Puerto Rican former Olympic boxer Felix Verdejo was charged Monday with killing his lover and their unborn youngster, in a case that has ignited protests over violence in opposition to girls within the US territory.
Verdejo appeared for a digital listening to within the federal court docket in San Juan, the place the decide charged him with three counts of kidnapping and murdering Keishla Rodriguez, who was pregnant on the time.
The decide, Camille Velez, ordered that the 27-year-old Verdejo be held with out bail forward of a plea listening to, reported native newspaper El Nuevo Dia.
A federal grievance obtained by AFP acknowledged that Verdejo, who’s married and was additionally in a relationship with Rodriguez, allegedly kidnapped the sufferer on April 29 after she requested him for assist to terminate her being pregnant.
Verdejo — who in his profession received 27 fights, 17 by knockout — “punched the sufferer within the face, and she or he was injected with a syringe crammed with a substance,” stated the affidavit of the FBI agent who led the investigation.
According to the affidavit, Verdejo and a witness tied Rodriguez’s hands and feet with wire, and tied her to a block.
Then they drove to a lagoon in San Juan, where she was “tossed off the side of the bridge and into the water,” the affidavit stated.
Verdejo then shot Rodriguez when she was already within the water.
The FBI discovered proof that Verdejo and Rodriguez, 27, had communicated by cellphone on the day of the kidnapping; and a safety digicam reveals a automobile just like the boxer’s standing on the bridge.
Rodriguez had been reported lacking on Thursday and her physique was discovered within the San Jose lagoon on Saturday.
Her household had blamed the boxer for her disappearance and later her loss of life.
The case sparked protests in Puerto Rico, whose governor, Pedro Pierluisi, declared a state of emergency in January resulting from violence in opposition to girls.
Verdejo represented Puerto Rico within the London 2012 Olympic Games, and that very same 12 months started his skilled profession within the light-weight class.
His profession suffered after a motorbike accident in 2016.
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