Two women from the close circle of the 26-year-old Afghan man accused of murdering 38-year-old British woman Lisa Ross in Kypseli, Athens, are painting a very different picture of his life. According to them, approximately a year and a half before the incident, a gradual change in his behavior had begun to emerge.
Read more: Kypseli murder: What police found inside the 38-year-old British woman’s apartment
Kypseli murder: The dark journey of the 26-year-old Afghan suspect — from Moria to marriage, an NGO, and a murder charge
The two women, members of an Evangelical Church in the southern United States and volunteers, spoke to the Daily Mail about Sharif Ahmadzai and his relationship with his 28-year-old American wife, Aleina Hall.
According to their testimonies, Aleina had expressed concerns that her husband was gradually drifting away from the Christian faith, which had for years been a cornerstone of their life together. They also claim he was spending increasing amounts of time with friends and at a boxing gym, frequently visiting bars in Athens and, in their estimation, behaving “as if he were single.”
As one of the women stated: “There were problems in the marriage,” adding that Aleina felt her husband had begun to question his Christian faith. This shift held particular significance to them, as the couple’s relationship had been largely built around their shared faith and volunteer work. Just four months before the incident, the couple had also welcomed their first child, a baby boy.
“He was going to boxing more than he was going to church”
According to Aleina’s friends, she had grown up in a deeply religious Christian environment in the United States and had noticed a marked change in her husband’s attitude. “He became more distant and seemed more interested in boxing and his friends than in ‘God’s work,’ as Aleina put it,” one of the women said. “I think he was going to the boxing gym more than he was going to church, and that had started to worry her,” she added.
The same women also claim that Aleina was troubled by the fact that her husband frequented Athens bars “as if he were single.”
According to the same testimonies, she had even begun to question the sincerity of Ahmadzai’s original conversion to Christianity, which had occurred just months after his arrival in Greece. It should be noted, however, that these are the personal assessments of those individuals and not established facts regarding the motivations behind his religious conversion.
Lisa and the couple’s troubles
It was into this strained atmosphere that Lisa Ross reportedly arrived when she returned to Greece at the end of June. She initially stayed in Keratsini until July 10, before moving into an apartment used by the couple’s charitable organization. The two women believe it is likely that Lisa — who was also deeply religious — had been informed by Aleina about the problems in her marriage.
“Aleina is very open about her feelings. She had shared them with us, and I’m sure she would have told Lisa too,” one friend said. They believe Lisa may have spoken to Ahmadzai about his behavior or his drift from the faith — though there is currently no evidence to confirm that such a confrontation actually took place. “Lisa was a straightforward and honest person, the kind who would say what she was thinking,” they said.
Who was Lisa Ross?
Elizabeth-Jane Ross, known as Lisa, was from Edinburgh and had devoted much of her adult life to missionary and volunteer work across various countries. Her desire to help others had manifested from a very young age. A photograph published by the Edinburgh Evening News in November 1998 showed her at the age of ten, surrounded by stuffed toys being sold at a church charity event to raise money for victims of Hurricane Mitch in Central America.
She grew up alongside her parents — lawyer Ken Ross and teacher Julie — her twin sister Joan, and her younger siblings Katie and James, in a house in the Currie area on the outskirts of Edinburgh. Following her death, her family described her as “a kind, principled, and selfless person.”
Her work had brought her to Athens repeatedly over the past decade. She had collaborated with the Christian organization One Heart, which provides support to refugees among other services, as well as with the Melissa Network, a support network for migrants and refugees in Athens. It was through this work that she met Aleina Hall and Sharif Ahmadzai.
From Afghanistan to Moria
Ahmadzai’s life had begun under vastly different circumstances. He was born in the city of Gardez, in southeastern Afghanistan. According to his own account, his father was a commander in the Afghan army who was killed by the Taliban when Ahmadzai was just four years old.
He has also claimed that his older brother Samuel was abducted by the Taliban and never seen again, while his mother, older sister, and younger brother were killed in a suicide bombing in November 2015, after the family had relocated to Kabul. “There was no reason to stay in Kabul. It was painful to be there. I took the money my family had left behind and decided to leave,” he had written on the website of the organization he later founded with his wife.
In December 2015, he attempted to reach Iran on foot through mountainous terrain, but was stopped at the border and returned to Afghanistan. A month later, he tried again. He paid smugglers, crossed from Iran into Turkey, and spent approximately two months in Istanbul. This was followed by attempts to cross by small boat into Greece. According to his account, the first two attempts failed when Turkish coast guard intercepted them. On his third attempt, he reached Lesbos. “I had finally made it to Europe. I was just 16 years old and had no one,” he later wrote.
A new life and conversion to Christianity
At Moria, Ahmadzai began learning English and working as a translator for organizations operating in the camp. Initially, according to earlier statements he made, he wanted to reach Britain, where an aunt who had offered to take him in was living.
On Lesbos, he met American missionary Jeremy Holoman, coordinator of EuroRelief, an Evangelical Christian organization operating at Moria. Holoman offered him a room in his home, while his wife Marianna helped him learn English. Ahmadzai would later refer to the couple as his “family.”
Within less than a year of his arrival in Greece, he renounced Islam and embraced Evangelical Christianity. He soon began actively participating as a volunteer with EuroRelief, and was later granted asylum.
Meeting his American wife
It was also on Lesbos that he met his future wife. Aleina had traveled to the island at the age of 18 as a Christian volunteer and was also working with EuroRelief. She had grown up in Ringgold, Georgia, in a financially comfortable and deeply devout Baptist family. The two initially became friends.
