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

[Gardener1850]

did you notice a lori e k that is related to the inmans with a boise connection? some interesting places in her list. wonder if she is still around?

I'm not seeing that one. Is it on the same website I linked or a different one?

 

[SavetheQueen]

Sorry for the confusion. The rockwall bad check case. The rockwall bad check writing LK has a married name starting with N.

I didn't even see a middle initial. Oops. [emoji23]

*All statements are that of my own opinion unless otherwise specified. *

 

[Gardener1850]

I didn't even see a middle initial. Oops. [emoji23]

*All statements are that of my own opinion unless otherwise specified. *

There's not a middle initial on the case file but when you look her up by the address listed on the case, there is one and a different last name/DOB too. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[eekasaur]

Just thinking out loud here...do we have a source who said FLEK wanted the Easy Bake Oven for Christmas? My first thought was always that she wanted it so she could "bake" with her daughter. A small, child-friendly oven would be more interesting and visually appealing for a young child to use (with supervision, of course). If that were the case, I wouldn't find that an odd request at all. (I suppose there could be the argument then why didn't she just have a list that was her daughter's Christmas list...but wasn't the daughter really young, like young enough to where she wouldn't be able to verbalize things like that?) I just think that after seeing how sensationalized the story became, maybe this detail was over exaggerated, as well.

 

[SavetheQueen]

Just thinking out loud here...do we have a source who said FLEK wanted the Easy Bake Oven for Christmas? My first thought was always that she wanted it so she could "bake" with her daughter. A small, child-friendly oven would be more interesting and visually appealing for a young child to use (with supervision, of course). If that were the case, I wouldn't find that an odd request at all. (I suppose there could be the argument then why didn't she just have a list that was her daughter's Christmas list...but wasn't the daughter really young, like young enough to where she wouldn't be able to verbalize things like that?) I just think that after seeing how sensationalized the story became, maybe this detail was over exaggerated, as well.

Personally, I don't find that odd at all. I'm almost 50, and would love an Easy Bake Oven. Mainly because it's a novelty from my childhood, and also because those things have come a long way in the past 45 years.

*All statements are that of my own opinion unless otherwise specified.*

 

[Gardener1850]

BBM.
Indeed. Most we hear about are caught, although quite few have gotten away with identity theft or living under assumed names for several decades before being arrested. Just in a quick search I found these:
http://wfla.com/2016/07/21/pasco-sh...-about-identity-theft-case-spanning-20-years/
http://www.starbeacon.com/cnhi_netw...cle_911bd606-4860-5364-bedb-15fa4086cca8.html
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/07/2...ed-nearly-40-years-after-florida-killing.html

Reading those other cases though made me think of something. Most of these people were discovered by the use of technology--one was discovered by a family member of a deceased person doing genealogy on Ancestry. Is there anyway that the divorce Lori and Blake were going through could have revealed her fraud?
I mean, she stood in front of judges so many times as Lori but is there anything special in the divorce process where she could have been found out? Her last dealing with courts was in 1997, correct? Even in 1997 the computer databases were not as inter-connected as they were by 2010. I wonder if she feared going to jail on top of the divorce?

OT, but on the subject of people who got away with using an assumed name and only were discovered after their death, I found this interesting case today that was only discovered by Ancestry DNA--94 years later: http://www.heraldnet.com/news/youd-be-surprised-this-daughter-certainly-was/

Really quite amazing what DNA can uncover. I still think Lori's identity will someday be solved by DNA.

 

[Katinka]

Was Lori ever investigated for mail fraud? She set up PO Boxes under a stolen identity and knowingly used the US Postal system to send and receive mail at those locations. Were postal employees ever questioned to see if they recalled details about her mail? It would be interesting to see who she was receiving mail from in Boulder City during her transitional phase. Also, I would like to find out when that mail location was set up and under which name.

 

[Gardener1850]

Was Lori ever investigated for mail fraud? She set up PO Boxes under a stolen identity and knowingly used the US Postal system to send and receive mail at those locations. Were postal employees ever questioned to see if they recalled details about her mail? It would be interesting to see who she was receiving mail from in Boulder City during her transitional phase. Also, I would like to find out when that mail location was set up and under which name.

