Although December is usually a time for family, Blake Ruff’s life would be turned upside down when his wife committed suicide on Christmas Eve.

In the days following her death, Lori Ruff’s disturbing backstory was quickly discovered.

In 1971, a 2-year-old girl named Becky Sue Turner perished in a house fire in Washington. 17 years later, ‘Lori’ managed to get a hold of Becky’s birth certificate, which would allow her to begin her new life.

She moved to Idaho and managed to secure a driving license using Becky’s birth certificate. She lived under the name Becky Sue Turner for a few months before legally changing her name to Lori Erica Kennedy when she moved to Dallas. It was in Dallas that Lori met Blake and changed her name again, this time to Lori Ruff.

The revelation that she was an identity thief came as no surprise to Blake’s family. They had been suspicious of the woman since they had first met her, as when she was asked about her past, she seemed to put her guard up.

There was always tension between Blake’s family and Lori due to a few incidents that had occurred over the years.

When they had first got married, Blake’s mother, Nancy, wanted to announce it in the local newspaper. Lori flat-out refused which Nancy didn’t like.

Lori had also miscarried several times while Blake and her were trying to start a family, which led Blake’s parents to believe that she was older than she claimed to be.

She eventually had a baby through in vitro fertilisation but she would constantly refuse to let Blake’s family hold her daughter or even be in the same room as her.

The tension reached its peak when she would begin to constantly complain about her in-laws. This made Blake seek marriage counselling, which failed to work due to Lori being tight-lipped about her past. After the counselling failed, he filed for divorce and moved back in with his parents.

After he let her know about the divorce, Lori began to send threatening emails to the family. It is unknown exactly what was said in these exchanges.

She also created a scene at a custody exchange for their daughter, but information has not been disclosed about the details of this either.

In the days leading up to her suicide, neighbours had reported that Lori and her daughter were looking alarmingly thin. It is also said that she was acting more erratic than usual.

Her behaviour got even worse when she attempted to steal the keys to the Ruff family home. As a result of this theft attempt, the family filed a cease and desist order against her, which would ultimately push her over the edge.

On December 24th 2010, Lori made her way over to the Ruff family home. She parked her car in their driveway and proceeded to shoot herself in the head. Blake’s father discovered the dead woman when he went to retrieve his morning paper.

She had written two suicide notes – one addressed to her husband, and one to her daughter, to be opened on her 18th birthday

Blake’s family opened both notes upon discovery, and although the contents have not been released to the public, the police revealed that they were ‘the ramblings of someone with a serious mental illness’.

A group made up of Miles Darby (Blake’s brother in-law), the police, and Blake entered Lori’s home shortly after her body was discovered.

Inside, they found a home covered in dirty dishes and dirty clothes. They also found that the crib for her daughter had been soiled.

Although it hasn’t been confirmed that the daughter was discovered inside the house, it seems that this is the case, as she is alive and well today.

In the attic of the home, the group discovered a lockbox. Blake immediately recognised it, as Lori had always told him to stay away from it.

Miles opened the box.

Inside, they found a birth certificate, as well as several IDs, all containing Lori’s picture, but not her name.

These items were ones she had kept from her old life as Becky Sue Turner, and they were right under Blake’s nose the whole time.

As the years went on, her case started to fade away from the minds of the public. That was until a genealogist named Colleen Fitzpatrick decided to take a deeper look into the woman’s identity, in collaboration with an investigator called Joe Velling.

Joe and Colleen took a DNA sample from Lori’s daughter and ran an analysis. This sample allowed them to create a family tree and trace Lori’s origins to a family in Pennsylvania.

Upon further searching, it was discovered that the family had a daughter who had disappeared in 1986 at the age of 17. She had cut off contact after her mother remarried to a man who she did not get along with.

Joe approached the family and explained the results of the analysis. He showed them a photo of Lori, and they positively identified the woman as Kimberly McLean, their missing daughter. The mother took a DNA test and it confirmed that Lori was Kimberly all along.

With that, the mystery of Lori Ruff was solved and the case of her true identity was finally put to rest.