Chilling security footage has captured the moment a man allegedly wheeled a suitcase containing the body of a murdered British woman through the streets of Athens, Greece, en route to dumping her remains in an abandoned building.
Suspect identified
The clip reportedly shows 26-year-old Sharif Ahmadzai, dressed in a black T-shirt and shorts with a blue backpack, wheeling a large black suitcase through central Athens. The suitcase allegedly contained the remains of Elisabeth Jane Ross, a 38-year-old from Edinburgh.
Ahmadzai allegedly left the bag at an abandoned building in the Kypseli neighbourhood before fleeing. The security footage appears to show his movements on July 16, two days before Ross's body was discovered by a homeless man on July 18.
Charges and confession
Ahmadzai has been arrested and charged in connection with Ross's death. Local media report he faces charges of intentional homicide, robbery, and weapons offences. He reportedly confessed to moving her body but denied murder, according to the Guardian.
George Kalliakmanis, honorary president of the Athens Police Officers' Association, told the Guardian: “He has admitted to carrying her body in a trolley to the site. Police have CCTV footage of him doing this on the night of 16 July. He has also confessed to withdrawing €10,000 from ATMs using credit cards that belonged to her. But he has denied murder which police do not believe.”
Background and evidence
Ahmadzai, a champion boxer from Afghanistan, arrived in Lesvos in 2016 as a migrant. He later married US-born Alaina Hall in 2023, and the couple ran a refugee charity in Athens. They reportedly knew Ross through their work and had a key to the flat she was staying in, owned by their organisation, Love Every Nation Athens.
Initial medical reports suggest Ross died from asphyxiation, according to The Times. An autopsy is underway, with the official cause of death pending toxicology results.
Ross arrived in Greece in late June and stayed at several locations before renting a ground-floor apartment in Exarchia. Police said the accused had access to her apartment through keys. Ross was last in contact with a friend three days before her body was found; friends became concerned after receiving uncharacteristic text messages.
Alaina Hall provided key evidence, including location-sharing data showing her husband at Ross's apartment on the night of July 15 and into July 16. She reportedly suspected Ahmadzai's involvement and left home with her child. She also handed police a mobile phone and €2,550 in cash believed to belong to the victim.
During questioning, Ahmadzai allegedly claimed he found Ross dead in the bathroom before placing her body in a suitcase. Police allege he later admitted using her phone to impersonate her in messages and withdrawing money with her bank cards. A search of his home on August 1 uncovered a replica Glock-style pistol and a military-style knife, leading to additional weapons charges.
Ahmadzai's website states his father, a military commander in Kabul, was shot dead in a Taliban ambush when he was four, his older brother was kidnapped by the Taliban five years later, and the rest of his family died in a suicide car bomb when he was 15. He travelled to Greece in a small boat and won the Greek super lightweight boxing title in March 2023.
He has been referred to the prosecuting authority and is due to appear before magistrates in Athens on Wednesday.
