TX - 'Lori Ruff', Longview, WhtFem UP9863, *General Discussion and Theories* #1

[smiles_001]

This was May 2010, about 7 months before she died.

I said 45 above but I just don't know, maybe 42 or 43?

 

[AstroKitty]

i think it's the way she's leaning/the shirt too but she has 'bulimia neck'. im sure that's not what it is, but it's the first thing i noticed. again, looks like scoliosis and marfan syndrome.

i think she looks 38-45 in the photo above as well. she has nice skin, smooth features and her hands don't look aged, nor does her neck. something about her though looks at least 40 though.

 

[AngelaE8654]

Tell me what age ya'll think she is again? I was born in '65 (48) and I was thinking in her last pictures, she looked maybe 45? I need to go look again.

I was born the first part of 1966 and I think she looks just about the same age we were that year; especially the latest pictures. She could be even older than that, if she was a regular hair-colorer. I certainly don't think she's as young as she claimed to be. She got away with the age thing when she was younger but it was probably getting much harder the older she got.

 

[smiles_001]

i think it's the way she's leaning/the shirt too but she has 'bulimia neck'. im sure that's not what it is, but it's the first thing i noticed. again, looks like scoliosis and marfan syndrome.

i think she looks 38-45 in the photo above as well. she has nice skin, smooth features and her hands don't look aged, nor does her neck. something about her though looks at least 40 though.

yes, I definitely agree on the scoliosis and Marfan's. She has definitely got something going on. I honestly don't think I have ever seen a woman's hands that were that big. That is why, in the LDS thread, I kept wondering if she is gonna turn out to be related to the Lebaron/Chynoweth people. In the last video on Rena in the LDS thread, she has exactly the same build as LEK, height and her hands are big like LEK's. Just makes me wonder if she is not a cousin or sister to her...especially since these polygamists had 50 kids a piece...getting off topic..sorry. She does look right around 40-42.

 

[smiles_001]

I do feel sad for her. She has had one stressed out life. There is no way she had a peaceful life with all she went through to get an identity that she was sure no one would uncover. I guess when her husband left her, that was her breaking point. It's hard to look at the pic above knowing she shot herself 7 months later.

 

[alllads]

I really don't know how helpful it is to speculate about what possible illnesses she may have had, it reminds me of the people that earlier were speculation that she was a male-to-female transwoman, which was also untrue. It's not going to help with figuring out who she was most likely I think, and also it's a bit insulting to any taller, larger-built woman that they must have something wrong with them. Maybe she was just a tall woman and just so happened to have large hands? All this could indicate is that maybe her parents were also tall people and may have also had large hands.

 

[WhittyG]

I really don't know how helpful it is to speculate about what possible illnesses she may have had, it reminds me of the people that earlier were speculation that she was a male-to-female transwoman, which was also untrue. It's not going to help with figuring out who she was most likely I think, and also it's a bit insulting to any taller, larger-built woman that they must have something wrong with them. Maybe she was just a tall woman and just so happened to have large hands? All this could indicate is that maybe her parents were also tall people and may have also had large hands.

To be fair, Marfan's syndrome is an extremely rare genetic disorder, and a diagnosis could help link her to a family. Although it probably will not ever be known for certain unless they can test for it with the DNA samples they have or through her young daughter. Until it is known for sure it won't be of much use. But it could crack the case.

 

[smiles_001]

I really don't know how helpful it is to speculate about what possible illnesses she may have had, it reminds me of the people that earlier were speculation that she was a male-to-female transwoman, which was also untrue. It's not going to help with figuring out who she was most likely I think, and also it's a bit insulting to any taller, larger-built woman that they must have something wrong with them. Maybe she was just a tall woman and just so happened to have large hands? All this could indicate is that maybe her parents were also tall people and may have also had large hands.

Yes, sorry, I definitely didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings and true maybe she was just really tall with large hands. I have all kind of things wrong with my back, and even mild scoliosis and I am fairly tall, 5'9, so the way she holds herself, since scoliosis runs in my family (my cousin had it really bad and had to wear a brace) it reminds me of my cousin.

Also the families in the LDS thread that we wonder if she was related to the Lebaron people, Ervil was 6'8! And many of the women were LEK's height. So, whatever family she comes from, I guarantee you they probably are tall. :seeya:

 

[smiles_001]

Hey, and tall women, that's a good thing, if you gain weight, you can't tell..lol I am glad that I am tall.

 

[AstroKitty]

my son has marfan's and scoliosis - it's a habit now to look at others to see how 'frequent' it is. i didn't say to offend anyone.

so i guess if it's offensive to discuss possible health issues, it's really shady to discuss her 'mental' diagnosis - since it's rumor to, huh?

 

[AstroKitty]

oh and there's nothing shameful or rude to discuss whether someone believes another to be trans. being trans is not a disease, illness or shameful.

 

[Stella]

I thought I was reaching when it occurred to me that she looked mannish but apparently not. It even looks like there is a bit of an Adams apple in that photo. But the fact that she had a child would have to rule out the sex change angle.

 

[SmoothOperator]

I keep coming back to the issue of FLEK's suicide and the fact that she was so extremely hyper vigilant in "protecting" her young daughter to the point of never having once allowed Blake's family to be alone with her daughter.. Yet FLEK's suicide effectively did the complete opposite in ensuring that her young daughter be left to the sole custody/care of the family who she made clear that she disliked and did not trust..

This issue is something that I cannot get past..

