want to do. When I was 18, I remember sitting around talking one night how to get a fake id. I could see somebody knowing how to do it. Once she had the id, she had a major life event and decided to become BST permanently?

I have thought exactly what you are suggesting. Later, she used the name to further her change. As a young girl, she may have never realized she was breaking the law and all the ramifications that come with the act. I wonder if she ever worked and had a SS# under her real name. She must have had a SS # when she left home. I went to a Catholic school at the same time as she did and when we entered, we were required to have a number. She must have used hers at some point.

 

[Gardener1850]

Is it possible the identity was originally stolen for something as simple as a fake id to get into clubs and drink? That would be something a 19 y/o on her own may want to do. When I was 18, I remember sitting around talking one night how to get a fake id. I could see somebody knowing how to do it. Once she had the id, she had a major life event and decided to become BST permanently?

The ID she stole made herself YOUNGER not OLDER.
Kim was born Oct 16, 1968.
BST was born July 18, 1969.

Drinking age was 21 and she delayed the year she could legally drink by using BST's birthday.

 

[Gardener1850]

I'm sorry, but I am so far behind, when she left between 86-88 was she using her given name still?

She had an address in Devon, PA in 1987. No way to tell how long she lived at that address. I did not find any evidence she used her real name anywhere else after 1987.

 

[llywrch]

I'm sorry, but I am so far behind, when she left between 86-88 was she using her given name still?

When S/S1988 knew her, she was not going by her birthname KM, or as LEK, but by a third name. So it is possible she stopped using her birthname very early on.

That will make it difficult for anyone to trace her movements between 1986-1988.

But it might be worth the effort for someone to determine if a Kim McLean lived in the Dallas area in those years. Probably not the same person if one was -- it's a fairly common name -- but it might help to eliminate where she was in those years.

 

[Tulessa]

Hope you get some sleep and feel better Dexter!!!
:therethere::balloons:

Ditto that.

 

[Roselvr]

From what I gather, he is choosing not to come back and comment further.

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

So do we know if he did date her? His posts seemed genuine. My partner had surgery so probably doesn't even know Lori has been identified otherwise I'd have her speak to Velling.

I agree with Gardener that having your DNA tested and recorded is becoming a more popular thing to do by people of all ages. People are just not talking about it to each other unless something abnormal shows up. And then, they can really be baffled with the results that do show up.

A friend's sister did the test. The results that came back showed she had 3-5 extra brothers and sisters! Shocker!! She and her brothers, that she grew up with, did some searching and discovered the additional family members. It happens their father had an extra family on the side. Can you imagine? No, they did not contact them. To them, their parents had an idealistic marriage.

For the future, I feel it will provide valuable information that we may not even be aware of today. I am thinking of having it done myself. I am just not sure I am ready should any shocker news come back! LOL.

We recently did ours. My dad's side has no info on his father. I don't have much info on my daughters fathers side and with my son, his great gram who passed last year 6 days shy of 108 was related to Princess Diana.. My hub never knew his paternal grandpa's side.

Someone messaged me that my son matched their mothers paternal side; she never knew who her father was because her mother got married out of wedlock, parents wanted her to adopt the baby out, she left, never went back. I'm trying to fill the tree in as much as I can. I pointed her to who think it is, she has to finish getting public records in England

My hub had a match to a cousin on his paternal grandpa's side, so the cousin had been filling me in until my hub can call him.

The heritage results are pretty interesting, I never knew I was Greek and Italian, want to test my dads brother in Hungary.

Thank you--I, frankly, have never heard of anybody voluntarily uploading their DNA to a public database (and paying for the privilege). To each their own. Obviously, readers of the Seattle Times are considerably more sophisticated than I am about such matters, and do not require such exposition.

It's very popular, Ancestry has tons of commercials about it. They have a show on TLC with celebrities called Who Do You Think You Are? and now another with adoptees or birth parents searching for each other. I already found my 1/2 brother that was placed for adoption in the main reunion database.

I'll confess it was a surprise to me.

I'd not assumed LEK had come from anywhere, though, due to lack of solid information. But I figured there was no reason to favor Pennsylvania because that possibility seemed to be based on some faulty reasoning, the phone number from the Notes Page. And I was surprised when Agent Velling, in the follow-up article in the Seattle Times, was quoted as saying there was a promising lead that pointed to Pennsylvania. I thought he was mistaken; now I see he was telling us as much about the case as he reasonably could -- maybe even more.

I only wish it had been made clear when he retired that he was still working on the case. When I heard that he had retired, I couldn't help but feel that LEK's birth name would never be known, & the reason for her radical act -- abandoning her original identity -- would never be known.

