TX - Longview, WhtFem (UP 9863), 41-50, Suicide - Assumed Identity, Dec'10

[Lanie]

I haven't posted, but I've been following this.

This woman looks so familiar to me. I've been wracking my brain trying to place who I think she looks like, but no luck so far.

I live close to Denton county, and had some follow-up ideas, but I just don't have the time to pursue them right now, so thought I'd throw them out here. It might be worthwhile for people to look up the newspapers in Denton and Longview to see if there is a story on the engagement and/or wedding in 2004. Those usually list the parents of the bride, even if they are deceased. There's also a website somewhere that lists births in TX that could be checked for LEK, but I can't remember the site name, sigh. (Had massive computer problems several months ago, and lost most of my sleuthing stuff.) I think it can be referenced for people born on a specific date as well. I know it says she is from AZ, but that might not be true.

I'm also interested in the fact she committed suicide on Christmas Eve, as a previous poster says. That seems pretty drastic for a woman with a two year old child.

I've got some friends in Leonard I'm going to ask to look into the 'marketing company' this woman owned, but it seems odd to me she would have a business that's about 120 miles from where she lived. That's a long commute.

 

[kdblaisdell]

I scanned the thread and I don't think I've seen her mentioned, but how about Suzanne Marie Schultz? It's not exact, but it's reasonably close and it has been a long time since she disappeared.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/schultz_suzanne.html

 

[kdblaisdell]

Melissa Suzanne Highsmith is another possible:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/highsmith_melissa.html

 

[Fin]

Cymro listed Melissa Highsmith as a possible on p5 (photo). The birth mark on the back of neck might be known by family or friends of LR or the autopsy report of LR (if we had it). Melissa's parents went on to have 3 more children before separating in 1998. Melissa's sister had this case reopened in 2005, so hopefully there is mit. DNA.

More physical information about LR would certainly be helpful.
I see LR wears her watch on her left arm in the posted photo, suggesting she is right handed. LR also has *very* large hands. I would assume siblings of LR would have similarly large hands. I wonder if Melissa Highsmith's sister follows these posts?

 

[Fin]

Martha Leanne Green

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/67dftn.html

What stands out to me comparing these 2 pictures is the ear angles are very similar. But as mentioned earlier, heightis off. Martha is 5'6" in 1987 at age 17. Would a female grow 4 more inches after age 17?

 

[mayqueen]

I think the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General is investigating this. It's probably not a high priority for them. I just don't know about the whole psycho ex theory. I kind of think the husband doesn't know much, if he didn't list any family in the obit. I wonder if this is kind of an embarrassment for her husbands family.

I'm wondering the same thing. His family appears to be fairly prominent in the area. They own properties, businesses, and are involved in the community.

 

[Kimster]

I removed a few posts that were getting a bit close to sleuthing people that we aren't sure about them being family members of this UID. It's okay to keep information you've gathered in your back pocket and even give LE a tip if you feel it's warranted, but lets not post this on the internet in case we are incorrect and might upset the family. :tyou:

 

[Irish_Eyes]

Of course I will never know but I am so curious as to how the SSA determined LR was living under an assumed identity. What if the SSA is incorrect? What if LR was really LR?

(snipped by me)

Well, here's my guess, which is really nothing more than that: It may have been discovered when they tried to issue the death certificate. I believe that nowadays, prior to issuing a death certificate, they run the SSN to make sure it is correct and not already in use by someone else. So if she was using the SSN of a person who was already deceased, it would probably "flag" it.

I don't have ancestry.com anymore, but if anyone does, it would be interesting to use that to look into this further....clearly the SSN they have tied to her is probably not her own, or they would know who she is. A search for a summary of her death cert on ancestry should show the SSN she was using. A reverse search by SSN could then show who else may have been using it, (the real holder.) I'm very conscious of what Kimster has stated and suggest that if we can find the real holder's identity we NOT reveal it here. But it could be useful to know where geographically the person is from.
Of course, there is always the possibility that she picked a number out of thin air. Still, it's worth a shot, no?

