Today we’re going to take a look at another horrible case with you.
In 2012 at the Summer Olympics in London the star of a young Puerto Rican boxer Felix Verdejo Sanchez shone brightly.
He was called a diamond.
One of the most promising and gifted athletes of his country.
He was predicted to win titles and gold medals.
Then it seemed to everyone that this talented and motivated young man would reach fantastic heights in sports.
In 2021 the name of the boxer again traveled all the world’s media.
But this time it fell into the section of criminal chronicles.
This story is about a teenage attachment that grew into a kind of addiction and led to a terrible tragedy.
And also about how the author of the main knockout of 2014 who was praised and promoted by two time Olympic champion Vasyl Lomachenko almost received a death sentence but eventually went to prison for life.
It is noteworthy that despite the presence of irrefutable evidence and confessions of the boxer’s accomplice he himself to this day refuses to plead guilty.
The future star of world boxing was born in the Puerto Rican city of San Juan in 1993 on May 19th.
He grew up in a rather modest large family and from an early age was fond of sports.
In childhood he planned to connect his life with baseball.
But his further fate was determined by a funny incident.
When the boy was 9 years old a family friend came to visit them with his son of the same age.
The boys were playing in the yard but suddenly quarreled and a fight broke out.
Parents separated the children and the father of the future athlete noted that if he wants to fight with someone in the future let him wear boxing gloves.
After that fight Felix at his request was taken to a local gym where the boy as he later admitted himself from the first training session fell in love with boxing.
At the age of 16 he won the Pan American Junior Championships.
A year later he won his country’s championship.
And a year later he went to the Olympic Games in London where he reached the quarterfinals.
In the same year began his brilliant career in the professional ring.
In total Verdejo had 29 fights gaining 27 confident victories.
And in 2014 he was recognized as the author of the best knockout in the fight against Sergio Villanueva.
A year later Felix won his first championship belt with the WBO Latino title which he subsequently defended six more times.
In two years everyone who saw him in the fight had no doubt.
This young man would write his name in the history of world boxing.
And now let’s get to know Keishla Rodriguez.
The girl was born in November 1993 in San Juan.
The full name given to her at birth is Keishla Marlene Rodriguez Ortiz.
Her parents Jose and Keila Rodriguez had another common daughter Baries Nicole.
And also the couple raised Keishla’s son Jonathan from a previous marriage of the woman.
Keishla grew up an open and sociable girl.
She did well in school and adored animals dreaming of becoming a veterinarian in the future.
Her best friend was her sister Baries to whom she confided all her secrets and worries.
Keishla studied in the same school with Felix Verdejo who was her age.
Young people were acquainted since childhood and in adolescence between them began a romantic relationship.
In 2011 Rodriguez’s parents divorced and separated.
Keila moved to relatives in Florida.
And her daughters who were by then already adults decided to stay in San Juan.
Despite the fact that each of the sisters had long since lived their own lives they continued to stay in close contact and told each other about everything that was happening to them.
At the age of 18 a promising boxer who had already managed to take part in the Olympic Games had an affair with a young school girl and aspiring model Elisa Maria Santiago Sierra.
At that time the girl was only 14 years old and she was still in school.
But even then she made big plans for the future with a promising and world famous athlete.
In addition Elisa’s parents were not at all against this relationship.
Attractive and talented Felix who has always had a lot of fans becoming a boxing star literally bathed in the rays of fame and was surrounded by female attention.
He did not miss the opportunity to spin a novel or a passing affair on the side.
And also despite the serious relationship with Elisa continued to meet with his school friend Keishla.
Keishla’s sister Baries and her mother Keila Rodriguez knew about the affair and did not approve of the relationship.
In addition the situation was very ambiguous.
On the one hand Elisa considered herself the only woman and great love of the athlete.
She was preparing for the wedding and made far reaching plans for their joint future.
On the other hand Keishla knew that the lover had a fiancee.
But at the same time Felix did not let her go.
On top of that he was her first great love.
And deep down the naive girl herself still hoped to be the one.
In 2016 the boxer did marry the young Elisa who at that time was nearly 19 years old.
Elisa by that time was already quite a famous model.
She had tens of thousands of followers on social networks and also opened her own beauty studio for eyelash extensions.
