Lori Ruff Identified as Kimberly McLean of PA

[SavetheQueen]

They are both Irish names, plus she lived in Texas which is where Pres. Kennedy was shot-a coincidence, perhaps?
I had a feeling for a while, that she may have had Irish ancestry because she chose the name Kennedy, and even in Ireland Pres. Kennedy is someone that
revered over here. I am now wondering did she research her ancestry, and found that her family came from Wexford or New Ross and that is what gave her the idea to pick Kennedy as a surname? So many questions?

Another clue, was the fact that she liked High afternoon tea, and people from Ireland and Britain love afternoon tea. So I had a suspicion that Lori may have had some Irish ancestry somewhere along the line. I mentioned this before on reddit and was shouted down, so I kept my mouth shut afterwards.

I'm also curious about that. Irish, English, etc.

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

 

[scoutxo]

Does anyone know the age difference between her and her sister?

i came on here to specifically ask if Kim and MM were twins. everywhere i see ages listed for them, it is the same. so either they are twins, step-siblings, one of them was adopted, or every single site i have come across has the wrong info?

 

[SavetheQueen]

i came on here to specifically ask if Kim and MM were twins. everywhere i see ages listed for them, it is the same. so either they are twins, step-siblings, one of them was adopted, or every single site i have come across has the wrong info?

I have seen one having the middle name of M*ria and the other having the middle name of M*rie. Thought that was odd.

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

 

[Irish_Eyes]

They are both Irish names, plus she lived in Texas which is where Pres. Kennedy was shot-a coincidence, perhaps?
I had a feeling for a while, that she may have had Irish ancestry because she chose the name Kennedy, and even in Ireland Pres. Kennedy is someone that
revered over here. I am now wondering did she research her ancestry, and found that her family came from Wexford or New Ross and that is what gave her the idea to pick Kennedy as a surname? So many questions?

Another clue, was the fact that she liked High afternoon tea, and people from Ireland and Britain love afternoon tea. So I had a suspicion that Lori may have had some Irish ancestry somewhere along the line. I mentioned this before on reddit and was shouted down, so I kept my mouth shut afterwards.

From the first time I saw Kimberly's picture I couldn't get over how much she looked like my Irish side, particularly my Johnson cousins. Not surprised at all.

 

[Giucy]

I have seen one having the middle name of M*ria and the other having the middle name of M*rie. Thought that was odd.

I don't find it that odd because the two names are not so dissimilar : they are actually the same but with a different spelling. The first is very common in Latin and orthodox countries (Greece, Russia...) and the other is the French spelling.
I don't know what sites you refer about, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the sites you refer about is of a French speaking country. Actually, I already saw happen in such situations that names are translated in the language's "flavor" without altering the core etymology, if you see what I mean.
Nowadays, translators leave the names as they are unless they are clearly ridiculous in the target language. Source : a course of translation in Italian and English at uni when I was younger.


I would had found very odd if, let say, it would had been on one site, Sonia and the other, Anna. Such different middle names would be much, much odder IMO

 

[SavetheQueen]

I don't find it that odd because the two names are not so dissimilar : they are actually the same but with a different spelling. The first is very common in Latin and orthodox countries (Greece, Russia...) and the other is the French spelling.
I don't know what sites you refer about, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the sites you refer about is of a French speaking country. Actually, I already saw happen in such situations that names are translated in the language's "flavor" without altering the core etymology, if you see what I mean.
Nowadays, translators leave the names as they are unless they are clearly ridiculous in the target language. Source : a course of translation in Italian and English at uni when I was younger.


I would had found very odd if, let say, it would had been on one site, Sonia and the other, Anna. Such different middle names would be much, much odder IMO

I'm meaning one sister having one name and the other sister seems to have almost the same middle name. Unless the public info sites are incorrect, which is also possible.

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

 

[scoutxo]

i found this newspaper article about adult education classes in lansing, mi from 1987. there is a kim mclean photographed with a few other women attached to this article. shares enough resemblance to kimberly to inspire me to post it here. do we know if she ever wore glasses or contacts? i do not remember ever seeing anything connecting FLEK/KM to michigan but i thought i would link it here just in case. the ST article did say she left home in 1986, yes? i know public records show her at PA addresses in the two "lost years" but could she have been using a friend's address as a permanent address while she made her way out west? i mean, at this point, anything is possible, right? she did end up getting her GED... could it have been done in michigan?

http://archive.cantonpl.org/observer/1987/04_Apr 1987/04-02-1987.pdf

i am new to this so if i am totally wrong, feel free to delete this. :X

what do y'all think? is this our girl?

 

[Vivette]

i found this newspaper article about adult education classes in lansing, mi from 1987. there is a kim mclean photographed with a few other women attached to this article. shares enough resemblance to kimberly to inspire me to post it here. do we know if she ever wore glasses or contacts? i do not remember ever seeing anything connecting FLEK/KM to michigan but i thought i would link it here just in case. the ST article did say she left home in 1986, yes? i know public records show her at PA addresses in the two "lost years" but could she have been using a friend's address as a permanent address while she made her way out west? i mean, at this point, anything is possible, right? she did end up getting her GED... could it have been done in michigan?

http://archive.cantonpl.org/observer/1987/04_Apr 1987/04-02-1987.pdf

i am new to this so if i am totally wrong, feel free to delete this. :X

what do y'all think? is this our girl?

