Puerto Rico's Olympic Boxer Felix Sanchez Found Guilty Of Killing Pregnant Girlfriend

A jury in the US convicted former Puerto Rico boxer Felix Verdejo Sanchez on Friday on two charges related to the killing of his 27-year-old pregnant girlfriend Keishla Rodriguez. 

The chilling murder of Ms Rodriguez took place in April 2021. Mr Sanchez was arrested by the FBI on May 2, 2021. Investigators said that Mr Sanchez punched his girlfriend who was two months pregnant. He then drugged her and threw her off a bridge. 

The postmortem report revealed that Keishla Rodriguez died of drowning after being drugged. The boxer had denied all the charges.    

The trial against Mr Sanchez, who represented Puerto Rico in the 2012 London Olympics, went on for 25 weeks. The gory details of the murder, which shocked the United States, were minutely heard by the jury during the trial. 

According to the Associated Press, the jury, comprising three women and nine men, convicted Mr Sanchez on the charge of kidnapping leading to death and one count of causing the death of an unborn child. The jury, however, could not come to a unanimous judgement on the charge of intercepting and stealing a vehicle with the outcome of causing death or the charge of carrying a weapon to commit a crime. 

US District Judge Pedro Delgado Hernandez set a November 3 date for sentencing. 

The federal prosecutors depended on the testimony of more than 30 people in the case. This group of people also includes a crucial witness Luis Antonio Cadiz, who is a friend of Mr Sanchez. The 30-year-old former professional boxer reportedly remained calm and expressionless while the verdict was being read out at the courtroom.

“May he live the rest of his life thinking about what he did to my daughter,” Keishla Rodriguez's father, Tony Rodriguez was quoted as saying outside the courthouse.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Felix Verdejo Sanchez represented Puerto Rico. His boxing career faced a jolt after a motorcycle accident in August 2016.