Murder conviction upheld in drugging death
Posted July 28, 2012 2:00 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VICTORIA (NEWS1130) – A long ordeal for a Victoria family is over.
The BC Court of Appeal has upheld the first degree murder conviction of a woman who drugged her husband to death nine years ago.
In the fall of 2003, John Ruffolo went missing. A hiker eventually stumbled upon his body a few days later in a broken culvert in a remote area of Saanich.
The coroner found Ruffolo had been pumped full of lethal levels of heroin. During the court proceedings, two witneses testified that Ruffolo’s wife had once offered them money to kill him. Roommates told court they were enlisted to carry Ruffolo’s lifeless body out of the house and into a car just before he went missing in October of 2003.
Ruby Ann Ruffolo’s failure to get her conviction overturned comes as a relief to the family.
“It’s taken nine years to get to this point. No family should have to endure this kind of horror,” says Lois Ruffolo, John’s mother.
She describes her son as easygoing, a doting dad, a workaholic. At the time of the murder, their daughter was 13.
Lois says there were signs the couple were having problems.
“Things weren’t good, absolutely. In fact, the week before he disappeared he told me he asked for a divorce,” she says.
Ruby Ann Ruffolo is serving a life sentence.
