Boxer gets two life sentences for murder of girlfriend and preborn child

Félix Verdejo-Sánchez, a boxer who competed for the United States in the 2012 Olympics, has been sentenced to two life sentences after brutally murdering his pregnant girlfriend who had refused to have an abortion.

In April of 2021, Verdejo-Sánchez carried out a plan to kill Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz and her preborn child. According to a co-defendant in the case, Luis Cádiz Martínez, Verdejo-Sánchez had been pressuring Rodríguez Ortiz to have an abortion, but when she wouldn’t, he decided to kill her. Rodríguez Ortiz’s mother, Keila Ortiz Rivera, likewise told El Nuevo Día that he “had threatened her before to not have the baby, to get an abortion [because] he has his family, he is a boxer [and] a public figure.”

Together, the two men lured Rodríguez Ortiz into an SUV, where Verdejo-Sánchez first punched her, then injected her with drugs, and finally, tied her with metal wire to a cement block. They then drove to the Teodoro Moscoso bridge, where they threw her into the San José Lagoon. Verdejo Sánchez then jumped into the lagoon to finish killing them.

Police were tipped off about the crime by Cádiz Martínez, who called 911 to make an anonymous report about the bodies. The pathologist’s report said Rodríguez Ortiz was still alive when she was thrown into the water, while her toxicology report revealed fentanyl and xylazine in her system; xylazine is a tranquilizer used for large animals, like horses and cattle, and is not approved for use in humans.

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In July, Verdejo-Sánchez was convicted of kidnapping resulting in death, as well as one count of causing the death of a preborn child. Now, he’s been given two life sentences for his crimes. “This sentence should serve as a lesson for others,” Puerto Rico Police Commissioner Antonio López said. “It doesn’t matter how much fame, money or power you think you have. If you break the law, you will have to respond.”

“Today’s life sentence rightly holds Verdejo-Sánchez responsible for the pain and suffering he inflicted on his victims,” W. Stephen Muldrow, U.S. Attorney for Puerto Rico, said after the sentencing. “To this day, the defendant maintains his unrepentant attitude. Like Verdejo-Sánchez now knows, anyone who commits cold-blooded crimes of violence in violation of federal law will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law by the Justice Department and this office.”