The Letter of Reference

[Linda9681]

Ok sorry I was wrong on her response. Again I glanced at her response while busy at work. Her actual statement was "weird my name on peice of paper, my given name as well...u can contact me privately thru MSG 2 discussbut don't know if I can be of any help"

So she was saying her private name ...my mind was thinking number, until Claire asked me about it and I read it again. Sorry for the MIS information! I went to bed before I corrected it. My "friend" asked her last night what name she was talking about and asked her if that was her number and when she had it. She has not responded yet. I assume she has a busy lifestyle.. We will see.

 

[Linda9681]

As far as the language on the letter.. Maybe we should research the background of the person who wrote it. That may be how they communicate.. Maybe a foreign primary language.

 

[mandiedq]

The SSA detective said there was no such person as Roger Steinbeck. I take this to mean he thinks the letter was a fake/forgery with a made up name.

I'm not sure this lead is going to go anywhere.


As for the Jeung... what does "given name" mean? Is that to imply that the Il Seung is her first name and she Americanized it? (I have found evidence that Il Seung is a female name.)

 

[turtlepoop]

As far as the language on the letter.. Maybe we should research the background of the person who wrote it. That may be how they communicate.. Maybe a foreign primary language.

even with dismissing the language and sentence structure, it is still extremely fake looking. no title, no mention of what LEK did there, no mention of employment or lodging dates (besides the vague "high school" reference). everything about this letter screams fake.

 

[NCSleuth]

83 year old Roger Steinbeck appears to be the son of Rudolf Steinbeck (Steinbeock) who was involved with films. In 1937 listed his occupation as Cinema & Fotographer. Reads English, German, & Spanish.
Rudolf also appears to be this Rudolf
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0825708/
but the DOB and DOD are off.

 

[Bookman]

My sources on the below are publicly available records, as well as the various "people-finder" sites that come up when Googling random names, so take with a grain of salt. Leaving details out to preserve some privacy.

My working theory is that Roger Steinbeck (age early eighties, no photos found), is married to S. Steinbeck (over 65), a second-career woman now advertising her services as a Realtor in Los Angeles. From her photo, she appears to be African American. She and Roger bought a house near North Hollywood within the last decade, paying enough to qualify them in my mind as relatively affluent. Previous real estate transactions in their name make it likely they have been married for quite some time.

I believe their son is the 30-something Roger Steinbeck, a real estate attorney who appears to be mixed-race. Roger the elder may have a sister, S. Steinbeck, in her seventies, with West Hollywood addresses dating back to the 1980s.

This is what I meant in an earlier post when I said that given his age, geographic location and apparent family involvement with real estate, the elder Roger is an obvious candidate to have written a tenancy and job recommendation for Lori Kennedy sometime during or after the summer of 1988. His signature should be on various real estate or legal documents, which could be compared with the signature on the letter.

 

[NCSleuth]

Bookman, the S. Steinbeck is a previous wife of R. Steinbeck.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

83 year old Roger Steinbeck appears to be the son of Rudolf Steinbeck (Steinbeock) who was involved with films. In 1937 listed his occupation as Cinema & Fotographer. Reads English, German, & Spanish.
Rudolf also appears to be this Rudolf
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0825708/
but the DOB and DOD are off.

In the 1930 and 1940 census you can find a bit more about the Steinbeck family.

How much do I say without being a stalker of an old man who probably has no bearing on this case anyway? (I am new!)

Anyway, if you have access to an Ancestry account, just. . .wow. Fascinating stuff. He was raised on an income that was middle to working class in a neighborhood of wealthy Hollywood elites. They seem to have come in through Chile, but weren't Chilean. There's loads more, but now I feel really stalkery.

(BTW - There's even a Vegas wedding in there!)

 

[snarlingcoyote]

My sources on the below are publicly available records, as well as the various "people-finder" sites that come up when Googling random names, so take with a grain of salt. Leaving details out to preserve some privacy.

My working theory is that Roger Steinbeck (age early eighties, no photos found), is married to S. Steinbeck (over 65), a second-career woman now advertising her services as a Realtor in Los Angeles. From her photo, she appears to be African American. She and Roger bought a house near North Hollywood within the last decade, paying enough to qualify them in my mind as relatively affluent. Previous real estate transactions in their name make it likely they have been married for quite some time.

