TX - 'Lori Ruff', Longview, WhtFem UP9863, *General Discussion and Theories* #4

[fred&edna]

I keep going back to the FH relative who is a registered sex offender. In a 1994 news report he admitted to fondling two young girls over a 3-4 year period of time. *I'm not sure I trust his version of the details... it could have been going on much longer. Lori could have been a victim.

ETA Linda9681 I'm trying to send you a message but evidently you have exceeded your limit

 

[llywrch]

Ok, just looking over the sub-thread Arizona connection on here. Right away I picked up on something. In the Times article she apparently told the Ruffs that she was the child "of a failed stockbroker, and his wife". Not her parents, not her mother, but his wife.
In the college application she listed her mothers education level as unknown.
According to SS1988 she was with her mother in the Dallas area, and he said he was sure that it was her mother because the appearance was so similar. I think he said they were identical aside from age and hair, something that close.
So, if she was separated from her mother at a young age and reconnected once she disappeared- why wouldn't she know about her mothers level of education? That seems like something that would come up in a reunion situation. It is a really straightforward bit of information that would easily come up when recounting your life story to a long lost child. "Well I dropped out of school and went to work here... I completed a degree here..."
Either the woman SS1988 met was not LEK, or the woman listed on the financial aid application as the mother is not the same woman LEK was with in Dallas.
OR LEK's mother was passing away- according to SS1988- perhaps she had dementia or some other illness that prevented her from sharing her life story with LEK. How heartbreaking is that? LEK finally gets a way from whatever horrible thing she ran from, finds her mother, and she is unable to find out about her life and then she dies.
I realize I am making a lot of assumptions here. SS1988 would have to have been truthful and accurate in his memory and Lori would have had to be truthful about her relationship to the woman.

While it is possible you could be reading too much into the few clues we have, I think your proposed theory is plausible. Let me flesh it out a bit more.

LEK's parents divorced when she was young, her Dad had custody & remarried, & she did not get along with her step-mother. Which is not unusual: I don't get along with my step-mother, nor does my sister, & I've heard more than one person use the word "step-monster" in reference to that parent. And if her father is distant, her bonds to her family become slender & frayed; her social skills never completely develop.

Time passes. LEK graduates from high school, attends college -- or maybe not, but it would be unusual for a middle-class kid not to. At some point she reconnects with her birth mother (who lives in the Dallas area, per SS1988's story) before the parent's death. Once her mother dies, she has no positive connections with her past, so she decides to erase it by adopting a new name. She keeps a mail box because she can't completely cut all ties to her past -- maybe she wants to keep some connection to her father despite his being distant -- but otherwise she becomes LEK. She wants to go to college to get a better job than data entry, & the college needs a high school diploma or a GED to admit her, so she gets her GED because her high school diploma is in her birth name.

Unlike a lot of people who change their name & identity, LEK really had no reason to lie about her past; just be vague about it. Which makes things easier because she doesn't need to remember all of her lies. The stressors which led to her suicide came later, when her marriage fell apart -- not because she worked hard to be someone she wasn't. Because her case is unusual -- she's not hiding from something horrible or criminal in her past -- the usual tactics for finding her birth name don't work. Except for doing a good job in detaching herself from her birth name, there is nothing that unusual about her: LEK was an unhappy person who tried to escape her unhappiness, only to fail in the end.

 

[reasonableguess]

In the early 1980s when I got my driver's licence in the South, we did NOT need a Social Security card. I am 100% sure of this b/c when I went to college, I had to apply to get one b/c I did not have a SS number. Was NOT required. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_number

I am about the same age as we suspect FLEK was. I seem to remember that you not only needed a birth certificate but ALSO a social security card to get a Driver's license. In fact, back then, they put the social security number right on your license. That was Ohio. So....... Does that mean that she must have also gotten a social security card issued in Becky Sue's name? Never thought about that before. Hmmm.

 

[ClaireNC]

Hi Fred&Edna,

Nothing with absolute concrete facts here but I got my drivers license in the early 80's. I also lived up north, the tri-state area of NY/NJ/CT. I knew of many older folks who did not drive and had ID's of some sort from the state (NJ at least). To this day I know some who still don't drive due to the wide choice of transportation options besides a car. I assume they have some sort of ID. So I am thinking you could have gotten a state ID card back in the 80's. And I don't think it would have been limited to just large metropolitan areas but as I said, I haven't looked up any set in stone facts about this. Only telling you my experience!