Lori hardly had any lips, this woman has plenty

 

[scoutxo]

Lori hardly had any lips, this woman has plenty

you are absolutely right. i thought about that but 1) the quality of the photo is poor and this was after i zoomed in a lot which made it worse i think 2) back in the mid-to-late 80s and into the early 90s my older sister made her almost non-existent lips look MUCH thicker with lipliner and dark lipstick. also, if you zoom in closer, i think some of it looks smudged right around the lips, making them appear larger than they are, especially when zoomed out. i agree there are differences and this might not be (and probably isn't) her, but it was close enough that i figured i would post it here. one thing that always strikes me is how different she looks in every photo we have of her. they are usually poor quality photos, never from the same angle, or they are scans of a license, which never seems to help the situation.

i appreciate you responding. i wanted to know what people thought before i looked any further down this rabbit hole. i am just so curious about those 2 lost years! but if y'all think there is too much of a difference in appearance, i will keep moving and searching elsewhere.

 

[dexter75]

To see how much trouble she may would be in for stealing the identity of BST, etc. She already had a trail as BST/LEK. What if she went back to being KMM and then her stolen ID was discovered? She would be looking over her shoulder either way. She was in the end, anyway.

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

Very possible. And quite the simple ( one of many, I know&#128521 explanation, too.
Seems so far to be the case here, with what little we do know.
" simple " Not at all tossing other theories out, believe me, I have had quite a few complex ones myself.
It's just, look at all of the threads, theories, and what ifs we came up with.

And our answer thus far, the one given to us anyway, is
She just up & left.
No cult, no abusive relationship or witness protection.

What if this is just a case of a young woman who wanted or thought she needed change in her life.
Maybe some mental instability, that perhaps happened to grow worse as her circumstances changed.
Stress, just the stress of being young & alone, meaning no family support, is enough to wear on most people.
Then add to it the crime she committed and how the consequences of being "busted" played out in HER mind...
Maybe she felt she HAD to keep the charade going because she had no choice now😔

As far as her family not looking for her. I can't find fault with them as this was such a different time. In the 80s older CHILDREN and TEENS who came up missing were almost always written off as runaways. An 18 year old adult leaving voluntarily? I doubt any report filed would have received serious consideration from LE.
Just a different time.

Of course this is all JMO and I could obviously be way off the mark too😉


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[dexter75]

Here's my theory...

I think she had some kind of traumatic event, possibly her parents divorcing and her Mom remarrying or something more serious.

People respond to life events very strangely. I have friends that have had awful things happen in their lives but they carry on. Others have events that I feel are bumps in the road, yet they are destroyed forever.

Any how, after the trauma she decides she is going to separate herself from family and in the missing two years I think she met someone that led an adventurous, wild life that appealed to her. Maybe she moved around with this person. I have this idea of the type of friend that always has a new plan but nothing really ever pans out. One week they are modeling, the next working at a strip club and living here for a bit, there for a bit.

I think this friend knew or knew someone who knew Ben Perkins and he helped her get a new identity. People have found some of his shady dealings so it wouldn't surprise me if he was involved in helping people get new identities.

If my theory is correct the notes page could be a combination of her notes and the friends notes.

Hopefully someone who knew her between 1986-1988 comes forward. Or if she had a close friend from before she left her family, we might get some details.

This makes sense too!

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[CoverMeCagney]

Morning!! If anyone fancies casting their eye over a UK UID have a look at "Neil Dovestones" thread. This man left London last year, and went up to Saddleworth Moor (home of the Moors murders) to kill himself. The clues he left are tantalising, not least a pill bottle containing strychnine. We thought he may have been Pakistani but have just had a rule out on that this morning, and could do with some international help / ideas, please. It's nice and short so far and there are some great links, but it's doing our little British heads in!!

Here's a beautifully done summary of the case (all cases should have one like this!) so you're up to speed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-e8c6cbab-da44-4a3c-8f9b-c4fccd53dd24

And here's the thread
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...Male-65-75-Indians-Head-Pennines-Dec-15/page5

Tuck in!
Cags.

 

[SavetheQueen]

Very possible. And quite the simple ( one of many, I know&#128521 explanation, too.
Seems so far to be the case here, with what little we do know.
" simple " Not at all tossing other theories out, believe me, I have had quite a few complex ones myself.
It's just, look at all of the threads, theories, and what ifs we came up with.

And our answer thus far, the one given to us anyway, is
She just up & left.
No cult, no abusive relationship or witness protection.