It seemed to be his project that he started while employed. We contacted him when we turned in Helen Green, May 2014. I never thought he would stop since he was so invested

 

[OBrunhilde!]

The ID she stole made herself YOUNGER not OLDER.
Kim was born Oct 16, 1968.
BST was born July 18, 1969.

Drinking age was 21 and she delayed the year she could legally drink by using BST's birthday.

Drinking age was something that occurred to me too. The 1984 drinking age law was not fully in effect by 1988-- as Kim, she would have been grandfathered in and able to drink legally-- prior to the 1984 law, the drinking age in Idaho was 19 (will someone please check my math, I suck at math, and I haven't had any caffeine!) Other surrounding states were 20 or 21, making Idaho a hotspot for people in their late teens. I have mentioned before that I am Kim/Lori's age (almost exactly, as it turns out) and I live in WA-- so this was my cohort. It was super easy to get legal IDs and drivers licenses during that time, and everyone knew you could drink in Idaho. There was a big resort that college aged kids loved to work at around there, and a couple of universities not far away-- if she was looking for fun, she would have found it.

 

[HerStory]

For what it is worth.... my mother passed last week in a very traumatizing way. While we had somewhat strained family relations prior..... it is now ground zero. I no longer what ANYTHING to do with my 'father' or 'brother', but have become extremely close to a once estranged sister. You could never imagine the emotional war we experienced the week leading up. Anyways.... as soon as I get a copy of certain vital certificates, I plan on legally changing my middle and last name to that of my mother's middle and maiden name. I also plan on following through with a pre-planned move across the country. That being said..... I am not running away and everyone I know and love will still know how to easily find me. But in anticipation of a new name.... I also get this sense of fresh beginning confidence.

Maybe Kim felt less shy and more engaging under a different identity. Maybe her shyness made her feel trapped and she had no idea how to break free from it. Then again, like other theories, maybe an event or series of events triggered her quietness. Not necessarily abuse by her stepdad, maybe not even abuse at all. I also have a very close family member who is going through the steps of 'coming out' as being transgender. As a child, they were painfully shy.... unbelievably shy! But once they came out and started pursuing the steps in embracing who they really are.... you can't shut them up now! It is beautiful to witness.

I guess what I am saying, is maybe her not wanting to be shy instigated the change. But living as a not-so-shy-Lori would take it's toll too, if you are naturally inclined to be an introvert. After all, if you sit at home in sweats, tshirts and no makeup day after day.... how do you feel when you put on a mini dress, makeup and red lipstick? You suddenly feel out of your element and it feels good for some moments and feels foreign at others.

I know, I have rambled.

 

[llywrch]

It seemed to be his project that he started while employed. We contacted him when we turned in Helen Green, May 2014. I never thought he would stop since he was so invested

It was that nothing was shared about his further work on this case after the Seattle Times article. Not that I expect to be kept informed about an active case, but the way the article presented the case made it seem like an insolvable mystery, unless someone from her pre-LEK life happened to identify her, so I wouldn't expect him to continue to work this after his retirement if there were no leads.

Since it appeared all of the easier ways to find her birth name had become dead ends -- interviewing everyone Velling could identify who knew her, interviewing the Turner family, likely tracing her medical & credit history (I'm assuming the Ruff family was motivated enough to give him permission to look at those records), & perhaps even thru DNA matching -- IMHO the only way to find that information was to construct a profile of LEK. I like to think of it as tracing the known path of an object circling the sun, then using physics to calculate its path. And I'm not accusing Velling of not trying this because it does require time to collect the data, which this case didn't justify -- but unpaid volunteers could do.

Of course now that we have the answer, looking back at what I found it's clear it wasn't helpful. It didn't provide any part of the answer where KM/LEK came from. In fact, I feel a little foolish for insisting it would help, all the while Colleen Fitzpatrick was doing the real work that got the answer.

 

[SavetheQueen]

For what it is worth.... my mother passed last week in a very traumatizing way. While we had somewhat strained family relations prior..... it is now ground zero. I no longer what ANYTHING to do with my 'father' or 'brother', but have become extremely close to a once estranged sister. You could never imagine the emotional war we experienced the week leading up. Anyways.... as soon as I get a copy of certain vital certificates, I plan on legally changing my middle and last name to that of my mother's middle and maiden name. I also plan on following through with a pre-planned move across the country. That being said..... I am not running away and everyone I know and love will still know how to easily find me. But in anticipation of a new name.... I also get this sense of fresh beginning confidence.

Maybe Kim felt less shy and more engaging under a different identity. Maybe her shyness made her feel trapped and she had no idea how to break free from it. Then again, like other theories, maybe an event or series of events triggered her quietness. Not necessarily abuse by her stepdad, maybe not even abuse at all. I also have a very close family member who is going through the steps of 'coming out' as being transgender. As a child, they were painfully shy.... unbelievably shy! But once they came out and started pursuing the steps in embracing who they really are.... you can't shut them up now! It is beautiful to witness.

