Afghan Boxer Arrested for Athens Suitcase Murder. His Wife’s Family Warned Against the Marriage

An Afghan migrant and professional boxer has been arrested in Athens over the murder of a British charity worker whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase inside an abandoned building. Sharif Ahmadzai, 26, is accused of killing Elisabeth-Jane Ross, 38, a Scottish volunteer known as Lisa, and dumping her remains in the Kypseli neighborhood of the Greek capital.

Ross's body was discovered on July 18 by a homeless man, three days after she went missing. CCTV footage obtained by Greek police allegedly shows Ahmadzai leaving his apartment carrying a suitcase and heading toward the derelict site where her body was found. He left the location around 13 minutes later without the bags.

She woke, checked his shared location, and saw he was at the victim's apartment.

Ahmadzai arrived in Greece on a small boat from Lesvos in 2016, converted to Christianity, and married American Christian Alaina Hall, 28, from Ringgold, Georgia, in 2023. The couple founded a refugee ministry in Athens called Love Every Nation Athens and had a child together. Ross was known to the couple through that same volunteer network and was staying in a flat owned by their organization, giving Ahmadzai access to the property.

According to the Daily Mail, it was Ahmadzai's own wife who alerted police. She reportedly woke the night of July 15 and found him gone, checked his shared location, and saw he was at Ross's apartment. After Ross's body was publicly identified, Alaina left the family home with their baby and checked into a hotel. Ahmadzai allegedly gave her 2,550 euros and a new iPhone, which she refused and handed to police, believing the items were bought with the victim's money.

Ahmadzai allegedly admitted to police that he used Ross's bank cards to withdraw cash and sent messages from her phone to her friends and family, impersonating her. Detectives who raided the couple's home on August 1 reportedly found a replica pistol and a military-style knife. Greek authorities believe the killing stemmed from a confrontation, with investigators considering two possible motives, either an attempted robbery or a sexual assault.

Alaina's aunt, Leanne Hall, told the Daily Mail that her brother Thomas and sister-in-law Susan had always opposed their daughter marrying Ahmadzai, saying they never wanted the marriage to happen.