Also, I can't find the evidence now, but I think a receipt was given for the BST birth certificate but I can't remember if it indicated someone physically showed up to get the birth certificate or someone mailed in a check/m.o./cash and then the certificate was mailed out. I swear I remember seeing that receipt somewhere but I can't seem to find it now. I can't remember if that receipt would have had more info on it.

The link where this was posted on the Seattle Times servers no longer works, but I had a copy in my files:

 

[fred&edna]

The link where this was posted on the Seattle Times servers no longer works, but I had a copy in my files:

View attachment 91298

Thank you!

 

[PickAName]

The link where this was posted on the Seattle Times servers no longer works, but I had a copy in my files:

Thank you ClaireNC! I knew I wasn't going that batty!

 

[ClaireNC]

While it is possible you could be reading too much into the few clues we have, I think your proposed theory is plausible. Let me flesh it out a bit more.
(snipped for focus)
Time passes. LEK graduates from high school, attends college -- or maybe not, but it would be unusual for a middle-class kid not to. At some point she reconnects with her birth mother (who lives in the Dallas area, per SS1988's story) before the parent's death. Once her mother dies, she has no positive connections with her past, so she decides to erase it by adopting a new name.

BBM
SS1988 claimed to have known FLEK when she was in the middle of changing her identity, so if what he/she said were true then the mother was still alive.

From the timeline in the Media thread:
May 20, 1988 - Jane Doe gets a copy of Becky Sue’s birth certificate from Kern County, Calif.
June 16, 1988 - Jane Doe obtains an Idaho ID card with her picture and Becky Sue’s name. She now has government ID “proving” she’s Becky Sue. (Idaho ID using Becky Sue Turner's name)
July 5, 1988 - She gets her name legally changed in a Dallas court from Becky Sue to Lori Erica Kennedy. (Document showing name legally changed to Lori Erica Kennedy) Clerk's certificate: http://oi39.tinypic.com/2wg94z9.jpg
July 12, 1988 - Applies for and receives a Social Security number as Lori Kennedy (Lori Kennedy's Soc. Sec. number application)

Personally I think SS1988 was a troll and we really should not give any consideration to anything he/she posted. IMO

 

[PickAName]

While it is possible you could be reading too much into the few clues we have, I think your proposed theory is plausible. Let me flesh it out a bit more.

LEK's parents divorced when she was young, her Dad had custody & remarried, & she did not get along with her step-mother. Which is not unusual: I don't get along with my step-mother, nor does my sister, & I've heard more than one person use the word "step-monster" in reference to that parent. And if her father is distant, her bonds to her family become slender & frayed; her social skills never completely develop.

Time passes. LEK graduates from high school, attends college -- or maybe not, but it would be unusual for a middle-class kid not to. At some point she reconnects with her birth mother (who lives in the Dallas area, per SS1988's story) before the parent's death. Once her mother dies, she has no positive connections with her past, so she decides to erase it by adopting a new name. She keeps a mail box because she can't completely cut all ties to her past -- maybe she wants to keep some connection to her father despite his being distant -- but otherwise she becomes LEK. She wants to go to college to get a better job than data entry, & the college needs a high school diploma or a GED to admit her, so she gets her GED because her high school diploma is in her birth name.

Unlike a lot of people who change their name & identity, LEK really had no reason to lie about her past; just be vague about it. Which makes things easier because she doesn't need to remember all of her lies. The stressors which led to her suicide came later, when her marriage fell apart -- not because she worked hard to be someone she wasn't. Because her case is unusual -- she's not hiding from something horrible or criminal in her past -- the usual tactics for finding her birth name don't work. Except for doing a good job in detaching herself from her birth name, there is nothing that unusual about her: LEK was an unhappy person who tried to escape her unhappiness, only to fail in the end.

Wow, this really makes a lot of sense to me. She keeps her p.o. box for any correspondence but if anyone should happen to want to physically find her, they'll hit a dead end. And her p.o. box would be located in a state where she didn't even live. (Well, I presume she'd be in TX with a p.o. in NV.)

