IN IN - Paul Raymond Harrod May Have Been Using False Identity - Hamilton County - 27 Nov 1992 #2

[lonewanderer]

Thanks for your interest in this case and rehashing is always fine and any other things you think of! It is worthwhile to read through the interesting things posters here have come up with. Yes the Greenland avenue has been looked at closely as have so many other ideas. It has really been a wild ride. Hint: check out the great lead to Alaska awhile back by Detective Lockhart! We were sure that was it and we joked about heading 'north to Alaska' with our good detectiveThen there was the prospect in Florida lol. We really went down the exhaustive rabbit hole with that! Anyways it makes for fascinating reading!

Another thing I forgot to mention in identity weirdos (what I call them) patterns:

Lack of clear motivation to change their names.

Big ones for me: Lori Ruff, and Joseph Newton Chandler. Kimberly Kesseler is a strange case that doesn't fit a lot of the patterns, but still has some shades of it. None of the first two really had a reason to change their identity (I don't think Kimberly did, but I will have to revisit that). They were not running from anything, were not in trouble, did not have anyone after them.

Actually, IIRC Lori was highly religious and was a church-goer, and Chandler did not have any reported criminal or considered bad habits (that I recall). This reminds me of fake-Paul to an extent. He was known to not drink or smoke, and aside from some odd behavior, didn't seem to have any alarming behavior.

 

[summergirl1]

I have read it has been said that Joseph Chandler might have trying to avoid unpaid (back) child suppport. I doubt this was enough for him to change his name though, and I doubt it was the only reason. I'm sure he could have paid it, he had a good paying job under his fake identity, but maybe it was the principal of paying any of it that bothered him. Odd, but he was. He seemed to want to just start over.

As for Lori Ruff, she may have had issues with her family as she not only left at 18 and never looked back, but changed her identity so her family couldn't find her. Her teenage years apparently had changes she didn't like, her family moved, etc. Minor things to some people, but not to her. Her family at least said they had no idea beyond those things as to why she would change her identity. We don't have her version, of course. It seems odd from the information we have. She obviously wanted to start over and went farther than the vast majority of people. But beyond that, of course, there's never been any indication that Joseph Chandler or Lori Ruff were wanted peoole or that Joseph Chandler had anything to run from beyond unpaid child support. They obviously had issues and their reasons made sense to them. It may be the case with "Paul Harrod", too.

I'm not familiar with the Kimberly Kessler case, although I looked it up briefly. There was another person who just made up his own fake ID who was a wanted bank robber. He lived to old age under his fake identity, and had a normal life. He only revealed who he really was to his wife and daughter when he was given not long to live, and then he only revealed it in a limited way. His daughter researched him and found the whole story. But given the attention "Paul Harrod" has gotten, I doubt that's the case here. He was probably another odd person with family issues of one sort or another who wanted to start over..it would certainly be interesting to know what his next chapter was after 1992.

 

[Grungster]

My apologies to all,

I would never intentionally raise eyebrows at an established victim.

Thanks for informing me! I am new to this case and it has really caught my attention, and would love to help in any way I can. I am most certainly an armature, but love learning new things and unravelling puzzles.

Has the Air Force bas in Greenland angle been explored? Based on previous cases, I am going to assume that it is likely that fake Paul changed his named shortly after his military service.

This would potentially place him in Greenland in between 1965-1975 (assuming his birthdate was 1945).

Lots of assumptions, I know, but there was stationed Airmen there around those times:

"Aerospace defense​

In 1957 construction began on 4 Nike Missile sites around the base, and they and their radar systems were operational by the end of 1958.

In 1961, a Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) radar was constructed at "J-Site," 21 km (13 mi) northeast of main base. BMEWS was developed by the Raytheon Corporation in order to provide North America warning of a transpolar missile attack from the Russian mainland and submarine-launched missiles from the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans. At this time, Thule was at its peak with a population of about 10,000. Starting in July 1965, there was a general downsizing of activities at Thule. The base host unit was discontinueded. By January 1968, the population of Thule was down to 3,370. On 21 January 1968, a B-52G bomber carrying four nuclear weapons crashed just outside Thule – see below.