In August of the same year just a few months after the wedding the athlete got into a serious car accident.
When he was rushing on his motorcycle he was taken to the hospital in serious condition with head injuries bruises and lacerations.
His trainer Ricky Marquez seriously feared that his talented charge would go off the rails at the height of his career.
But Felix contrary to the disappointing prognosis made a rapid recovery and soon returned to the ring.
In September 2019 the boxer published in his profile on social media a picture with Elisa who was in a large term of pregnancy.
In the comment to the photo he wrote.
“Soon I will meet my daddy’s princess.”
And a month later he announced the birth of a daughter who was given the name Miranda Verdejo Santiago.
The young man in public looked like a loving husband caring father and an exemplary family man.
But secretly from his wife he continued to meet with Keishla who could not let go.
As Elisa later admitted she guessed that her husband was cheating on her.
But every time he tearfully vowed to leave his mistress.
Keishla repeatedly tried to break off this painful relationship.
But Felix would not let her go.
She had no other men because the boxer threatened that if he found out about the fact that Keishla had someone else it would not end well for her and her chosen one.
Keishla herself who had fallen in love with Verdejo since high school continued to love him despite everything.
Rodriguez as planned connected her life with the care of animals and got a job at the center of veterinary medicine and aesthetics.
Colleagues described her as conscientious hardworking and very responsible.
She lived with two dogs and a cat which she simply adored.
In 2020 Elisa saw the correspondence of her husband with several mistresses including Keishla.
The wife gave her husband a scandal and threw him out of the house threatening that she would file for divorce and forbid him to see his daughter.
Elisa’s threats had an effect.
In addition in the career of the athlete at that time there was a serious decline and unnecessary problems were not something he needed.
For a while he really stopped seeing Rodriguez.
But Felix still did not let her go trying to control almost every step.
After a few months secret visits resumed.
And in April 2021 Keishla discovered that she was pregnant.
She bought a rapid test at the drug store which only confirmed her fears.
She first called her sister who was aware of her complicated relationship with the athlete and told her everything.
It was out of the question to have an abortion because Keishla was already 27 years old and she was ready to have a child even if she had to raise it on her own.
A few days later Keishla broke the news to the father of her child hoping in her heart that he would accept it.
But Felix was not happy to put it mildly.
He got angry and told his mistress that she should go to the doctor and if the pregnancy is confirmed it will be necessary to have an abortion.
Naturally Rodriguez answered him with a firm refusal.
But the boxer began to threaten her and insist.
Felix said that an illegitimate child would finally destroy his reputation and this he could not allow.
After Keishla’s visit to the hospital her pregnancy was confirmed and she now had a certificate to prove it.
She called Felix and told him everything which made him furious.
Felix shouted and demanded that Keishla immediately get rid of the child.
But she again responded with a categorical refusal.
Then the athlete decided to go on the sly saying that he did not believe her and wanted to personally look at the issued medical certificate.
He appointed Keishla a meeting in the evening in a crowded place which did not surprise her because they always tried not to draw attention to themselves and not get in front of anyone.
A few days before the meeting the boxer stopped by his old friend Luis Antonio Cadiz who worked in a local machine shop and also had ties with the criminal world selling illegal drugs.
Felix briefly outlined the situation and asked him to help him get rid of his pregnant mistress.
Luis had previously been in the field of vision of the police and the prospect of being in prison scared him.
But the athlete was persistent and assured him that everything would go smoothly and the police would never come out on them.
Besides Felix promised him an impressive cash reward and Luis agreed.
With the support of an accomplice Felix called Keishla and told her that he wanted to meet her on the evening of April 29th to confirm her pregnancy and decide what to do next.
Immediately after talking to her lover Keishla called her sister back and told her everything.
She still hoped that Felix would accept her child and would not insist on an abortion.
But Baries found the whole situation quite alarming.
She knew that the boyfriend had threatened her sister and she was worried that he would do something to her.
Baries called her mother and shared her concerns.
But even together they could not dissuade Keishla from that fateful meeting.
At the appointed time Rodriguez taking a doctor’s note arrived at the meeting in her own Kia Forte automobile.
Verdejo drove there in his pickup truck in the back of which Luis was hiding.
Keishla immediately got into the athlete’s car and showed him the results of the tests.
