Lawyer: Lynnfield woman’s death shady

SALEM – A Superior Court judge Wednesday afternoon gave an attorney 24 hours to prove that the body of a Lynnfield woman, who purportedly committed suicide in the Virgin Islands last week, should undergo a second autopsy because the circumstances surrounding her death are suspicious.Boston attorney Donald McNamee told The Item he believes veterinarian Joan M. Baruffaldi was murdered by her second husband, Robert Harris, in their hotel room on the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Nov. 3.Police based in the neighboring island of St. Thomas have been investigating the case and told family members the death raised many questions that remain unanswered.”The Virgin Island police authorities have informed the Baruffaldi family that they have concluded that the death of Joan Baruffaldi is suspicious and the authorities have requested that they be provided with the results of the second autopsy,” McNamee wrote in court documents that requested Harris be prohibited from having his wife’s body cremated until the case is resolved.Superior Court Judge Howard Whitehead initially granted the injunction on Nov. 12 but on Wednesday told McNamee he could find no legal precedent to uphold it. Whitehead gave the attorney until 5 p.m. today to present the argument to a state Appeals Court justice for a ruling.Baruffaldi, 45, married Harris in December 2006. The couple, whose marriage was strained by tales of infidelity, lived at 29 Robin Road in Lynnfield where local police last month were dispatched on calls related to domestic violence. Mary Elizabeth Baruffaldi, the dead woman’s sister, urged her not to go to the Caribbean with Harris to attend the conference of veterinarians.”Most recently, I strongly discouraged her from traveling to St. John, United States Virgin Island, with Mr. Harris,” Mary Elizabeth Baruffaldi wrote in an affidavit on file in Superior Court.On Nov. 2, Baruffaldi and Harris flew to St. John. Hours later, Harris telephoned his wife’s relatives to tell them she had committed suicide in the hotel room’s bathroom.According to McNamee, the sister received two phone calls from Harris on Nov. 3, at 2:13 and 4:20 a.m., respectively. “Mr. Harris told her that her sister had committed suicide by hanging,” he wrote in the request for injunction.The attorney noted that during those phone calls, Harris said he and Baruffaldi had been arguing in the hotel room when Baruffaldi ran to the bathroom and locked the door. Three to five minutes later, Harris said he heard a crash and thought his wife had passed out. Harris said he waited five minutes before knocking on the door and when there was no response he contacted hotel security.Court documents indicate Harris waiting 10-15 minutes for hotel security to arrive. When the bathroom door was unlocked, Harris said his wife had a bathrobe strap around her neck, tied to the shower curtain bar, and was against the bathroom wall. Although CPR was attempted by hotel security, the woman was later pronounced dead at a St. John hospital.Incensed that the case might not be fully investigated, Baruffaldi’s first husband, Philip Klug of Medford, filed for the injunction to halt the cremation in behalf of himself and the two children he had with Baruffaldi – John and Madison. The couple shared custody of the children.Baruffaldi’s body was returned to the United States late last week. A wake was held in Somerville and a Mass in a Lynnfield church.”If the body is cremated, then I would describe that as destroying the evidence,” McNamee told The Item Wednesday. “I have 24 hours to stop that from happening.”The attorney said Baruffaldi’s father and two brothers traveled to St. John immediately after learning about the death.”There are a lot of questions that need asking before we don’t have a body. We’re awaiting the full police report from the Virgin Islands, the first autopsy report, and information like whether Mrs. Baruffaldi had any insurance policies,” he said.Mary Elizabeth Baruffald