Thule is the location where the fastest recorded sea level surface wind speed in the world was measured when a peak speed of 333 kilometres per hour (207 mph) was recorded on 8 March 1972 prior to the instrument's destruction.[5][6]"

Link: Thule Air Base

One thing I get hung up on is looking at patterns. Sometimes this works well for me, and sometimes this is just a wild goose chase.

Some of the patterns I mentioned a few posts about are Florida, military service, and extremely odd behavior. One theory I have heard before is that many of them suffer from a form of disassociation disorder.

Based off previous cases, I would venture to guess it is extremely likely that he also used another deceased child's identity at least once before he changed his actual name and to when he changed his name to Paul Harrod.

I will take a look at the threads to make sure I am not just offering up a baseless opinion, or one thats been rehashed repeatedly.

You're all good. To quote one of my closest friends, we live and we learn, for real.

I'd say everything we know about Mr. Harrod is here

WhoIsPRH?

A man claiming to be Paul Raymond Harrod disappeared in 1992, telling his wife he needed to get away for a while. Only, he never returned. Twenty-years later a Cold Case Detective began investigating the case and determined he was using a fake identity. Ten years have passed, despite exhaustive

www.whoispaulraymondharrod.com

But yes, he did mention something about Greenland once. Probably military related. I do not believe he was born in 1945 though. No way in hell. Maybe 1952-1957. I think his wife agreed as well.

 

[lonewanderer]

You're all good. To quote one of my closest friends, we live and we learn, for real.

I'd say everything we know about Mr. Harrod is here

WhoIsPRH?

A man claiming to be Paul Raymond Harrod disappeared in 1992, telling his wife he needed to get away for a while. Only, he never returned. Twenty-years later a Cold Case Detective began investigating the case and determined he was using a fake identity. Ten years have passed, despite exhaustive

www.whoispaulraymondharrod.com

But yes, he did mention something about Greenland once. Probably military related. I do not believe he was born in 1945 though. No way in hell. Maybe 1952-1957. I think his wife agreed as well.



View attachment 473286

I can totally believe that, as he doesn't look quite that old in some of his pics.

In others, he looks older with touches of gray in his hair.

In the attached pic, he looks a little older than the other ones, even though they were taken the same day.

He looks a little like Kevin Spacey in these to me.

I wonder why he's wearing his watch outward in this pic, too?

Are there other pics of him, or just on the PRH website?

 

[lonewanderer]

I have read it has been said that Joseph Chandler might have trying to avoid unpaid (back) child suppport. I doubt this was enough for him to change his name though, and I doubt it was the only reason. I'm sure he could have paid it, he had a good paying job under his fake identity, but maybe it was the principal of paying any of it that bothered him. Odd, but he was. He seemed to want to just start over.

As for Lori Ruff, she may have had issues with her family as she not only left at 18 and never looked back, but changed her identity so her family couldn't find her. Her teenage years apparently had changes she didn't like, her family moved, etc. Minor things to some people, but not to her. Her family at least said they had no idea beyond those things as to why she would change her identity. We don't have her version, of course. It seems odd from the information we have. She obviously wanted to start over and went farther than the vast majority of people. But beyond that, of course, there's never been any indication that Joseph Chandler or Lori Ruff were wanted peoole or that Joseph Chandler had anything to run from beyond unpaid child support. They obviously had issues and their reasons made sense to them. It may be the case with "Paul Harrod", too.

