TX - 'Lori Ruff', Longview, WhtFem UP9863, *General Discussion and Theories* #5

[Gardener1850]

The letter of recommendation also states Lori graduated from High School but then she took the GED in 1990 and stated to the testing board she only completed 11th grade. It's all lies, IMO.

 

[Gardener1850]

Those who have been following this thread will remember discussion about a 1988 NV marriage record for a BST and RWB. I've been working on finding out if that BST could be FLEK for quite a while.
EmiLove832 has been searching as well and with the info I found she was able to find additional court records for BST and RWB (including their divorce). EmiLove was also able to find BST from that marriage record alive and on social media.
We are now certain that the BST in the 1988 NV record can NOT be FLEK. We're bummed at the loss of a lead but now this record can be ruled out as being associated with the case. Hope this helps for anyone else who was still trying to track down that BST.

 

[Laughing]

The letter of recommendation also states Lori graduated from High School but then she took the GED in 1990 and stated to the testing board she only completed 11th grade. It's all lies, IMO.

I read "from highschool" with no mention of graduation? I agree this lovely letter is a fabrication with poor grammar on letterhead....

 

[Gardener1850]

I read "from highschool" with no mention of graduation? I agree this lovely letter is a fabrication with poor grammar on letterhead....

The next line says "After graduation..." implying Lori graduated.

 

[Laughing]

The next line says "After graduation..." implying Lori graduated.

WHOOPS! The non-standard grammar stands out to me; once again you're right.

How did she get the sheet of letterhead? Another tiny piece of the puzzle.

 

[Gardener1850]

WHOOPS! The non-standard grammar stands out to me; once again you're right.

How did she get the sheet of letterhead? Another tiny piece of the puzzle.

I wonder if the hotel could identify whether that letterhead was even their pattern from 1988? She could have taken the stationery from someone she knew who stayed there or she could have found the header graphic on something at the library and photocopied it onto her own paper. I lean towards the latter. Notice how the top portion of the paper above the body of the letter has less shading than the bottom. That could happen if she copied two pieces of paper together. I also imagine the real hotel paper would be color but her letter is black and white. I think she found the top design in a magazine or news article about the hotel from 1988 and made her own stationery for the fake letter.

 

[Laughing]

Well, if Velling will just invite us up for a low-key sleuther's weekend, with Federal investigator access, we'd wrap this up!

We could tell more by holding the page. It would be terrific if folks would scan & post images of actual stationary from that hotel.

Does the hotel still operate, even as part of a chain?

:seeya:

 

[Gardener1850]

Well, if Velling will just invite us up for a low-key sleuther's weekend, with Federal investigator access, we'd wrap this up!

We could tell more by holding the page. It would be terrific if folks would scan & post images of actual stationary from that hotel.

Does the hotel still operate, even as part of a chain?

:seeya:

Yes, it still exists. It is now the Mandarin Oriental, same address: http://www.mandarinoriental.com/bangkok/

 

[sunnynz]

Well, if Velling will just invite us up for a low-key sleuther's weekend, with Federal investigator access, we'd wrap this up!

We could tell more by holding the page. It would be terrific if folks would scan & post images of actual stationary from that hotel.

Does the hotel still operate, even as part of a chain?

:seeya:

Yes it's still there - part of the Mandarin chain now so uses the Mandarin logo http://www.mandarinoriental.com/bangkok/ I would say the logo she used was legit - the anniversary dates match up with the year the hotel opened according to their current website.

 

[sunnynz]

Those who have been following this thread will remember discussion about a 1988 NV marriage record for a BST and RWB. I've been working on finding out if that BST could be FLEK for quite a while.
EmiLove832 has been searching as well and with the info I found she was able to find additional court records for BST and RWB (including their divorce). EmiLove was also able to find BST from that marriage record alive and on social media.
We are now certain that the BST in the 1988 NV record can NOT be FLEK. We're bummed at the loss of a lead but now this record can be ruled out as being associated with the case. Hope this helps for anyone else who was still trying to track down that BST.

Great work guys, although disappointing that it didn't pan out as a lead.