I believe their son is the 30-something Roger Steinbeck, a real estate attorney who appears to be mixed-race. Roger the elder may have a sister, S. Steinbeck, in her seventies, with West Hollywood addresses dating back to the 1980s.

This is what I meant in an earlier post when I said that given his age, geographic location and apparent family involvement with real estate, the elder Roger is an obvious candidate to have written a tenancy and job recommendation for Lori Kennedy sometime during or after the summer of 1988. His signature should be on various real estate or legal documents, which could be compared with the signature on the letter.

S. V. Howe married R. R. Steinbeck in Vegas in 1977. :heart:

As far as I can make out, there are 2 S. Steinbecks these days. The second S. Steinbeck, I think, may be the daughter. The S is a very, very unique name. I think the elder is the realtor.

The Steinbecks own TWO nice properties, from what I can make out - neither pricey, both nice. (By LA standards anyway.)

ETA: Anywho. . .I'm done stalking these nice people! Thank you for letting me play. I'll go back to geneaology and trying to piece together all the various family connections of the mostly Scotch-Irish Missourians who were in the Austin and DeWitt colonies in Texas before 1836. . .

 

[NCSleuth]

In the 1930 and 1940 census you can find a bit more about the Steinbeck family.

How much do I say without being a stalker of an old man who probably has no bearing on this case anyway? (I am new!)

Anyway, if you have access to an Ancestry account, just. . .wow. Fascinating stuff. He was raised on an income that was middle to working class in a neighborhood of wealthy Hollywood elites. They seem to have come in through Chile, but weren't Chilean. There's loads more, but now I feel really stalkery.

(BTW - There's even a Vegas wedding in there!)

I think there is even two Vegas weddings! LOL

Did you research R. Steinbeck's father? Lost of interesting stuff there!

 

[Bookman]

Thanks, NCSleuth and snarlingcoyote. I'm always interested in accuracy, even if the exact family relationships turn out to be irrelevant. I'm hoping that Mr. Velling has compared the signature on the letter with this Roger Steinbeck's signature. I think that someone who knew Jane Doe as Lori Kennedy in the spring and summer of 1988, before her official name change, would be a very valuable source of information.

 

[Liebchenmutti]

I think the signature looked real. The letter looked phoney as heck but I suspect she really got a Roger Steinbeck's signature somehow.

I don't understand why you would need a stamp to make up the signature. Why do you think there IS a "Roger Steinbeck?" All she had to do is use a different style of writing to scrawl out the name. :waitasec:

The letter is written in the same, mismatched way her resume reads. I was an English major, so some things bug me:

"This is a letter of recommendation for both employment and rental history..."

Awkward wording; This is a letter of recommendation for...rental history? How does one recommend someone "for rental history?" Is he vouching for her rental history? What IS her rental history that he is "recommending?"

I don't believe there is a Roger Steinbeck who worked at the hotel. She also didn't work for the hotel. Both are fabrications.
"...for Lori Kennedy who was in my employment..."

More awkwardness: "in my employment" as opposed to "in my employ"

"...from highschool to July of 1988."

"highschool" is vague, and it should be 2 words. High school to July of 1988 would be from her senior year until July, so ONE MONTH. That doesn't make sense.

"...after graduation she worked in exchange for rent..."

So she graduated in June 1988, and exchanged work for rent until July 1988? Again, that's ONE MONTH.

Lori is an excellent worker, learns quickly, pleasant manners, and very productive. "

Again, awkward wording & unmatched adjectives: 'an excellent worker'
'learns quickly' ***HAS*** pleasant manners and ***IS*** very productive


"she was also a PLEASANT tenant very quiet and considerate..."

Better as: "she was a pleasant, quiet and considerate tenant."

Roger Steinbeck never mentions WHAT work Lori did in exchange for rent--that's a very odd thing to leave out of a letter of recommendation!

The hotel itself could be a clue--it's the oldest luxury hotel in Thailand. $$$$ Was she a drug mule? Running from a cartel in the US? There is lots of illegal drug trafficking from Thailand. Maybe that's where she got the money to get breast implants and to start a new life.

 

[Liebchenmutti]

Did LEK ever go to Thailand? What did she do there? She can only have gone BEFORE the name change, since her Passport didn't have a stamp from immigration.

