Judge OKs suit in ‘suicide’ case

LYNNFIELD – Did veterinarian Joan Baruffaldi of Lynnfield commit suicide in the Virgin Islands earlier this month or was she murdered?That’s what an attorney for her family wants to find out by filing a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday in Middlesex Superior Court.Baruffaldi, 45, owner of the North Reading Veterinary Clinic, was pronounced dead Nov. 3 on the island of St. Thomas, only hours after arriving with her second husband, Robert Harris, 47, for a conference of veterinarians. She purportedly hung herself with a bathrobe belt in the bathroom of their hotel suite.Police detectives in the Virgin Islands described the circumstances of the woman’s death as suspicious, according to Boston attorney Donald McNamee, who represents Baruffaldi’s first husband, Philip Klug of Medford, and their two children.The Klugs hired McNamee to find out what truly happened.”I am convinced he killed her,” said McNamee, who sought an injunction in Salem Superior Court earlier this week that would have prohibited Harris from having the woman’s body cremated.Superior Court Judge Howard Whitehead gave McNamee until 5 p.m. Thursday to get a ruling from the state Appeals Court, but the clock ran out before that could happen. Instead, McNamee filed the wrongful death lawsuit, which alleges Harris caused Baruffaldi’s death in the Virgin Islands, and that her body should undergo a second autopsy in the United States. “It alleges that he attacked her and that as a result she passed away. She died,” McNamee told The Item.Baruffaldi’s body is presently held at the George L. Doherty Funeral Home in Somerville.”I only had until 5 p.m. to go before the appeals court and that wasn’t possible, so I filed the wrongful death action instead, and the judge magnanimously continued the case until Friday,” McNamee said late Thursday. “As part of the wrongful death action, you usually have access to the remains, and that was my argument.”According to McNamee, he received a letter Thursday from Wilson J. Campbell, chief of the criminal investigations division in the Attorney General’s Office of the U.S. Virgin Islands, stating that Baruffaldi’s death is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by the Virgin Islands Police Department Major Crimes Unit.”They have no objection to a second autopsy. In fact, they welcome it and any other evidence that will help their investigation,” McNamee said.Harris and Baruffaldi were married in December 2006. Each had two children from previous marriages. Lynnfield police were called to their 29 Robin Road home in October on a report that Harris had violently assaulted Baruffaldi, who sought a restraining order against him.Their disharmony stemmed from a series of emails that Baruffaldi read, which suggested her husband had had an affair with a co-worker prior to their marriage, according to court documents filed in Salem Superior Court.Mary Elizabeth Baruffaldi of North Andover, the dead woman’s sister, urged her not to go to the Caribbean with Harris. The restraining order against Harris stated that Baruffaldi feared for her life. Baruffaldi told friends and relatives she was attending the Virgin Islands conference to obtain necessary certifications to continue her profitable veterinary clinic.Baruffaldi was well-known by pet owners on the North Shore and many attended her wake and funeral Mass. Former Lynnfield Police Chief Paul Romano was among those who signed the guest book, describing how the veterinarian saved a stray dog that had been struck by a car.”I was on duty with the Lynnfield Police and could not find anyone to help us with the injured dog,” Romano wrote. “It was beginning to appear that we would have to destroy the dog because of its suffering. Desperate, I called Joan, who left her practice, came to Lynnfield, loaded the dog in her car and took him to her office where she performed hours of surgery on him, saving his life. He recovered from his injuries, and after many months, Joan found him a new home. She ref