 

[Sherwood Park]

I wonder if the hotel could identify whether that letterhead was even their pattern from 1988? She could have taken the stationery from someone she knew who stayed there or she could have found the header graphic on something at the library and photocopied it onto her own paper. I lean towards the latter. Notice how the top portion of the paper above the body of the letter has less shading than the bottom. That could happen if she copied two pieces of paper together. I also imagine the real hotel paper would be color but her letter is black and white. I think she found the top design in a magazine or news article about the hotel from 1988 and made her own stationery for the fake letter.

In older threads some people said the photocopy look is because the original was possibly photocopied by the detective or the newspaper that originally printed the article about FLEK.
That "someone she knew" could be C.C. Stalder/Jennifer C. Stalder seeing as the style of writing for the signature for the name R. Steinbeck matches hers. Again, this is all in a previous thread.

 

[Gardener1850]

Yes it's still there - part of the Mandarin chain now so uses the Mandarin logo http://www.mandarinoriental.com/bangkok/ I would say the logo she used was legit - the anniversary dates match up with the year the hotel opened according to their current website.

I think it may have been a copy from their stationery but not necessarily their actual stationery paper. With so many famous people having stayed there I wonder if there is a book somewhere with a letter from a famous person written on Oriental Hotel stationary. She could have just copied the top portion of the letter for the letterhead and added her fake reference letter to the bottom. Just an idea. Others have suggested she knew someone who went to Thailand and "borrowed" their paper to make her letter. That's possible as well I suppose but less likely, IMO. The typed letter was printed from a computer. The font and typed lines are too smooth and uniform distances to have been done with a typewriter. And speaking of printing letters, In 1988, who had printers you could just put in lose paper and print? Not very many places did, IIRC. A few businesses might have had fancy laser printers but not many. Most libraries had the old style dot-matrix printer paper like this: https://recollectionsofplay.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/totally-80s-dot-matrix-printer-paper/ HP had a deskjet that printed individual sheets of paper but it cost $1000 in 1988: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/hi...rinting/0019/index.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN I doubt she could have accessed that type of printer unless she was employed someplace that had one.
To get a paper like the reference letter she would have to print it then photo copy it onto the hotel letterhead, IMO. I wonder if any analysis of the ink was done to find out what kind of printer and what year it was printed? Probably not something in the budget of this case. It would be interesting to know when she concocted the Thailand letter of reference and who she showed the letter to to get a job or place to live.

 

[OBrunhilde!]

I would normally think that as well, but like I said...I've seen that EXACT letter (grammar and punctuation mistakes and all). My run away friend had a copy of it~~showed it to me when I finally got back in touch with her years later and we talked about her running away. We had talked about the mistakes in the letter and she said no one really pays attention to that anyway in the jobs she was working. IE: waitress jobs, etc. My friend would have used it between 1983-1986, so I'm guessing it was around for awhile before FLEK starting using it.

i am bumping this up due to the discussion of the letter of reference. It sounds like the letter might have made the rounds somehow. That the letter had been seen before is the only thing I have read to date that makes me consider the idea that an identity broker might have been involved.

 

[OBrunhilde!]

I think it may have been a copy from their stationery but not necessarily their actual stationery paper. With so many famous people having stayed there I wonder if there is a book somewhere with a letter from a famous person written on Oriental Hotel stationary. She could have just copied the top portion of the letter for the letterhead and added her fake reference letter to the bottom. Just an idea. Others have suggested she knew someone who went to Thailand and "borrowed" their paper to make her letter. That's possible as well I suppose but less likely, IMO. The typed letter was printed from a computer. The font and typed lines are too smooth and uniform distances to have been done with a typewriter. And speaking of printing letters, In 1988, who had printers you could just put in lose paper and print? Not very many places did, IIRC. A few businesses might have had fancy laser printers but not many. Most libraries had the old style dot-matrix printer paper like this: https://recollectionsofplay.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/totally-80s-dot-matrix-printer-paper/ HP had a deskjet that printed individual sheets of paper but it cost $1000 in 1988: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/abouthp/hi...rinting/0019/index.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN I doubt she could have accessed that type of printer unless she was employed someplace that had one.
To get a paper like the reference letter she would have to print it then photo copy it onto the hotel letterhead, IMO. I wonder if any analysis of the ink was done to find out what kind of printer and what year it was printed? Probably not something in the budget of this case. It would be interesting to know when she concocted the Thailand letter of reference and who she showed the letter to to get a job or place to live.

