Has her mitochondrial DNA been tested at a commercial place? Is her daughter too young for the father or a lawyer to sign off on having hers tested?
A friend of mine's sister randomly had hers done. Was she ever shocked when it came back to say there was at least one other person who matched hers?? She knew her three brothers had not had their blood tested. So, that meant she had an unknown sibling out there! She started searching FB, and found a site where a woman spelling her last name different, had pictures of HER father displayed in his Army uniform which she had never seen. Both parents are deceased. She and her brothers put their heads together, going backwards, and put the pieces together. Good ole' Dad had two families at the same time! He was only married to the second lady. Apparently those tests we see advertised, do work!
It might help solve this mystery if they could do this test to see what it tells them. They could use Lori's blood, guess they don't really need daughter's.