According to reports, Puerto Rican boxer Felix Verdejo was held without bail in the case of the death of his pregnant girlfriend and his unborn child.
Verdejo, 27, a light contender and former Olympian, was charged with kidnapping, murder and the death of an unborn child due to the death of Kidla Rodríguez Ortiz, who went missing on Thursday, Puerto Rico’s El Nuevo gave newspaper said.
The newspaper reported Monday that Verdejo argued after US District Judge Camille Velez Rive surrendered to authorities.
The boxer, a member of Puerto Rico’s 2012 Olympic team, became a person of interest on Thursday when Rodriguez’s family reported her missing – when she went to confront Verdezzo about her pregnancy.
According to a criminal complaint filed late Sunday, Verdezzo contacted an unnamed partner, who asked for help in ending the pregnancy, NBC News reports.
The FBI said Verdejo met Rodriguez at her home, then got into her car and punched her, before he injected her with a “syringe filled with substances purchased from a drug point in Allerance Torres”, a Said the San Juan Juan Project.
Authorities said Verdejo and partner tied him with wire, tied him to a block, took him to the Todoro Moskoso Bridge and dumped him at the San Jose Lagoon, where his body was found on Saturday.
Boxer then allegedly shot at him from the bridge.
Investigators said cellphone records and surveillance footage from the scene helped make up their case, adding that detectives saw a covering on the bridge.
Rodriguez’s car was abandoned about 13 miles away.
Verdezzo can face the death penalty if found guilty.
A fighter for the top rank, he went pro in 2012 and set a 27–2 record with 17 knockouts, but lost his most recent bout in December, when he was ruled out by Masayoshi Nakatani in Las Vegas.
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