Puerto Rican professional boxer Félix Verdejo surrendered himself to federal agents on Sunday. CBS News reported that the 27-year-old athlete now faces several federal charges after police discovered the body of his pregnant girlfriend, Keishla Rodríguez, 27.
The FBI filed a criminal complaint on Verdejo, which recapped the terrifying course of events that led to Rodríguez’s death. According to the news outlet, the complaint states that Verdejo, who is married with a daughter, punched the expectant mother in the face and injected her with a needle “filled with an unidentified substance.”
The complaint also alleged that Verdejo tied her hands and feet, binding her to a wire attached to a heavy block before throwing her off of a bridge on Thursday. He reportedly shot at her body while he stood on the bridge. According to the complaint, an unidentified person aided Verdejo in kidnapping and killing the young woman.
Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo turned himself in to federal agents Sunday night just hours after authorities identified the body of a dead woman as his 27-year-old pregnant girlfriend. https://t.co/Lrd24fzKGR
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 3, 2021
Rodríguez’s family contacted law enforcement when she didn’t show up for her job at an animal grooming center. They also believe that she was pregnant with Verdejo’s child at her time of death.
The woman reportedly told her mother, Keila Ortiz, before disappearing that Verdejo was coming over to her home to view her pregnancy test results. Hauntingly, the grieving mother recounted that she had told her daughter to be careful, as Verdejo had threatened her in the past.
According to Ortiz, he didn’t want to have the baby and brought up his family and career as reasons not to go through with the pregnancy.
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On May 8, Rodríguez’s body was discovered in a lagoon. CBS News reported that the young mother was identified via her dental records. Verdejo turned himself in to federal custody on Sunday night and is now being charged with kidnapping, carjacking resulting in death, and intentionally killing an unborn child in his pregnant girlfriend’s death.
No word yet on when he’s due in court.