When looking at it from the angle of FLEK's not having committed suicide it also suddenly "fits" as well as makes sense as to why the "craft box" and its contents were NOT destroyed/disposed of by FLEK. From this POV it becomes clear IMO that the contents of the box were not intentionally left behind due to either no longer caring to keep her secret..or feeling it to be insignificant for the Ruffs and any others to discover and learn of her having stolen the identity of a dead toddler..

I honestly believe its possible that this case is even more convoluted than it appears..and that its possible FLEK did not commit suicide.jmo

 

[facsinatingstuff]

"The strongbox was Lori’s. For years, she kept it tucked in a bedroom closet, among a long list of items her husband, Blake Ruff, knew he was never to touch. Blake being Blake, he obeyed."

This is interesting since it tells us that it wasn't just the lockbox that was off limits but a long list of items.

"In September 2011, Velling was at a meeting in Washington, D.C., when a congressman’s aide gave him a three-ring binder. It contained items from Lori’s strongbox and other documents pulled together by the Ruff family. By this point, they knew Lori wasn’t Lori. They wanted help figuring out who she was."

This tells us that not all the documents presented to the investigator were in the strongbox.

"In the strongbox there also were letters of reference from an employer and a landlord. And the scribbles: North Hollywood police. 402 months. Ben Perkins, an attorney."

This tells us what we know for sure was in the strongbox.

Possibly the other items were things that the family found around the house (possibly among the long list of things he wasn't to touch) or possibly things that have been dug up by the family or investigators. I keep seeing references to say all of these items may have been very important cause they were in the strong box but really all we know for sure was in the strong box is the letter(s) of reference, and the notes page. Also it states "letters" is this a typo or was there another letter of reference from a employer/landlord that they have not provided?

 

[Alex01]

Building off of SmoothOperator's thoughts...

I've been puzzled about why she didn't destroy the contents of the box prior to her suicide as well. She seemed to be very thorough in every other aspect of this. Even the suicide appears well planned. (Assuming that's what it was. I can see how there would be questions about it.) Eleven pages of suicide note and a note to her child. Nothing hinting at her past.

Perhaps she forgot about its contents in the final desperate days of her life. It might be possible, however, that she did not bother with these things because she believed they would be of no value in establishing who she was prior to 1988. She may very well be right! (I posted a theory about 402 mo in the 402 thread, for example. It could be part of a cover story she was concocting.)

If that's true, the investigator's only real hope for finding out who she was would be that someone might recognize her photo.

 

[Alex01]

Why is the foreign intelligence angle off the table? I would assume it's because the investigator is aware of how foreign intelligence services plant spies in this nation and that she doesn't fit the profile. I'm sure he has reasons for believing she's from the Pacific Northwest. FLEK has got to be matching some kind of profile in his mind. I'd be curious to know what it is.

 

[AngelaE8654]

I keep coming back to the issue of FLEK's suicide and the fact that she was so extremely hyper vigilant in "protecting" her young daughter to the point of never having once allowed Blake's family to be alone with her daughter.. Yet FLEK's suicide effectively did the complete opposite in ensuring that her young daughter be left to the sole custody/care of the family who she made clear that she disliked and did not trust..

This issue is something that I cannot get past..

When looking at it from the angle of FLEK's not having committed suicide it also suddenly "fits" as well as makes sense as to why the "craft box" and its contents were NOT destroyed/disposed of by FLEK. From this POV it becomes clear IMO that the contents of the box were not intentionally left behind due to either no longer caring to keep her secret..or feeling it to be insignificant for the Ruffs and any others to discover and learn of her having stolen the identity of a dead toddler..

I honestly believe its possible that this case is even more convoluted than it appears..and that its possible FLEK did not commit suicide.jmo

I've often come back to the same thoughts, myself. I pretty much posted this in the Seattle Times comment section, only to have the author of the article come in, delete my comments, and post that the Ruffs were "very nice people". But seriously. Parents who don't have any motivation for their own lives almost always have enough inside themselves to "pull through" for the sake of their children. It actually works against nature itself for a mother to leave her child to a situation she finds untrustworthy.

 

[AngelaE8654]

Why is the foreign intelligence angle off the table? I would assume it's because the investigator is aware of how foreign intelligence services plant spies in this nation and that she doesn't fit the profile. I'm sure he has reasons for believing she's from the Pacific Northwest. FLEK has got to be matching some kind of profile in his mind. I'd be curious to know what it is.

He believes that for a couple of reasons:

1. That is where Becky Sue Turner had been at the time of her death, and

2. She has no hint of any type of "regional speech pattern" like the East Coast, the South, the midwest, or Canada. Her way of speaking fit perfectly into the speech patterns of us here in the Pacific Northwest.

 

[AngelaE8654]

oh and there's nothing shameful or rude to discuss whether someone believes another to be trans. being trans is not a disease, illness or shameful.

I don't think she was because she had a child. However, if the Ruffs are "old school" and judgmental, this sort of thing would fall into something she would NOT want them to know or find out. If she already was feeling "judged" by them, then her 'secret' may have been something she'd never want them to ever find out...something like being a trans. Again, I don't think this is what her secret was but it might be something along the lines of a subject that some "old school" types would find unacceptable.

 

[Alex01]

I wouldn't categorically rule out the murder angle either.

Having said that, however, if we take the suicide at face value then FLEK really wanted to make an impression. Gunshot would (was it a head wound) in the driveway of your in-laws on Christmas Eve? Christmas will never be the same again for this family! In pages upon pages of suicide notes, no mention at all of the past? If this is a suicide it appears she thought it out and really wanted it to have the maximum impact possible.

That's why the fact that the contents of the box remained is so intriguing to me. A final taunt after death?

Again, not categorically ruling out murder.