Lynnfield ‘suicide’ victim to be buried

LYNNFIELD – Lynnfield veterinarian Joan Baruffaldi, who died under mysterious circumstances in the Virgin Islands last November, will be buried Thursday as relatives await the results of three autopsies.Robert Harris, 47, told police on the island of St. John that his 45-year-old wife committed suicide within hours of their arrival, hanging herself with a bathrobe sash from the shower curtain rod in their Westin hotel suite.Although an autopsy performed by Caribbean authorities classified the death as a suicide, Baruffaldi’s family publicly accused Harris of murder and took court action to prevent the woman’s cremation and burial. The family feared cremation would destroy potential evidence.The couple lived at 29 Robin Road and Lynnfield police knew of their marital problems. Shortly before the tragic trip, Baruffaldi said in an Oct. 2 restraining order application that Harris twice raped her while she was on medication for an injury and that he threatened to kill her.In December, a Superior Court judge appointed attorney David Eppley to oversee the case and determine whether a second autopsy should be allowed. Harris’ defense lawyer, Kevin Reddington, objected to the operation, telling the court that second autopsies are of dubious forensic value.Eppley allowed the second autopsy, performed before Christmas by well-known pathologist Barbara Bollinger, prompting Harris’ lawyer to request a third autopsy.”The third autopsy was done last Saturday,” said building contractor Larry Baruffaldi, 52, of Medford, the dead woman’s brother. “It’s odd that we had to fight for a second autopsy and now there has been a third one, requested by the same people who insisted that a second autopsy would be biased and nothing more than junk.”During an interview Tuesday, Larry Baruffaldi said his sister’s body lay at the Doherty Funeral Home in Somerville. “It has been very hard on our family,” he said. “We’re still waiting for the report from the second autopsy, which was requested by the court, unlike the third autopsy, which was requested by (Harris). We want to hear what Dr. Bollinger has to say and get the toxicology results. That has been part of the hold up, along with the original autopsy report from the Virgin Islands, which hasn’t arrived yet.”The grieving brother said two separate graveside funeral services will be held Thursday in Lynnfield – first for the Harris family and then the Baruffaldis, he said, adding, “I’m glad we’re going to be the last ones with her.”Larry Baruffaldi said his sister wasn’t the type of person to kill herself. “She was the kind of person who was always doing something for somebody else. She had dreams. She was planning a trip to Egypt because her dream was to ride a camel in the desert and see the Pyramids. She was obsessed about it and she was taking everybody else along as she always tried to do. She was very family oriented,” he said. “That isn’t someone who is going to commit suicide.”Joan Baruffaldi and her husband went to St. John because she was registered to attend a veterinarians’ conference to further her practice, the successful North Reading Veterinary Clinic. Her will bequeathed about $3 million in real estate and other assets to Harris, including vacation homes in Maine and Florida.”My sister had this cool place up in Maine, a cottage in Kennebunkport tucked near a tidal pool. It was part of her retirement dream. She wanted to see her kids off to college, sell the veterinary clinic and her Lynnfield house and go back and forth between Maine and her other home on North Hutchinson Island near Vero Beach, living happily ever after with a loving husband,” Larry Baruffaldi said. “That didn’t happen. Which is too bad because she loved life. Last July 4 she was in Hawaii. She told me and my wife and kids to enjoy the Maine cottage, take out the boat, do whatever. When we talked on the phone, she was with her daughter, Madison. They had just gone zip-lining and were about to board a helicopter to ride