Judge postpones Baruffaldi autopsy ruling until Friday

LYNNFIELD – A Middlesex Superior Court judge Monday postponed until Friday any ruling on whether a second autopsy will be performed on veterinarian Joan Baruffaldi who purportedly committed suicide in the Virgin Islands earlier this month.Baruffaldi’s husband, Robert Harris, told security personnel at the Westin Resort on the island of St. John that his wife hung herself from a shower curtain rod in the locked bathroom of their hotel suite.Baruffaldi’s family has asked for a second autopsy but Harris’ attorney, Kevin Reddington, is attempting to block that request. The victim’s body has been held at the George Doherty Funeral Home in Somerville while the case is argued.Robert Baruffaldi of California, the victim’s brother, said he personally spoke to security officers and police detectives on St. Thomas and St. John islands, adding that all reached the same conclusion. “Flat out, they said she was murdered,” he said. “Now Harris’ attorney is trying to get the case thrown out of court, but we’re going to pursue it.”According to Robert Baruffaldi, police detectives in St. Thomas urged him “to keep on doing what you’re doing”, in part because the death certificate signed by the medical examiner in the Virgin Islands was based on incomplete information.”The ME (medical examiner) screwed up down there. The final autopsy was never done, yet the death certificate says suicide. It shouldn’t have reached any conclusion until the second autopsy was done,” he said.Baruffaldi, 45, and Harris, 47, arrived in St. Thomas on Nov. 3 and took the ferry to St. John, arriving at approximately 6:30 p.m. Within eight hours, Baruffaldi was dying and Harris was on the phone, calling relatives in the United States with the shocking news.The veterinarian was taken to an island hospital where she died Nov. 5.”My sister weighed 128 pounds, based on a recent medical report. The shower curtain bar from which she supposedly hung herself is designed to hold up to 60 pounds. My sister didn’t kill herself. She was murdered,” Robert Baruffaldi said. “From what we have been told, it happened around 11:30 p.m.”Witnesses said the couple had been arguing aboard the ferry to St. John and also at the hotel. Baruffaldi sought a restraining order against Harris after he attacked her at their 29 Robin Road home last Oct. 2. She had read a series of emails between Harris and one of his co-workers, indicating they were having an affair.