Murder suspect attempts suicide
Suspect slashed his wrists in custody as Aurore Ruyffelaere's funeral was due to take place. Ruyffelaere is the daughter of Claire Tillekaerts, director of Flanders Investment and Trade, and the stepdaughter of composer Dirk Brossé
Suspect in hospital, as funeral for Aurore Ruyffelaere takes place
A search was launched for Ruyffelaere, a resident of De Pinte, near Ghent, when she failed to return home from an evening at the Gentse Feesten on 26 July. Her car, which was parked in a lot behind a business in the area of Sint-Denijs- Westrem, was also missing.
Her body was found on Monday, 29 July in the boot of a car in the underground garage of a nearby apartment block. She had been strangled, but there was no sign of sexual assault, police said.
The following day, police arrested Andrei Grigoriev, a Russian national living in Ghent legally. He had been using Ruyffelaere’s bank card, was driving her car and matched the description given by another woman who had been assaulted in the same parking lot the night before.
Grigoriev, 29, has denied killing Ruyffelaere. Later in the week while in custody, he slashed his wrists with a razor blade and is currently in stable condition in hospital.
At the weekend, current and former pupils of the Erasmus secondary school in Deinze, where Ruyffelaere worked as a teacher, were joined by her parents for a ceremony, which included the planting of a tree and the release of hundreds of white balloons, each carrying a message from a student.