At my university around 1988 many rich kids and the computer labs had laser printers and Macs. I remember well because I was wowed by the technology. It would have been easy to slide that letterhead in and print out that letter. Again, that co-Ed vibe comes up. That could also account for using the name Steinbeck, and for choosing a hotel that is famous for having well-known authors stay there.

 

[Gardener1850]

i am bumping this up due to the discussion of the letter of reference. It sounds like the letter might have made the rounds somehow. That the letter had been seen before is the only thing I have read to date that makes me consider the idea that an identity broker might have been involved.

If it were sold to her by an identity broker that could account for some awkward wording. It could have been a form letter and the identity broker filled in her info to fit the story she was planning on selling to prospective employers. Then again, it also could indicate that she copied a sample letter word for word from a book and filled in the personal info herself. There are many books out there on things such as "how to write a letter of reference" with sample letter. She could have looked up sample letters and used word for word what they said with a few tweaks. The first few lines with blanks for the info that is specific to her would not be so awkward if filled out differently.

Example sample letter: This is a letter of recommendation for _________ (employment or rental history)
for _______ (name) who was ________ (in my employ/my tenant) from ______ to ______ (dates).

In the above sample letter the person is supposed to choose either a letter of employment or a rental history letter but she complicated things by choosing to make the letter serve as both. Instead of giving a date for the last 2 blanks she wrote "from high school" which makes it sound awkward. IMO, she didn't know how to re-write the sentence so it would flow and say what she wanted it to say. It could have sounded perfectly normal otherwise. It could have said:

"This is a letter of recommendation for employment for Lori Kennedy who was in my employment from 1986 to 1988."
OR
"This is a letter of reference for rental history for Lori Kennedy who was my tenant from 1986 to 1988."

Those lines sound like perfectly average opening lines to a letter of recommendation. It's not going to win any awards for creativity but it would get the job done. But whoever tried to personalize it for Lori muddled the sentences. JMO.

 

[llywrch]

I think it may have been a copy from their stationery but not necessarily their actual stationery paper. With so many famous people having stayed there I wonder if there is a book somewhere with a letter from a famous person written on Oriental Hotel stationary. She could have just copied the top portion of the letter for the letterhead and added her fake reference letter to the bottom. Just an idea. Others have suggested she knew someone who went to Thailand and "borrowed" their paper to make her letter. That's possible as well I suppose but less likely, IMO. The typed letter was printed from a computer. The font and typed lines are too smooth and uniform distances to have been done with a typewriter. And speaking of printing letters, In 1988, who had printers you could just put in lose paper and print? Not very many places did, IIRC. A few businesses might have had fancy laser printers but not many.

When I bought my first computer in 1992, I bought an HP 2p+ Lazer Printer. Yes, it cost a lot (about $900, if I remember correctly), but it was built like a tank & lasted forever. Too bad HP doesn't build their products like that any more. So there were more of those out there than you might think.

But more likely is that LEK had use of an IBM Selectric. Those were very high-quality electric typewriters, & could produce very slick outputs. The balls that did the typing were interchangable so one had a choice of typefaces. Around 1988 they were on the way out -- like all typewriters were as business offices converted to desktop computers -- so one could pick up a high-end model for a reasonable sum.

To get a paper like the reference letter she would have to print it then photo copy it onto the hotel letterhead, IMO. I wonder if any analysis of the ink was done to find out what kind of printer and what year it was printed? Probably not something in the budget of this case. It would be interesting to know when she concocted the Thailand letter of reference and who she showed the letter to to get a job or place to live.

There was a time when LE agencies could perform analysis of a document like this, & determine what kind of typewriter was used, & perhaps trace it that way. Now that typewriters are as obsolete as rotary telephones & VCRs, a police department wouldn't bother to investigate this lead. ("They used an HP printer & one of the standard font sets that comes with MS Word, printed on the kind of paper Office Depot sells by the pallet load," would be the result of 99% of these kinds of investigations.) If it is typewritten, & not produced with a computer, we might find a typewriter nerd or collector who could provide further details.