I'm not familiar with the Kimberly Kessler case, although I looked it up briefly. There was another person who just made up his own fake ID who was a wanted bank robber. He lived to old age under his fake identity, and had a normal life. He only revealed who he really was to his wife and daughter when he was given not long to live, and then he only revealed it in a limited way. His daughter researched him and found the whole story. But given the attention "Paul Harrod" has gotten, I doubt that's the case here. He was probably another odd person with family issues of one sort or another who wanted to start over..it would certainly be interesting to know what his next chapter was after 1992.

Lori, as I remember, was extremely particular about not wanting her details published in papers and things like that.

As the relationship got longevity, it seemed like it was getting much harder to manage the details of her life that she didn't want known, which was pretty much everything. I partly think it was "nosey" in-laws, and partly think it was just normal things that she didn't realize would be so strange to other people. Small things, like never discussing her parents or family, not discussing her past, etc. Eventually, its only natural to wonder why she is so closed off.

With fake-Paul, I get the vibe that he realized he was getting in deep with his wife and stepson and the longevity of his relationship was not sustainable without being figured out. He seems to take measures to show that he cares about them such as adding the stepson to health insurance policies, playing catch, and taking him to the Indy 500 museum.

I think its possible fake-Paul realized he couldn't keep up the act without questions and thats what caused him to flee.(that weren't questioning his story, but general conversation) about his family, questions about his past. It leads me to believe that he either was really in love with her, realized he couldn't keep up the act forever, or had never gotten so involved with someone and it scared him to the point of leaving (or a mix of all these).

 

[Andreee]

I can totally believe that, as he doesn't look quite that old in some of his pics.

In others, he looks older with touches of gray in his hair.

In the attached pic, he looks a little older than the other ones, even though they were taken the same day.

He looks a little like Kevin Spacey in these to me.

I wonder why he's wearing his watch outward in this pic, too?

Are there other pics of him, or just on the PRH website?

Please look over earlier pages of this thread to see the several wedding photos of fake PRH but thats all we've got.

 

[lonewanderer]

Couple of questions I was unsure about:

I am unsure about the South Dakota secured credit card. Is the date for the South Dakota credit card before or after he left? Was it issued in 1991 or 1992? He would only have about a month to get it in 1992 if it was afterwards.

He seemed to take great measures to avoid being detected financially, turning down more pay (seemingly strategically). So why did he agree to get a truck driving license that would have his name and required legal documentation? Many of his jobs seemed to be driving jobs. Was there a reason he wanted to be able to go back and forth? That seems like it was important enough to him to risk having a drivers license made with his legal documentation.

 

[lonewanderer]

Please look over earlier pages of this thread to see the several wedding photos of fake PRH but thats all we've got.

I wonder if he avoided cameras often?

This was 1992 afterall and not everyone had cameras in their hands 24/7.

I go back and forth on that. I am 36 and I don't have that many pictures of me. I don't avoid cameras or anything, but its something my son mentioned to me just days ago.

 

[summergirl1]

I'm not sure "Paul's" reasons for leaving would even make sense to the vast majority of people. We think logically about cases like this, but like Joseph Chandler and Lori Ruff, the people who do these kinds of things can be odd.

Fake Paul's wife really didn't question him that much, if at all, or seem like she was interested in his past or family or whatever, unlike Lori Ruff's in laws. Like Thomas Randele, the bank robber who's wife and daughter didn't find out his true identity until he was dying, fake Paul's wife didn't seem the questioning type. I don't think that had anything to with his vanishing. I also think he had been involved before with women just as much, if not more ( I wouldn't be surprised if he has a child or children of his own somewhere).

I do think though that after he fled/left whatever life or lives he had before, he may not expected to settle down so much again and maybe that scared him to the point of leaving. I'm not sure it was new to him, but I think it may have reminded him too much of past situations or a past situation in his life so he took off. Perhaps like Joseph Chandler, at the end of the day, he was much more comfortable being a loner. Joseph Chandler had previously been married with children, but after he took off lived alone, and lived life for himself. Fake Paul also, no matter how much he cared for a woman and children, his own perhaps, and others, may have preferred to be a loner running his own life with no obligations. Their oddities and how they felt about life may have led to that.

