Boxer Félix Verdejo found guilty of kidnapping, killing pregnant girlfriend

Former professional boxer Félix Verdejo was found guilty of kidnapping and killing his pregnant girlfriend, who was fatally shot and then thrown from a bridge after she revealed she was expecting.

A Puerto Rican jury delivered the verdict on Friday, some two years after Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz was found dead in a lagoon in San Juan. Verdejo, who represented Puerto Rico in the 2012 Olympics, turned himself in a day after the discovery, and was charged with kidnapping resulting in death, carjacking resulting in death, intentionally killing an unborn child, and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

His 25-week trial, held in the U.S. District Court of Puerto Rico, ended with the ex-lightweight fighter being found guilty of kidnapping resulting in death and causing the death of an unborn child. The 12 jurors — three men and nine women — could not reach unanimous verdicts on the other counts.

“We stand firmly with the family of Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz and all those in the community who sought justice for this senseless, cruel, and heinous act of premeditated and cold-blooded violence against Keishla and her unborn child,” United States Attorney Muldrow said in a statement.

Federal prosecutors relied on the testimony of more than 30 people, key among them witness Luis Antonio Cádiz, a friend of Verdejo who also was charged in the case. He pleaded guilty last year after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. He has not yet been sentenced.

Cadiz testified that Verdejo had pressured Rodríguez to get an abortion right before she turned up dead. He also recalled how Verdejo punched Rodríguez and injected her with a substance — which Cádiz believed to be heroin — before they both tied her to a cement block and threw her off a busy bridge in broad daylight.

Rodríguez’s family reported her missing on April 29, 2021. They’d become concerned after she failed to show up for work.

An autopsy determined Rodríguez had fentanyl and xylazine, a sedative used for horses and other animals, in her system. A pathologist testified she was still alive when the men tossed her from the bridge.

“May he live the rest of his life thinking about what he did to my daughter,” her father, Tony Rodríguez, told Telemundo Puerto Rico outside the courthouse.

U.S. District Judge Pedro Delgado Hernandez set a Nov. 3 sentencing date, at which Verdejo could face a penalty of up to life in prison.

With News Wire Services