The Murder of John Ruffolo

Episode 246: John Ruffolo, 36, an employee of Brinks Canada at Butler Crescent location in Saanichton, British Columbia, was due to start a night shift at 10:30 PM on October 19, 2003. He was an ATM technician and an armoured car driver. When John didn’t show up, the rest of the armoured car crew waited 30 minutes before calling John’s home. A woman answered the phone, telling John’s co-worker, Jason Amos, that John had left for work some time ago. The crew waited a few more minutes before calling in a replacement.

John’s wife, Ruby Ann Ruffolo, reported her husband missing on October 20th. His car turned up outside a local pub in Victoria two days after that. On October 25, 2003, a hiker walking near Humpback Road in Langford, 15 kilometres from his Victoria home, found John Ruffolo’s body in a culvert and called the police. John’s body was uninjured except for puncture wounds, believed to be needle marks, on both arms.

Six months after John Ruffolo died, police arrested Ruby Ann Ruffolo and charged her with first-degree murder in her husband’s death. John’s surviving family had to wait seven long years for justice in a case beset by numerous delays, some initiated by the defendant and her lawyers, but also included a judge’s death and a mistrial. 

Sources:

John RUFFOLO Obituary (2003) - The Times Colonist

2010 BCSC 1630 R. v. Ruffolo

2012 BCCA 325 R. v. Ruffolo

826 Esquimalt Road, Victoria, BC — Google Maps

Routes from 994 Tulip Ave to 6721 Butler Crescent — Google Maps

Heroin | HealthLink BC

Amitriptyline - Oral | HealthLink BC

Nortriptyline - Oral | HealthLink BC

Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative

CN BC: Judge’s Death Puts Cases In Jeopardy

Woman killed cheating husband with overdose of heroin | CTV News

Family furious over convicted killer’s release | CBC News

Murder victim’s family responds to Ruffolo’s release - Saanich News

Ruby Ann Ruffolo Guilty of First Degree Murder - YouTube

Ruby Ann Ruffolo loses last appeal of conviction for murdering husband in 2003 - Victoria Times Colonist

KidSport Canada | So all kids can play

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