She really thought things out if she indeed did follow the plans we're coming up with, lol.

 

[Beezneez]

So, I wonder if she frequented Nevada? Maybe did she have some trusted person there to forward things to Texas?

 

[HerStory]

It drives me insane that she paid with cheque, but that there are no records of the signer. But here in Canada, bookkeeping often records money orders as cheques as well.

 

[PickAName]

SS1988 claimed to have known FLEK when she was in the middle of changing her identity, so if what he/she said were true then the mother was still alive. From the timeline in the Media thread:
May 20, 1988 - Jane Doe gets a copy of Becky Sue’s birth certificate from Kern County, Calif.
June 16, 1988 - Jane Doe obtains an Idaho ID card with her picture and Becky Sue’s name. She now has government ID “proving” she’s Becky Sue. (Idaho ID using Becky Sue Turner's name)
July 5, 1988 - She gets her name legally changed in a Dallas court from Becky Sue to Lori Erica Kennedy. (Document showing name legally changed to Lori Erica Kennedy) Clerk's certificate: http://oi39.tinypic.com/2wg94z9.jpg
July 12, 1988 - Applies for and receives a Social Security number as Lori Kennedy (Lori Kennedy's Soc. Sec. number application)

Personally I think SS1988 was a troll and we really should not give any consideration to anything he/she posted. IMO

Disclaimer: This case really has my imagination going at full blast. So these are just all my own opinions! I don't want to sound like I'm arguing because I'm not, but I come up with all these crazy scenarios in my head and just spill it out here!

I always thought that IF SS1988's story was factual, LEK could have always changed her name with her mother being none the wiser. And any family that was located elsewhere would not know of her name change either. I always figured that LEK kept her "real" drivers license and any other ID she may have needed "just in case." At least for a short while after her LEK name change. Since nothing has been found with her real identity, I assume she discarded those things at some point.

What's weird to me is thinking that somewhere out there is the real LEK's name floating around that former classmates or friends know her as, and they're thinking she's alive and well somewhere in the world.

I really want to believe SS1988's story is true, but I have to admit I do lean towards being a skeptical person. I guess I really just want to know the answer to this mystery. But don't all of us here on WS?

 

[Beezneez]

If SS1988 is true & contacted the Ruffs with the stripper with issues version of events that may have been enough for the Ruffs to decide they didn't want to hear any more. They're an established, conservative church going family. A stripper might be considered worse than a KGB mole.

 

[newfiedee]

it says she paid by check that was may 28/88 the other paper with the stamp say may 30/88 so they must have mailed it out wouldn't they have they have that on record.

 

[newfiedee]

is there any pics of the arizona pages,its obvious she had to be in arizona at some point to rip them out of the book.

 

[Beezneez]

is there any pics of the arizona pages,its obvious she had to be in arizona at some point to rip them out of the book.

Yup. Info on the phone book pages has been pretty vague. There are no photos, no discussion of which pages, which city, how many pages, anything circled or crossed out. I wonder why?

 

[Linda9681]

is there any pics of the arizona pages,its obvious she had to be in arizona at some point to rip them out of the book.

You can actually order one from any state and have the phone company mail it to you


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[Linda9681]

Yup. Info on the phone book pages has been pretty vague. There are no photos, no discussion of which pages, which city, how many pages, anything circled or crossed out. I wonder why?

I have contacted the PI again and he MAY have copies of them in his files. If yes he will scan them to me and I will post here


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[Laughing]

It drives me insane that she paid with cheque, but that there are no records of the signer. But here in Canada, bookkeeping often records money orders as cheques as well.

Yes, I believe that I speak for all of us, saying "What name was on the check used to pay for the Becky Sue Turner birth certificate???"

ss1988 told us about working at an "establishment" with our dear FLEK. Ya think this was an adult entertainment venue, a photography studio, a call center, what?

:seeya:

 

[Beezneez]

I have contacted the PI again and he MAY have copies of them in his files. If yes he will scan them to me and I will post here


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Thank you!

 

[fred&edna]

I have contacted the PI again and he MAY have copies of them in his files. If yes he will scan them to me and I will post here


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Could you clean our your inbox so I can send you a message, PLEASE