 

[mayqueen]

I don't have ancestry.com anymore, but if anyone does, it would be interesting to use that to look into this further....clearly the SSN they have tied to her is probably not her own, or they would know who she is. A search for a summary of her death cert on ancestry should show the SSN she was using. A reverse search by SSN could then show who else may have been using it, (the real holder.) I'm very conscious of what Kimster has stated and suggest that if we can find the real holder's identity we NOT reveal it here. But it could be useful to know where geographically the person is from.
Of course, there is always the possibility that she picked a number out of thin air. Still, it's worth a shot, no?

BBM: Her SSDI record on Ancestry does NOT contain a SSN the way it should. Which I noticed when I first looked her up, but didn't think much of at the time. But wow, now that I think about it, perhaps the SSA omitted the SSN on her record because it belongs to someone else still living?? Or, because it was fabricated and therefore it was pointless to include it on the death record? Good thought Irish Eyes!

 

[Irish_Eyes]

BBM: Her SSDI record on Ancestry does NOT contain a SSN the way it should. Which I noticed when I first looked her up, but didn't think much of at the time. But wow, now that I think about it, perhaps the SSA omitted the SSN on her record because it belongs to someone else still living?? Or, because it was fabricated and therefore it was pointless to include it on the death record? Good thought Irish Eyes!

Thanks, mayqueen. The sample record that they show (which oddly, is Patrick Swayze), does show an SSN included in the summary. So it definitely seems like something is wonky with the SSN if it's not listed.

It could belong to a living person, or to a deceased person. The problem with using the SSN for a living person, is that presumably, they are likely using it too. So if you try to file a tax return, and so do they, that will be uncovered pretty quickly by the IRS. In past years, it was harder for the IRS to catch that sort of thing....only in the past 10 years did they update their computer systems well enough to be able to keep better track of that.

 

[Irish_Eyes]

Also, the website for her business can be viewed using the wayback machine. However, it is a very simplistic site and I didn't see anything on there that really seemed useful for our purposes. But fyi in case anyone wants to have a look.

 

[theforgotten]

I wonder how she got this person't SSN. I understand that in today's society, identity thieves are very sophisticated, but back in the day when she started over they may not have been. I wonder if it is possible that she knew the person she stole it from and maybe this person knows her identity.

 

[ClaireNC]

I haven't posted, but I've been following this.

This woman looks so familiar to me. I've been wracking my brain trying to place who I think she looks like, but no luck so far.

I live close to Denton county, and had some follow-up ideas, but I just don't have the time to pursue them right now, so thought I'd throw them out here. It might be worthwhile for people to look up the newspapers in Denton and Longview to see if there is a story on the engagement and/or wedding in 2004. Those usually list the parents of the bride, even if they are deceased. There's also a website somewhere that lists births in TX that could be checked for LEK, but I can't remember the site name, sigh. (Had massive computer problems several months ago, and lost most of my sleuthing stuff.) I think it can be referenced for people born on a specific date as well. I know it says she is from AZ, but that might not be true.

I'm also interested in the fact she committed suicide on Christmas Eve, as a previous poster says. That seems pretty drastic for a woman with a two year old child.

I've got some friends in Leonard I'm going to ask to look into the 'marketing company' this woman owned, but it seems odd to me she would have a business that's about 120 miles from where she lived. That's a long commute.

The wedding announcement is a good idea, has anybody checked on that?

I believe several of us have checked for any birth records with the LEK name in both Arizona and Texas but didn't find anything.

As for the business in Leonard, it seems like it was a virtual company with no real physical address. It was not really "marketing research" but more of a mystery shopper business, where she matched people with companies looking for mystery shoppers, focus group participants and similar services. I found records of the company going back to at least 2003, so she might have set it up in Leonard before she married and moved to Longview.

What about checking with the pastor of the church where her funeral was held? Is that getting too close to the family? It seems like she was an active participant since they did a special tribute service for her and another church member a few months after her death.

 

[ClaireNC]

I removed a few posts that were getting a bit close to sleuthing people that we aren't sure about them being family members of this UID. It's okay to keep information you've gathered in your back pocket and even give LE a tip if you feel it's warranted, but lets not post this on the internet in case we are incorrect and might upset the family. :tyou:

Hi kimster, Can you give me some hints as to content of the posts that were removed? I didn't have a chance to log on during the past few days so I didn't see them. I don't want to go down the same route that somebody else did and post the wrong things.