I wonder if any of her addresses were ever monitored for new communications? Even if she forwarded her mail, the forward wears off after a while. There could be people who live at her old addresses still getting Christmas cards (or unpaid bills) in her name. But were the current owners of the boxes/addresses she used ever contacted to BOLO for mail addressed to an unknown party? They should be IMO.

 

[Katinka]

I wonder if any of her addresses were ever monitored for new communications? Even if she forwarded her mail, the forward wears off after a while. There could be people who live at her old addresses still getting Christmas cards (or unpaid bills) in her name. But were the current owners of the boxes/addresses she used ever contacted to BOLO for mail addressed to an unknown party? They should be IMO.

I don't know that Velling could have monitored her mail without opening a mail fraud investigation.

 

[Gardener1850]

I don't know that Velling could have monitored her mail without opening a mail fraud investigation.

Well if he did, I never heard about it. Wouldn't mail fraud involve a whole other government agency? Or could the SSA investigate mail fraud too? Seems like those things would overlap in a lot of ID theft cases.

 

[Katinka]

Well if he did, I never heard about it. Wouldn't mail fraud involve a whole other government agency? Or could the SSA investigate mail fraud too? Seems like those things would overlap in a lot of ID theft cases.

I don't think that SS can investigate mail fraud. The SS investigator would have to notify US Postal Inspection Service and that government agency would conduct the investigation. It's just odd that it's never been mentioned.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Erm,. slightly off topic but I finally got round to googling Easy Bake Oven. Am I getting this right - it was basically a pretendy kitchen with a cupboard with a lightbulb in it??!

Pretty sure we never had these in the UK.

 

[Katinka]

• Questions were asked about the PO Box, but they weren't answered.
• 
  Is there any evidence that she actually lived in Nevada, or was that just a mail drop she used to make it harder to trace her?
  by Michigan Reader June 25, 2013 at 5:30 PM
  • Permalink
• 
  
  When was the post office box started in Nevada? Did anything ever get sent to it after her death?
  by Mizer June 25, 2013 at 5:31 PM
• 
  
  The Nevada question: We do not know if she ever spent time in Nevada but some time after her marriage to Jon Blakely Ruff they went to visit Las Vegas. They went through a second ceremony in Las Vegas and returned home. I had our agents in Las Vegas see if the police in Las Vegas could run JANE Doe's photo past their photo database but if she ever worked in Las Vegas it would have been before digital photos.

 

[Gardener1850]

I don't think that SS can investigate mail fraud. The SS investigator would have to notify US Postal Inspection Service and that government agency would conduct the investigation. It's just odd that it's never been mentioned.

Can they investigate mail fraud if the person committing it died? I don't think the USPS has extra funds just laying around for investigating. IMO, their end goal would be to prosecute someone and stop the crime from continuing. IDK, maybe there was no way to open a case once she was deceased or maybe Velling just wanted to keep all the investigation under his jurisdiction. However, he took a big step reaching out to the public for help when he went to the Seattle Times with the story. I wonder if he ever sent a letter to the current occupants of her addresses asking for any information they might have received in the mail in her name(s). It would be cheap to do just that and if there IS someone still sending mail to Lori that might be the only way it's discovered.

 

[Katinka]

Can they investigate mail fraud if the person committing it died? I don't think the USPS has extra funds just laying around for investigating. IMO, their end goal would be to prosecute someone and stop the crime from continuing. IDK, maybe there was no way to open a case once she was deceased or maybe Velling just wanted to keep all the investigation under his jurisdiction. However, he took a big step reaching out to the public for help when he went to the Seattle Times with the story. I wonder if he ever sent a letter to the current occupants of her addresses asking for any information they might have received in the mail in her name(s). It would be cheap to do just that and if there IS someone still sending mail to Lori that might be the only way it's discovered.

There are two parties in mail fraud, the sender and the receiver. You would think the USPS would investigate to see who she was mailing.

 

[Gardener1850]

Erm,. slightly off topic but I finally got round to googling Easy Bake Oven. Am I getting this right - it was basically a pretendy kitchen with a cupboard with a lightbulb in it??!

Pretty sure we never had these in the UK.