Maybe fake Paul was getting a trapped feeling. Or maybe his disappearence (not his first I'm sure) doesn't even make that much sense. Or maybe he felt insecure in his current identity, despite his wife not being questioning, and wanted to reinvent himself again..

 

[Andreee]

I'm not sure "Paul's" reasons for leaving would even make sense to the vast majority of people. We think logically about cases like this, but like Joseph Chandler and Lori Ruff, the people who do these kinds of things can be odd.

Fake Paul's wife really didn't question him that much, if at all, or seem like she was interested in his past or family or whatever, unlike Lori Ruff's in laws. Like Thomas Randele, the bank robber who's wife and daughter didn't find out his true identity until he was dying, fake Paul's wife didn't seem the questioning type. I don't think that had anything to with his vanishing. I also think he had been involved before with women just as much, if not more ( I wouldn't be surprised if he has a child or children of his own somewhere).

I do think though that after he fled/left whatever life or lives he had before, he may not expected to settle down so much again and maybe that scared him to the point of leaving. I'm not sure it was new to him, but I think it may have reminded him too much of past situations or a past situation in his life so he took off. Perhaps like Joseph Chandler, at the end of the day, he was much more comfortable being a loner. Joseph Chandler had previously been married with children, but after he took off lived alone, and lived life for himself. Fake Paul also, no matter how much he cared for a woman and children, his own perhaps, and others, may have preferred to be a loner running his own life with no obligations. Their oddities and how they felt about life may have led to that.

Maybe fake Paul was getting a trapped feeling. Or maybe his disappearence (not his first I'm sure) doesn't even make that much sense. Or maybe he felt insecure in his current identity, despite his wife not being questioning, and wanted to reinvent himself again..

Yes I think this is more like what happened with him. We have discussed earlier in this thread more dramatic theories lol, like him being an ex-gangster or running from the mob lol but IMO it was a less exciting reason such as escaping child support payments or just the need to travel this life solo.

 

[lonewanderer]

Yes I think this is more like what happened with him. We have discussed earlier in this thread more dramatic theories lol, like him being an ex-gangster or running from the mob lol but IMO it was a less exciting reason such as escaping child support payments or just the need to travel this life solo.

I think it’s most likely no real catalyst or motivation for taking off. Many cases tend to be anti-climatic when the puzzle pieces fit together.

I am dabbling in a slightly wilder theory I can’t seem to shake. It’s a little off the rails for me though and I’m hoping to prove myself wrong.

 

[Andreee]

I think it’s most likely no real catalyst or motivation for taking off. Many cases tend to be anti-climatic when the puzzle pieces fit together.

I am dabbling in a slightly wilder theory I can’t seem to shake. It’s a little off the rails for me though and I’m hoping to prove myself wrong.

Lol well if u want to run it by us feel free! This isnt the typical WS case we see here!

 

[lonewanderer]

Lol well if u want to run it by us feel free! This isnt the typical WS case

Alright, I'll put it out there then lol.

I usually do all I can not to put any stock into any spy theories. Be it the Oslo Woman, The Somerton Man, The Isdal Woman, and more.

Having said that, in the few pics we have of him, he reminds me a lot of some of the Turkish men I met when I lived in the middle of nowhere (Malatya) Turkey for almost 3 years.

I also lived in Germany for 3 years or so, and went to many Baltic countries for months at a time. Lithuania, Estonia, etc.

His face and the way he is holding his eyebrows and mouth in most of his pictures reminds me a lot of the way many of them men from these countries would also hold their facial expressions.

Between 1981-1989, a CIA officer named Aldrich Ames basically burned a ton of American and KGB assets for finance a lifestyle for a woman he met on the job. This could potentially put fake-Paul as one of the burned assets, right in the crosshairs of wanting to ditch his identity and living life on the run, be it a US asset or a foreign asset.

