Felix Verdejo, a professional boxer with a record of 27-2, faces charges of kidnapping and carjacking resulting in death and intentionally killing an unborn child after police identified the body of a dead woman as Verdejo's ex-lover Keishla Rodriguez in Puerto Rico on Sunday. Verdejo surrendered himself to United States federal authorities after having previously been questioned in Rodriguez's disappearance.
The FBI criminal complaint accuses Verdejo of punching Rodríguez and injecting her with a syringe filled with an unidentified substance. The report states he then bound her arms and feet with wire and threw her off a bridge on Thursday morning after tying her to a heavy block.
Verdejo, who is a former Olympian and suffered a dramatic TKO loss to Masayoshi Nakatani in December that derailed a climb up the lightweight ranks, is married with a daughter, but Rodriguez's parents told reporters that she and Verdejo had known each other since middle school and kept in touch.
According to Rodriguez's mother, Keila Ortiz, Rodriguez called her to state that Verdejo was coming to her home to verify the results of a positive pregnancy test before disappearing. Ortiz also said that Verdejo had pressured Rodriguez not to have the baby out of concern for his career and family.
"I told her, 'Be careful,' because he had already threatened her," Ortiz said.
Verdejo and his attorneys previously declined comment, and police said the boxer did not originally cooperate and refused to answer questions, according to the Associated Press.
