The parents of an American Christian woman who married an Afghan migrant now accused of murdering a British charity worker in Greece reportedly never wanted their daughter to marry him, according to a family member.
Sharif Ahmadzai, 26, has been arrested in Athens in connection with the death of Elisabeth-Jane Ross, 38. Ross's body was discovered in a suitcase in an abandoned building on July 18, three days after she was reported missing.
Ahmadzai, a professional boxer who arrived in Greece on a small boat in 2016, is accused of murdering Ms. Ross and then discarding her body.
After arriving on the Greek island of Lesvos, Ahmadzai converted to Christianity and married U.S. citizen Alaina Hall, 28, in 2023. The couple, who grew up in Ringgold, Georgia, established a ministry for refugees in Athens and have a child together.
Alaina Hall's aunt, Leanne Hall, told the Daily Mail that her brother, Thomas, and sister-in-law, Susan, had reservations about their daughter's husband. "I can tell you my brother and sister-in-law never wanted them to get married," Leanne Hall stated.
Greek authorities are exploring two potential motives for the alleged murder: a confrontation possibly stemming from an attempted mugging or a sexual assault. "We believe there was a confrontation," one source told the Daily Mail. "But was that spurred by Ross discovering the Afghan rummaging through her things and stealing her credit cards, or was it a case of sexual assault or the Briton spurning his advances?"
Police arrested Ahmadzai after CCTV footage allegedly showed him leaving his apartment, where Ms. Ross was staying, with a suitcase and dropping it in an abandoned car park where her remains were later found. Other footage reportedly shows him arriving at Ms. Ross's apartment in a car owned by Ms. Hall on the evening of July 15.
Sources close to the investigation indicated that Ahmadzai and Ms. Hall, who were also Christian volunteers, may have known Ms. Ross through their work. They reportedly had a key to Ms. Ross's apartment as it was owned by their organization, Love Every Nation Athens.
Investigators began looking into Ahmadzai after his wife reportedly alerted them to his suspicious behavior on July 30. She allegedly found him missing on the evening of July 15 and used a shared location app, which showed him at Ms. Ross's apartment. Ahmadzai has told police he found Ms. Ross already dead in her bathroom.
He reportedly admitted to using Ms. Ross's bank cards to withdraw cash and sending messages from her phone to relatives and friends, impersonating her. Ms. Hall became suspicious when news of Ms. Ross's body being found broke. She left the family home with their baby, refusing €2,550 and an iPhone 17 Pro that Ahmadzai offered her, believing the items were purchased with Ms. Ross's money. She handed the items to the police.
Authorities raided the family home on August 1, reportedly finding a replica Glock-style pistol and a military-style knife. Ahmadzai, a professional boxer with one win and one loss in two fights in Athens, has a documented history of overcoming adversity. His life story is the subject of a forthcoming book titled "From Hell To Home: How Loss, Exile And Hope Built The Man I Became."
Born in Afghanistan, Ahmadzai's father was killed in an ambush when he was three. His older brother was kidnapped by the Taliban and never returned, and his mother, sister, and younger brother were killed in a suicide car bombing six years later, leaving him an orphan. After fleeing Afghanistan, he spent 45 days traveling through Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey, enduring extreme conditions and witnessing violence. He arrived in Greece in 2016, where he taught himself English and began working with humanitarian organizations. He met Alaina Hall, who was volunteering at the same center, and they married in April 2023.
The couple founded Love Every Nation Athens and were involved in running boxing sessions for teenage boys and distributing food and prescriptions to refugee families. Police sources previously suggested that Ahmadzai told his wife he argued with Ms. Ross because she wanted him to join her more devout Christian group.
Ms. Ross, originally from Edinburgh, had been volunteering in Greece for seven years with NGOs assisting refugees and vulnerable individuals. She arrived in Athens on June 26 and moved to the apartment where she was found on July 2. Her last confirmed sign of life was a phone call to a friend on July 15. Friends and relatives received messages from her afterward, but the language and content seemed uncharacteristic, raising suspicions.
Ahmadzai is scheduled to appear before magistrates in Athens on Wednesday.