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/aldrich-ames

Ames is not solely the only CIA or intelligence craziness, as Phillip Thompson has an entire YouTube channel dedicated to the subject.

The entire story is absolutely ridiculous, and the man is now serving a life sentence.

Just makes my brain jog a bit, and in my personally opinion does not have much substance but thanks for encouraging me to put it out there to get it out of my mind.

 

[Andreee]

Alright, I'll put it out there then lol.

I usually do all I can not to put any stock into any spy theories. Be it the Oslo Woman, The Somerton Man, The Isdal Woman, and more.

Having said that, in the few pics we have of him, he reminds me a lot of some of the Turkish men I met when I lived in the middle of nowhere (Malatya) Turkey for almost 3 years.

I also lived in Germany for 3 years or so, and went to many Baltic countries for months at a time. Lithuania, Estonia, etc.

His face and the way he is holding his eyebrows and mouth in most of his pictures reminds me a lot of the way many of them men from these countries would also hold their facial expressions.

Between 1981-1989, a CIA officer named Aldrich Ames basically burned a ton of American and KGB assets for finance a lifestyle for a woman he met on the job. This could potentially put fake-Paul as one of the burned assets, right in the crosshairs of wanting to ditch his identity and living life on the run, be it a US asset or a foreign asset.

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/aldrich-ames

Ames is not solely the only CIA or intelligence craziness, as Phillip Thompson has an entire YouTube channel dedicated to the subject.

The entire story is absolutely ridiculous, and the man is now serving a life sentence.

Just makes my brain jog a bit, and in my personally opinion does not have much substance but thanks for encouraging me to put it out there to get it out of my mind.

Fascinating! Will have a closer look at this after supper! Lol

 

[lonewanderer]

Fascinating! Will have a closer look at this after supper! Lol

I also almost crapped my pants when I saw the fall of the Soviet Union was recognized in November 1991, but then realized he disappeared in November 1992.

 

[lonewanderer]

Also, if he was inspired by “the book”, it was written in 1985, right?

If he applied for the SSN in 1987, could that narrow down the years where he changed his name?

 

[lonewanderer]

Odd coincidences:

Joseph Newton Chandlers real identify (Robert Nichols) was born in Indiana.

He stole the identity of a boy from New York (FP claimed to be from there) boy being born in 1945 (like FPs stolen identity).

Chandler applied for his SS card in South Dakota (FP got the credit line there).

Nichols/Chandler later lived and worked in Ohio, where FPs stolen identity name was from.

 

[summergirl1]

What was the book again? A book about identity theft?

This is the bank robber who had a fake identity who died a few years ago. He didn't take on a dead child's identity so he didn't have/ couldn't get a birth certificate so he couldn't get a passport. But he married a woman who obviously didn't ask too many questions and they had a daughter.

He, too, wanted to get away from his past at a young age like Lori Ruff as he had some issues with his family, although like Lori Ruff, those issues wouldn't have led many people to go that far. They aren't mentioned in this article, but the substance of the whole thing was, that the bank robbery was to get money to start a new life. As for fake Paul, he seems not to have had any major crimes in his past, and probably has or had a more ordinary story..

Before his death, Lynnfield man revealed to family he was elusive criminal

After more than 50 years on the run from police, a Lynnfield man finally told his family his criminal secret before he died in 2021.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[summergirl1]

This is the thread on here about the wanted bank robber Ted Conrad.. OH - Theodore J Conrad, 20, 1969 Cleveland Bank Heist Fugitive, lived as Thomas Randele until 2021

 

[lonewanderer]

There have certainly been other people who changed their names frequently. Terry Rassmussen (aka Bob Evans and a slew of other aliases) who committed lots of murders and kidnappings.

What stands out about a few of these cases is the deceased child angle, the lack of clear motivation, and totally bizarre behaviors