SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A grand jury has indicted Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo in the killing of his pregnant lover in a case that is potentially eligible for the death penalty.
Thursday's indictment was announced as dozens of people attended the wake of 27-year-old Keishla Rodríguez, who was reported missing a week ago and whose body was identified on Sunday via dental records.
Verdejo turned himself in to authorities on Sunday night and is being held without bail.
The 27-year-old boxer is charged with kidnapping and carjacking, resulting in the death of Rodríguez and intentionally killing an unborn child.
According to an FBI complaint, which the Associated Press obtained, accused Verdejo of punching Rodríguez in the face, injecting her with a syringe filled with an unidentified substance bought at a public housing complex, binding her arms and feet with wire, tying her body to a block, and then throwing her into the water from a bridge last Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
The AP reported that the boxer then stood on the bridge and shot at her body.
Authorities found her body Saturday in a lagoon near Puerto Rico’s capital.
Another man, Luis Antonio Cádiz, was also charged and was ordered held without bail on Thursday.