Their relationship developed after Ahmadzai moved to Athens in 2020, and in 2023 they married in Greece. According to an aunt of Aleina cited by the Daily Mail, her parents had serious reservations about the relationship and did not want the marriage to go ahead. The photographs the couple shared on social media in the years that followed painted the picture of a happy life together. They traveled to Rome, Milan, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Seville, and had also taken a whale-watching trip to Portugal. In one of his posts, Ahmadzai wrote: “Just grateful for the gift of life.”
Their joint charity and the boxing
In 2023, the couple founded their own small charitable organization, called “Love Every Nation.” Through it, they distributed food, baby formula, and medicine to families in need. On their website, they openly declared the Christian identity behind their work.
Ahmadzai also pursued boxing and personal training seriously. In March, he won a Greek title in the super lightweight category, and also offered free boxing lessons to young boys. In a video that was posted on the organization’s website and later removed, he stated that he considered the ability to teach boxing while also speaking about Christ to be “a gift from God.”
Posts criticizing NGOs
Over the past year, however, he had grown disillusioned with the sector in which he worked. In posts on Facebook, he accused certain Christian organizations in Greece of exploiting refugees and volunteers for financial gain. He spoke of fees charged to volunteers, problematic accommodation conditions, and mismanagement of donations, and also shared material carrying the slogan “Boycott corrupt NGOs.”
Lisa’s messages and his wife’s suspicions
According to Aleina’s statement to police, the couple had met Lisa in Athens in February, through volunteer work. She described the British woman as “a very pleasant and sweet person, kind-hearted, with a good soul.” After a joint outing involving all three, Ahmadzai remained in contact with Lisa, who had asked him for help transporting Bibles. Aleina said she last saw Lisa on July 12, following a Bible study meeting. On July 15, according to court documents cited in the British report, Aleina saw a message from Lisa to her husband reading: “Thank you for your intention to come with me.” That same night, she woke up to find her husband gone.
Using the Find Friends app on her phone, she saw that he was at the apartment on Rethymnou Street in Kypseli where Lisa was staying. When she asked him what he was doing there, he claimed, according to her statement, that he had gone out to watch a football match and had stopped by the apartment to use the bathroom.
The suitcase and the “terrible feeling”
Lisa’s body was discovered inside a suitcase on July 18. In the days that followed, according to his wife, Ahmadzai appeared distressed — something he attributed to the death of a relative in India. He then took his wife and baby and traveled to Arachova. When Aleina learned that a body had been found inside a suitcase, she began connecting the preceding events.
As she testified, on the night of July 29 she woke up with a “terrible” feeling. The following morning she sent a message to Lisa and received two replies that struck her as suspicious. “Those messages were not in Lisa’s style — neither in terms of the level of English nor the use of emojis that she never used,” she told police.
She began to seriously piece things together, connecting the dates, the messages, and her husband’s behavior, and on July 29 she contacted the authorities. Ahmadzai was arrested on August 1.
The suitcase on camera
During the investigation, officers retrieved security camera footage that reportedly shows the 26-year-old leaving the apartment on Rethymnou Street carrying a suitcase. He denies killing Lisa but has admitted to removing her body, taking her mobile phone, and using her bank cards to withdraw thousands of euros. He also admitted to sending messages to people in her circle to make them believe she was still alive. Following his arrest, he claimed that on the night of July 15 he had found Lisa in a very bad state in the bathroom.
“She was producing something like water from her mouth,” he reportedly stated. He said he spoke to her two or three times with no response and panicked. According to his account, he returned the following day and found her dead.
The mysterious “Nikos” that police don’t believe existed
The explanation he subsequently gave to authorities is even more extraordinary. The 26-year-old claimed that after Lisa’s death, he encountered an elderly man near a bus stop and asked him what he should do if he had found a dead body. According to his statement, the elderly man told him to remove the body from the apartment, otherwise he would get into trouble.
Ahmadzai claims he returned to the apartment, placed the 38-year-old’s body in a suitcase, loaded it into the boot of his wife’s red Peugeot, and drove to an abandoned building near his home. There, he claims, he encountered the same elderly man again, who told him to leave the suitcase and said he would take care of the rest. The 26-year-old claims the man’s name was “Nikos.” Police, according to the report, do not believe this individual exists. Ahmadzai also linked the money he withdrew from Lisa’s bank cards to the alleged “Nikos,” claiming the man was blackmailing him by threatening to tell police everything.
Charged with premeditated murder
The initial forensic examination had been unable to conclusively determine the cause of the 38-year-old’s death. However, according to more recent findings cited by the Daily Mail, the evidence points to a criminal act, with asphyxiation listed as the probable cause of death.
Ahmadzai appeared in court at Evelpidon this week and faces charges including premeditated murder and robbery, as well as weapons-related offenses. During the search of his home, investigators reportedly found a replica Glock-type pistol and a military-style knife.
His 28-year-old wife — the person who alerted police to her suspicions — is now living away from the public eye in Athens with their four-month-old son. In less than a decade, Ahmadzai’s life had undergone a complete transformation: from a 16-year-old refugee who arrived alone on Lesbos, to a recognized refugee, Evangelical Christian, husband of an American missionary, father, boxer, and co-founder of a charitable organization.
Today he stands accused of murdering a woman he met through the very same circle of Christian and volunteer work that had defined his new life in Greece. He continues to deny that he took Lisa Ross’s life.
Source: Daily Mail