I guess what I am saying, is maybe her not wanting to be shy instigated the change. But living as a not-so-shy-Lori would take it's toll too, if you are naturally inclined to be an introvert. After all, if you sit at home in sweats, tshirts and no makeup day after day.... how do you feel when you put on a mini dress, makeup and red lipstick? You suddenly feel out of your element and it feels good for some moments and feels foreign at others.

I know, I have rambled.

My condolences to you. But also, you go, girl! Liberation is just that.

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

 

[SavetheQueen]

I read SS's posts and they do not match anything. He is either totally mistaken and met someone else or Kim found a old lady who pretended to be her mom, or SS is just pretending to get a little attention. Its pretty clear Kim was not from OH staying with her mother in Dallas. My money is on SS being a total fraud.

It's hard to say. Personally, I feel he was simply mistaken.

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

 

[SavetheQueen]

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-...-what-conspiracy-theorists-thought-until-now/

"From 1988 until her death in 2010, a woman who ultimately went by Lori Erica Ruff lived in four different states and used four different names. She most famously took on the identity of a 2-year-old girl killed in a 1971 fire in Fife, Wash."

Am I missing something? I don't see any information on the other 2 names. Or am I having a blonde moment?

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

 

[bears10]

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-...-what-conspiracy-theorists-thought-until-now/

"From 1988 until her death in 2010, a woman who ultimately went by Lori Erica Ruff lived in four different states and used four different names. She most famously took on the identity of a 2-year-old girl killed in a 1971 fire in Fife, Wash."

Am I missing something? I don't see any information on the other 2 names. Or am I having a blonde moment?

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

Maybe Kimberly, Becky sue turner, Lori Kennedy and Lori ruff?

 

[bessie]

ADMIN ALERT: Please stop discussing other members. SS gave us some food for thought. Accept it as truth or not. That's your choice. Then stick it under your hat and forget about it unless something new (relative to SS's claims) comes to light. Speculating on it leads to a dead end.

Bear in mind, no member has been verified as an "insider" in this case. Everything should be taken with a grain of salt. Those who clutch on to the words of an individual who has not been vetted set themselves up to be disillusioned. Generally speaking, of course.

That's not to say SS was untruthful. Rather, truthful or not, the info isn't proven to be factual. Hence, you risk wasting time and effort chasing a potentially bogus claim.

Thanks.

Bessie

 

[SavetheQueen]

Maybe Kimberly, Becky sue turner, Lori Kennedy and Lori ruff?

OK. I searched and clicked looking for something profound. Nada. LOL!

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

 

[Suglo]

Maybe Kimberly, Becky sue turner, Lori Kennedy and Lori ruff?

Those are the four names she used and which I think the reporter is alluding to also.


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[Owutatangledweb]

For what it is worth.... my mother passed last week in a very traumatizing way. While we had somewhat strained family relations prior..... it is now ground zero. I no longer what ANYTHING to do with my 'father' or 'brother', but have become extremely close to a once estranged sister. You could never imagine the emotional war we experienced the week leading up. Anyways.... as soon as I get a copy of certain vital certificates, I plan on legally changing my middle and last name to that of my mother's middle and maiden name. I also plan on following through with a pre-planned move across the country. That being said..... I am not running away and everyone I know and love will still know how to easily find me. But in anticipation of a new name.... I also get this sense of fresh beginning confidence.

Maybe Kim felt less shy and more engaging under a different identity. Maybe her shyness made her feel trapped and she had no idea how to break free from it. Then again, like other theories, maybe an event or series of events triggered her quietness. Not necessarily abuse by her stepdad, maybe not even abuse at all. I also have a very close family member who is going through the steps of 'coming out' as being transgender. As a child, they were painfully shy.... unbelievably shy! But once they came out and started pursuing the steps in embracing who they really are.... you can't shut them up now! It is beautiful to witness.

I guess what I am saying, is maybe her not wanting to be shy instigated the change. But living as a not-so-shy-Lori would take it's toll too, if you are naturally inclined to be an introvert. After all, if you sit at home in sweats, tshirts and no makeup day after day.... how do you feel when you put on a mini dress, makeup and red lipstick? You suddenly feel out of your element and it feels good for some moments and feels foreign at others.

I know, I have rambled.

HerStory, I am so sorry to hear about your mother. I wish you the BEST in your transformation and move . Just don't move away from Websleuths and don't change your screen name or you'll confuse us and send us down some unbelievable rabbit holes!