 

[mayqueen]

Thanks, mayqueen. The sample record that they show (which oddly, is Patrick Swayze), does show an SSN included in the summary. So it definitely seems like something is wonky with the SSN if it's not listed.

It could belong to a living person, or to a deceased person. The problem with using the SSN for a living person, is that presumably, they are likely using it too. So if you try to file a tax return, and so do they, that will be uncovered pretty quickly by the IRS. In past years, it was harder for the IRS to catch that sort of thing....only in the past 10 years did they update their computer systems well enough to be able to keep better track of that.

I'm an amateur genealogist (with an emphasis on amateur ), and I've never seen a SSDI record without a SSN. I actually went into my own family tree and pulled up a few records on my deceased relatives, and they all contained a SSN.

Good point re: a living person's SSN. She probably wasn't using a living person's SSN, because it would've been near impossible to fly under the radar for 20 years using a SSN that someone else was actively using.

What's throwing me off is that the SSA says that her SSN was issued in Texas in 1988. That made me think that she applied for a SSN when she arrived in TX, and was given one through legitimate channels. But if that's the case, then why this investigation? :banghead:

 

[mayqueen]

The wedding announcement is a good idea, has anybody checked on that?

(respectfully snipped by me)

I looked for a wedding announcement but couldn't find one. I have a membership to newspaperarchives.com and I looked there, and I also checked the websites of the local papers. But that doesn't mean that one doesn't exist, I just haven't been able to dig it up.

 

[deca]

I'm an amateur genealogist (with an emphasis on amateur ), and I've never seen a SSDI record without a SSN. I actually went into my own family tree and pulled up a few records on my deceased relatives, and they all contained a SSN.

Good point re: a living person's SSN. She probably wasn't using a living person's SSN, because it would've been near impossible to fly under the radar for 20 years using a SSN that someone else was actively using.

What's throwing me off is that the SSA says that her SSN was issued in Texas in 1988. That made me think that she applied for a SSN when she arrived in TX, and was given one through legitimate channels. But if that's the case, then why this investigation? :banghead:

Back before 1990 or so it was relatively easy to get a ss (belonging to someone else) issued to you. According to an hour of internet research, all you needed was a birth certificate and some photo ids (even school ids counted).
So she could have obtained a copy of someone's bc (from hospital, posing as someone who lost theirs or she could have stole someone's) and applied for a reissued ss card. I got a new bc when I lost mine and it was easy.

She could have also gotten a new SS# based on a false claim of identity.

 

[deca]

Tax stuff: okay, so some help here please.

Okay, is there any way that she could have had her business and not use her social security number. Obviously if she was working under the table somewhere else that is possible. But with her own business, the business has a tax id, right? I am not sure how that works, but would it be possible that she never used her own ss#? She pays herself 'under the table' from her own business?? And that is why SS didn't catch her earlier?

Would it be possible that she hadn't been using a SSN until her daughter was born?

 

[theforgotten]

Tax stuff: okay, so some help here please.
Okay, is there any way that she could have had her business and not use her social security number. Obviously if she was working under the table somewhere else that is possible. But with her own business, the business has a tax id, right? I am not sure how that works, but would it be possible that she never used her own ss#? She pays herself 'under the table' from her own business?? And that is why SS didn't catch her earlier?
Would it be possible that she hadn't been using a SSN until her daughter was born?

I was thinking that too, because if the person that she stole the number from is/was alive, then two people with the same number would be filling. I'm just guessing that that might be a red flag to the IRS. I'm wondering is it possible that the business was under the table and she never payed taxes on it?

 

[Irish_Eyes]

Well, there's one way to check:

https://direct.sos.state.tx.us/acct/acct-login.asp

Most Secretary of State websites allow you to search business filings to see if a company is in good standing, and include old and expired records. Some of then will tell you who the principals of the business are, and who the statutory agent is (usually a lawyer). Problem is, on this site you have to create a temporary log-in and incur a $1.00 credit card charge, which will be refunded to you within 24 hours, I guess just to make sure you are who you claim to be....my credit card is overextended right now, thanks to my hot water tank deciding to go on Easter But it might be another avenue to explore.

I used to be a title examiner. If someone can find anything and wants to screenshot it I can try to look at it and see if there is anything relevant there. I'd say PM it to me if you have any doubts about whether or not we should post it on this board....we can always share it with a mod to get their A-OK first.