 

[MrsMole]

Re: The Reference Letter

I think the entire reference letter is just strange. Maybe some of you who were familiar with all of the 'how to change your identity' instructions in the 80s can chime in on this one, but why would she pick a famous hotel in Thailand to be her false letter of reference? I know it was mentioned in prior threads that this would be a tough reference to check bc of the ~12 hr time difference. Was this a piece of advice given out by these 'identity' books, or was FLEK intelligent enough to think of that concept herself?

I may be wrong, but I just feel like if I was creating a fake reference, a hotel in Thailand wouldn't even be on my radar. Maybe The Oriental is more well-known than I think, or was at the time, but it just seems like a really odd concept to me. Even if employers in the types of jobs she may have been applying for (waitress, dancer, etc.) wouldn't actually 'check' the reference, I feel like if someone applied for a job and claimed to have lived in Thailand for the past several years, it could at least elicit some questions from a boss/coworker, and then how on earth would you answer them? It just seems so over-the-top fake that I can't believe someone would actually try it.

 

[Gardener1850]

Re: The Reference Letter

I think the entire reference letter is just strange. Maybe some of you who were familiar with all of the 'how to change your identity' instructions in the 80s can chime in on this one, but why would she pick a famous hotel in Thailand to be her false letter of reference? I know it was mentioned in prior threads that this would be a tough reference to check bc of the ~12 hr time difference. Was this a piece of advice given out by these 'identity' books, or was FLEK intelligent enough to think of that concept herself?

I may be wrong, but I just feel like if I was creating a fake reference, a hotel in Thailand wouldn't even be on my radar. Maybe The Oriental is more well-known than I think, or was at the time, but it just seems like a really odd concept to me. Even if employers in the types of jobs she may have been applying for (waitress, dancer, etc.) wouldn't actually 'check' the reference, I feel like if someone applied for a job and claimed to have lived in Thailand for the past several years, it could at least elicit some questions from a boss/coworker, and then how on earth would you answer them? It just seems so over-the-top fake that I can't believe someone would actually try it.

The reference letter doesn't say anything about her living in Thailand. Apparently it used to be common for traveling businessmen to send letters of reference on the stationery of whatever hotel they were staying. The choice implies she wanted prospective employers to think she worked for someone wealthy/important who thought enough of her to send a letter of reference all the way from Thailand. Not being able to get a hold of them easily was a bonus. We've been assuming she would be applying for low level jobs but we don't really know what else she may have claimed in various job applications while attempting to get a job in 1988-1992. If we could go to companies hiring in that time period and see old applications (doubtful they exist) we might find many other claims from Lori Kennedy. I suspect those claims may have no connection to what little we already know. By 2004 when she met the Ruffs she had learned to pick one simple story and stick to it (being the daughter of a failed stockbroker from Scottsdale). But who knows what lies she may have made up when she was desperately looking for jobs. She may have gotten caught enough in lies over the years she learned it was better to not make up elaborate stories. That could be why when the Ruffs questioned her she would say "none of your business"--she didn't want to have to remember which lies she told them so she told them none or very few. JMO.

 

[BigCityAccountant]

I wonder if the hotel could identify whether that letterhead was even their pattern from 1988? She could have taken the stationery from someone she knew who stayed there or she could have found the header graphic on something at the library and photocopied it onto her own paper. I lean towards the latter. Notice how the top portion of the paper above the body of the letter has less shading than the bottom. That could happen if she copied two pieces of paper together. I also imagine the real hotel paper would be color but her letter is black and white. I think she found the top design in a magazine or news article about the hotel from 1988 and made her own stationery for the fake letter.

Hi Guys~~popping in to say HELLO!!! :greetings:

It was easily photocopied. That's what my run-away friend had. Then you trace over the signature really carefully. I asked her the same question way back when.

 

[Gardener1850]

Hi Guys~~popping in to say HELLO!!! :greetings:

It was easily photocopied. That's what my run-away friend had. Then you trace over the signature really carefully. I asked her the same question way back when.

Hi BCA! Was the letter your friend had also from the Oriental Hotel and signed by Roger Steinbeck? How did she get the correct details in the letter--like her name and dates of employment? I'm assuming your friend didn't also use the alias Lori Kennedy and carry out her scheme in July of 1988. So was her letter just very similar in wording? Seems she and Lori may have read the same book. Maybe one of the "How to disappear" books had this hotel letterhead in it with directions on how to photocopy your own letter on the bottom?