Lots of drug trafficking goes on in Thailand--and running from drug traffickers would be a great reason to start a new, hidden life.

I wonder if her ex-husband ever heard her mention Thailand?

 

[21merc7]

Thailand.

Could be drug mule, could be prostitution, could be she went to meet a man she loved at the time. If she ever really went. All of the hints about her do suggest abuse at some point previous to the new identification, so I'm betting drugs or prostitution, maybe not by choice.

ETA: And, this person and letter can't be real. Her name change, this person would not know her under that name and from high school for the 1 month reference. Could this letter have been yet another reminder to her about something or was she really just never in touch with reality after a certain point?

 

[ClaireNC]

I don't think she ever really went to Thailand. I like Bookman's theory which was post 18 in this thread: Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - The Letter of Reference

 

[chris24]

I don't understand why you would need a stamp to make up the signature. Why do you think there IS a "Roger Steinbeck?" All she had to do is use a different style of writing to scrawl out the name. :waitasec:

The letter is written in the same, mismatched way her resume reads. I was an English major, so some things bug me:

"This is a letter of recommendation for both employment and rental history..."

Awkward wording; This is a letter of recommendation for...rental history? How does one recommend someone "for rental history?" Is he vouching for her rental history? What IS her rental history that he is "recommending?"

I don't believe there is a Roger Steinbeck who worked at the hotel. She also didn't work for the hotel. Both are fabrications.
"...for Lori Kennedy who was in my employment..."

More awkwardness: "in my employment" as opposed to "in my employ"

"...from highschool to July of 1988."

"highschool" is vague, and it should be 2 words. High school to July of 1988 would be from her senior year until July, so ONE MONTH. That doesn't make sense.

"...after graduation she worked in exchange for rent..."

So she graduated in June 1988, and exchanged work for rent until July 1988? Again, that's ONE MONTH.

Lori is an excellent worker, learns quickly, pleasant manners, and very productive. "

Again, awkward wording & unmatched adjectives: 'an excellent worker'
'learns quickly' ***HAS*** pleasant manners and ***IS*** very productive


"she was also a PLEASANT tenant very quiet and considerate..."

Better as: "she was a pleasant, quiet and considerate tenant."

Roger Steinbeck never mentions WHAT work Lori did in exchange for rent--that's a very odd thing to leave out of a letter of recommendation!

The hotel itself could be a clue--it's the oldest luxury hotel in Thailand. $$$$ Was she a drug mule? Running from a cartel in the US? There is lots of illegal drug trafficking from Thailand. Maybe that's where she got the money to get breast implants and to start a new life.

I agree with your analysis except for one thing...it is very, very hard to change your signature, especially one that appears so different from LEK's.

Everybody do an experiment. Pick a name out of thin air and try and forge a signature that doesn't look one thing like your handwriting. Can you do it? I can't.

I'm not saying RS is real but it is awful hard to change your signature style.

 

[Linda9681]

I don't want to rule it out just yet . Ronald Steinbeck, I think one of the sons, lived in CA, Las Vegas and Florida . I found some unclaimed property for a lori kennedy in Florida and for Kim Werner. I will try to cross reference for addresses, but, there is no way to prove it is the right lori kennedy or Kim Werner. Worth a look.

 

[Crackerjack]

The handwriting is moot, in my opinion. I may have mentioned that I have a daughter with neurological issues? Her handwriting changes very drastically, sometimes in mid sentences,a nd definitely from day to day. Size, slant, pressure on the page, shapes of her letters.... Absolutely everything about it. Before we got a correct diagnosis for her, she was diagnosed with Tourette's, OCD, and ADD. (That was part of what interested me in this case.) I have no doubt she could have forged the Steinbeck signature. Did she? That is another question entirely.

 

[HerStory]

RRS married "So*" in LV in 61 and they divorce in 75.
RRS then marries "St*" in LV in 77 and they appear to still be married.

Could FLEK be associated to either wife?

And "Sweet Mom".... please don't dissect my grammar, cause I know that I would fail miserably. LOL

 

[Linda9681]

Yes I was trying to find a connection to the wife or the children also. Slow going cause I am at work. I don't think researching the dad is a stretch it can't hurt.