Felix Verdejo To Appear In Front of Federal Magistrate Monday

Coming up in Puerto Rico, Lightweight fighter Felix Verdejo will go before a Federal Magistrate on charges of carjacking, kidnapping and murder in connection with the death of his girlfriend, 27 year old, Keishla Marlen Rodríguez Ortiz.

Oritz’s body was located Saturday afternoon in a lagoon in San Jose, Puerto Rico after a frantic two day search from her family, friends and the authorities.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in San Juan along with the FBI bureau there took the 27 year old Verdejo into custody Sunday night with overwhelming evidence and the cooperation of an accomplice in the alleged abduction, the killing of the Rodriguez Ortiz and the disposal of her body off the Teodoro Moscoso Bridge into the lagoon.

El Vocero newspaper had more details of the FBI’s charges filed with the court and Rodriguez Ortiz’s family pleading for justice outside of the Federal building Sunday night,

[Vídeo] Familiares de Keishla Rodríguez reaccionan al arresto del boxeador Félix Verdejo https://t.co/JHjMVxds8k

— El Vocero de Puerto Rico (@VoceroPR) May 3, 2021

From El Vocero’s horrifying story and the U.S. Attorney charges,

According to the statements of the witness, “who had first-hand knowledge” about the events that occurred, on April 27 Verdejo contacted him and asked him to help him terminate the pregnancy of the victim (Rodríguez Ortiz), who told him the boxer who was pregnant with him.

On April 29, Verdejo contacted the victim and arranged to meet her at her residence. The boxer and the witness went aboard the black Dodge Durango vehicle owned by the fighter. The victim arrived at the agreed place in his vehicle, a gray Kia Forte, and there he got on Verdejo’s bus.

According to the statement, after they spoke, Verdejo punched the young woman in the face and injected a substance with a syringe, which was acquired at a drug store in the Luis Llorens Torres residential area. The boxer and the witness are alleged to have tied his feet and arms with wire. Then they tied a block to him. The witness took the keys to the Kia vehicle and boarded it.

Verdejo and the witness traveled in both vehicles to the Teodoro Moscoso bridge, which crosses the San José lagoon between Carolina and Hato Rey. The victim was then removed from the bus and she was thrown into the water, where the body was found on Saturday. Immediately afterwards, Verdejo shot him from the bridge. Subsequently, the victim’s vehicle was abandoned. 

READ MORE: “Verdejo Avoids Facing Death Penalty”

As we have written, there had been a frantic search for the young woman after she failed to show up for work Thursday and didn’t return any of her family’s calls or text messages. Rodriguez Ortiz’s mother told the San Juan CIC investigative officers that her daughter confirmed to her she was pregnant and had gone to tell Verdejo.

Rodriguez Ortiz’s family, which had been pleading Thursday and Friday with Verdejo and the public to help with the search for Keishla, came to the scene on the water Saturday with authorities, once there was confirmation that it was a blond female matching her general description found in the lagoon in San Jose.

San Juan investigators went to Verdejo’s home Saturday night and impounded the SUV for further analysis and investigation into Rodriguez Ortiz’s death.

The U.S. FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office based in San Juan are involved because of the high-profile nature of the case and the serous charges of kidnapping and murder that Verdejo is facing.

He reportedly could be facing the death penalty, if convicted of the most serious crimes.

The bridge video reportedly shows the SUV on the bridge, leave and then, come back twice over a 30 minute period on Thursday morning.

El Vocero further reported authorities have found a shell casing of a bullet on the bridge and allegedly found blood potentially from the victim on the bridge that was processed, as well.

The rising star and popular contender Verdejo is 27-2 as a pro, and was last in the ring this past December on a Top Rank Las Vegas show. That night he lost to Masayoshi Nakatani in the ninth round on the undercard of the Shakur Stevenson-Toka Kahn Clary main event.

It was a wild fight, where Nakatani upset Verdejo handing him a tough second pro loss.

Top Rank had released this statement via social media Saturday night:

Official statement from Top Rank ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/wgxpv7VoI5

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 2, 2021

However, his boxing career is obviously no longer a priority, as the developments of the last 72 hours in Puerto Rico continue to unfold.