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Puerto Rican boxer Felix Verdejo poses after his weigh-in at Madison Square Garden in New York, June 10, 2016. A jury on Friday, July 28, 2023, found Verdejo guilty on two of four charges in the murder of Kelshla Rodriguez. (Image of Verdejo-Sánchez: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File; inset of Rodríguez Ortiz: the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico)
Jurors have convicted a former Olympic boxer of killing his pregnant lover by injecting her with drugs, tying her to a cement block, and throwing her into a lagoon.
Félix Verdejo-Sánchez, 30, was found guilty of carrying out “a premeditated plan to murder Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz and her unborn child,” the Justice Department announced in a press release Friday. According to federal prosecutors in Puerto Rico, Verdejo-Sánchez lured Keishla Rodríguez Ortiz, 27, out to his Dodge Durango on the morning of April 29, 2021. There, with the help of co-defendant Luis Antonio Cádiz-Martínez, he punched her, injected her with drugs and tied her with a metal wire to a cement block.
Verdejo-Sánchez drove her to the Teodoro Moscoso bridge and, with Cadiz-Martínez’s help, threw Rodríguez Ortiz into the San José Lagoon.
“He later jumped into the lagoon in order to finish murdering both victims,” the DOJ’s press release said.
Prosecutors described this as a premeditated plan to murder Rodríguez Ortiz, who was reportedly two months pregnant at the time, and her unborn child. The victim’s mother has said that Verdejo-Sánchez had threatened Rodríguez Ortiz about not having a baby.
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Jurors convicted Verdejo-Sánchez of kidnapping resulting in death and killing an unborn child. They deadlocked on carjacking resulting in death; and using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Verdejo-Sánchez is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 3, but his fate is already sealed. He faces a mandatory life sentence.
“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 W. Stephen Muldrow said. “I also commend the hard work, dedication, and relentless pursuit of justice by federal and local law enforcement, including the FBI, the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety, the Puerto Rico Forensic Science Institute, and the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, as well as the prosecutors and professional staff in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
“There are damages which cannot ever be repaired, not even by a just verdict,” said FBI San Juan Special Agent in Charge, Joseph González. “In cases such as these, all we can do is give our all in the pursuit of justice. Today, I can say that my team did exactly that, and I am proud of their dedication. I would like to thank the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the amazing work and the jury for their service. We did what we do and justice was served.”
Cádiz-Martínez pleaded guilty on Nov. 28, 2022, to carjacking resulting in death and killing an unborn child. The judge vacated a sentencing hearing set for May 1 of this year and has yet to reschedule.
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