Yes, it is a toy marketed for little girls. I never had one but they were very popular gifts in the 1980's. From what I understand, the lightbulb is hot enough to actually "bake" a cake mix or cookies. So a child could use the Easy Bake Oven and feed her friends some sweets with less risk of burning herself using a real oven.

 

[Laughing]

Yes, it is a toy marketed for little girls. I never had one but they were very popular gifts in the 1980's. From what I understand, the lightbulb is hot enough to actually "bake" a cake mix or cookies. So a child could use the Easy Bake Oven and feed her friends some sweets with less risk of burning herself using a real oven.

Also popular in the '60s and '70s but my begging never paid off with this particular prize. I was encouraged to use the real oven & became quiet competent.

This morning, I did click on & read a recipe for Easy Bake Oven cake mix, in Lori's honor: http://www.recipesource.com/misc/mixes/00/rec0018.html

I think she was preparing for her little girl, for her little girl to have what Lori didn't.

 

[eekasaur]

Also popular in the '60s and '70s but my begging never paid off with this particular prize. I was encouraged to use the real oven & became quiet competent.

This morning, I did click on & read a recipe for Easy Bake Oven cake mix, in Lori's honor: http://www.recipesource.com/misc/mixes/00/rec0018.html

I think she was preparing for her little girl, for her little girl to have what Lori didn't.

I had one in the 90's. It was fun for a minute, but then you'd run out of their pricey, tiny cake mixes and be out of luck. Mom didn't like buying me new ones, she preferred to just bake with me with the real oven...produced many more cookies that way, too! Easy Bakes really only give you 1-2 servings each go.

I think this, too. Again, with all that we've discovered about how the Ruff wealth was sensationalized and exaggerated, I think this detail could have been skewed, as well, to fit that persona of Lori that they were trying to paint. I could be wrong, but that's my gut feeling. We also know that she mentioned in the daughter's letter to remember tea parties. I think she really wanted to give her child what she didn't have as a kid.

 

[Sherwood Park]

I had one in the 90's. It was fun for a minute, but then you'd run out of their pricey, tiny cake mixes and be out of luck. Mom didn't like buying me new ones, she preferred to just bake with me with the real oven...produced many more cookies that way, too! Easy Bakes really only give you 1-2 servings each go.

I think this, too. Again, with all that we've discovered about how the Ruff wealth was sensationalized and exaggerated, I think this detail could have been skewed, as well, to fit that persona of Lori that they were trying to paint. I could be wrong, but that's my gut feeling. We also know that she mentioned in the daughter's letter to remember tea parties. I think she really wanted to give her child what she didn't have as a kid.

Maybe it wasn't skewed, maybe FLEK really did ask for an Easy Bake Oven for a gift. It is a strange request for an adult who doesn't have children. If someone you knew asked for one of these for Christmas, you would think it odd as well unless they were a toy collector.
Anytime people who actually knew FLEK come forward with someone unpleasant about her personality people start doubting it. Why? They knew her and none of us did. Maybe they are actually telling the truth.

 

[FrankieB]

Well, he might have the answer to a couple more questions that have been asked here:

1) What exactly was in the strongbox? At the moment, it appears to have been BST's birth certificate, the "notes page", that dodgy "Letter of Recommendation", some pages from the Arizona phone book, & maybe the court order changing her name. That's what the Seattle Times article leads one to believe. And it's possible that under the pressure of a deadline that the reporter omitted something, or accidentally included something. (When the reporter told the story, such a detail was not important, & no one would bother to check that she got that detail right; now that we've gone over all of the evidence at least twice, the exact contents of the lockbox become important, & I expect someone will base a theory on what was in the box.)

2) What kind of strongbox was it? While I gather that it was an inexpensive, metal lockable box (& maybe the lock was a cheap one), a bit of detail there might offer a clue about her. For example, if it was a fairly expensive one that required some effort to open, it would be odd that only the few documents they found would be in it.

Yes, these details might normally not be of much importance, but we reached the point of scraping the bottom of the barrel long ago. :-/

I would like to have these questions answered as well, and I'd like to ask him a few, is there any way we can know who he is ? Can he be messaged? The youtube guy seems to have no intention to answer further questions. Also that Bankrupcy investigation was stellar.