What if this is just a case of a young woman who wanted or thought she needed change in her life.
Maybe some mental instability, that perhaps happened to grow worse as her circumstances changed.
Stress, just the stress of being young & alone, meaning no family support, is enough to wear on most people.
Then add to it the crime she committed and how the consequences of being "busted" played out in HER mind...
Maybe she felt she HAD to keep the charade going because she had no choice now😔

As far as her family not looking for her. I can't find fault with them as this was such a different time. In the 80s older CHILDREN and TEENS who came up missing were almost always written off as runaways. An 18 year old adult leaving voluntarily? I doubt any report filed would have received serious consideration from LE.
Just a different time.

Of course this is all JMO and I could obviously be way off the mark too😉


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No, you're probably spot on with at least some of it. We can weave a very complex web, but at the end of it, no one knows but LEK. And really, the bottom line is that she wasn't some low-life or what have you (stolen identity aside). Her daughter can hold her head high, and need read of terrible atrocities about her mother. She was someone just looking for something apparently. I hope she was finally able to find what it was.

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

 

[SavetheQueen]

you are absolutely right. i thought about that but 1) the quality of the photo is poor and this was after i zoomed in a lot which made it worse i think 2) back in the mid-to-late 80s and into the early 90s my older sister made her almost non-existent lips look MUCH thicker with lipliner and dark lipstick. also, if you zoom in closer, i think some of it looks smudged right around the lips, making them appear larger than they are, especially when zoomed out. i agree there are differences and this might not be (and probably isn't) her, but it was close enough that i figured i would post it here. one thing that always strikes me is how different she looks in every photo we have of her. they are usually poor quality photos, never from the same angle, or they are scans of a license, which never seems to help the situation.

i appreciate you responding. i wanted to know what people thought before i looked any further down this rabbit hole. i am just so curious about those 2 lost years! but if y'all think there is too much of a difference in appearance, i will keep moving and searching elsewhere.

I'm on my phone so it's hard to tell. I'll have a look-see on the laptop tomorrow after I recover it from the latest Windows 10 fiasco. I can see that she MIGHT favor LEK. It's hard to say with how I'm looking at it right now. Good search, though.

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

 

[Giucy]

I'm meaning one sister having one name and the other sister seems to have almost the same middle name.

Does happen in some families.

Unless the public info sites are incorrect, which is also possible.

Also a reasonable possibility. Public info sites can be inaccurate.

I also think about the possibility of homonyme people. Imagine you receive analysis results of someone with the same name or hardly same name but who is not you.
Saying that homonyms are much more common than we often realize.

 

[Philigumbo]

Like everyone else here, I'm super happy this was solved but also thinking of this from her perspective. I remember it was reported by the family how hyper-protective she was of her baby and I wonder if she would be absolutly horified to know now that the little girl will now be associating with her family, the family she went to extreme lenghts to disassociate from.

And she could have put her real name and her family information in the suicide note if she wanted contact to happen. I'm excited, as we all are, to have this case solved; however, I can't go the step further and say that I'm happy Kimberly has her name back. Kimberly/Lori always had her name...and even in her darkest hour, she kept it to herself...I'm happy her mother, her sister, and her daughter have closure, for sure.

 

[Nikki_sc85]

Saw this from the Houston Chronicle this morning. The story is gaining momentum.

http://m.chron.com/news/houston-tex...After-30-years-and-a-suicide-Lori-9239232.php


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[Suglo]

Like everyone else here, I'm super happy this was solved but also thinking of this from her perspective. I remember it was reported by the family how hyper-protective she was of her baby and I wonder if she would be absolutly horified to know now that the little girl will now be associating with her family, the family she went to extreme lenghts to disassociate from.

I don't subscribe to this point of view that has been voiced by a few here in the last 48 hours. I feel her daughter has every right to know her maternal side of the family, especially in light of all the circumstances. I believe Lori/Kim had serious psychological problems that were never addressed because she ran and tried to hide from them. The manner in which she died proves she couldn't outrun her demons. I wonder if her family sensed her instability, tried to get her help and she bolted. It wouldn't be the first time a person disappears when their family is trying to get them professional help.


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[itsmegan]

Someone on Facebook just posted her sophomore photo

 

[BigCityAccountant]

They are both Irish names, plus she lived in Texas which is where Pres. Kennedy was shot-a coincidence, perhaps?
I had a feeling for a while, that she may have had Irish ancestry because she chose the name Kennedy, and even in Ireland Pres. Kennedy is someone that
revered over here. I am now wondering did she research her ancestry, and found that her family came from Wexford or New Ross and that is what gave her the idea to pick Kennedy as a surname? So many questions?

Another clue, was the fact that she liked High afternoon tea, and people from Ireland and Britain love afternoon tea. So I had a suspicion that Lori may have had some Irish ancestry somewhere along the line. I mentioned this before on reddit and was shouted down, so I kept my mouth shut afterwards.

Hi Artsy Owl!! :seeya:

Not sure if it was you or not, but a while back someone on here also mentioned they believed she was Irish. I chimed in and said I was glad someone else beside myself believed she was Irish and thanked them for saying it. Yes, the Kennedy connection to Dallas as well~~but I don't think that had as much to do with it, IMHO anyway.