He once again talked about terminating the pregnancy.
But Keishla crying again responded with a refusal.
Against this background the couple began to quarrel violently turning to shouting.
Then Felix suddenly hit Keishla in the head with his fist from which she immediately lost consciousness.
Until Keishla regained consciousness Felix took a syringe with a large dose of illegal substances hidden in the glove compartment of the car which Luis had obtained at his request and injected Keishla.
Then together with his accomplice they carried her to the back of the car where there were already prepared pieces of wire and a concrete block.
The men tied Rodriguez up attached the load and then covered her with a tarp so that no one would accidentally see anything.
Felix then returned to the pickup truck while his accomplice got behind the wheel of Keishla’s vehicle.
Together they drove to the bridge over the San Jose Lagoon.
It was virtually deserted at night and the men making sure no one could see them threw Keishla still alive into the water.
Afterward however they decided to fire a few shots in pursuit using the firearms they had brought with them so as not to leave the victim any chance.
Having finished the massacre each of the perpetrators went home.
Keishla’s co workers were the first to worry when she did not show up at the veterinary medicine and aesthetics center the next day.
Keishla had always been very responsible and could not just not show up for work without notifying anyone.
Since she did not answer the phone it was decided to contact her sister to find out what happened.
After several unsuccessful attempts to contact her sister Baries went to her house.
No one answered the door but Baries had a spare key so she got in without difficulty.
However she was met only by hungry animals who had not eaten anything for almost 24 hours.
Now Baries was already in a panic because she realized that something terrible or irreparable had happened to Keishla.
She immediately called her mother and told her everything and then reported to the police about her suspicions and threats to her sister.
She also called Felix but he claimed that he had spent the previous evening and night at home with his family and had not gone to any meeting.
The missing girl’s mother took the first flight from Florida to San Juan.
She thought that her lover might have taken her daughter to a private clinic and paid for her to have an abortion without her consent.
Keila did not even want to think about the fact that Keishla was no longer alive.
The first thing to do was to question the missing girl’s neighbors and co workers.
But they did not notice anything suspicious and could not provide the investigation with any useful information.
In parallel messages about the disappearance of Rodriguez were posted on popular social networks with requests to respond to those who knew anything about her fate or current whereabouts.
The case quickly received wide publicity.
And when it became known that the missing girl was in a long term relationship with a famous athlete and was expecting a child from him reporters literally lined up to interview any of Rodriguez’s family members.
The relatives did not hold anything back and spoke out about their suspicions among other things blaming Felix for the incident.
On April 30th Keishla’s car was found abandoned on the east side of the city with her documents and personal belongings inside.
No signs of struggle were found in the interior giving a faint hope of finding its owner alive.
On May 1st a passerby strolling on the bridge over the lagoon saw a strange shape resembling a human body in the shallow water.
He reported his discovery to the police who soon recovered from the water the body of a young woman presumably the same one the whole city had been looking for for several days.
Members of the Rodriguez family who arrived to identify the body hoped to the last that it was not Keishla.
But their hopes were not realized.
The body had been in the water for several days and changed a lot but the girl was immediately identified by a remarkable tattoo on her arm.
When news of the gruesome discovery hit the press the residents of the city revolted and began to go out to spontaneous rallies demanding punishment for those responsible.
The same day Verdejo was detained and taken to the police station for questioning.
But the athlete categorically denied his involvement and claimed that on the night of Keishla’s disappearance he was at home with his family.
As there was nothing to charge him with Felix was released on his own recognizance.
One of the key witnesses was the athlete’s legal wife who at the first interrogation admitted that she was aware of his affair with Keishla but that she had heard about her rival’s pregnancy for the first time.
On top of that she did not confirm her husband’s alibi saying that he was not at home on the night of the murder.
The first thing investigators did was check traffic surveillance footage on the way to the bridge from which Keishla was thrown.
That is how they found Felix’s pickup truck and the victim’s car traveling behind each other.
But the Kia Forte was clearly not driven by its owner.
On the same day the boxer’s car was seized for examination and in its body they found some hair of the deceased.
Luis was the first to surrender to the police promising to tell the whole truth in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Felix was also taken into custody but he refused to cooperate with the investigation did not answer questions and continued to deny his guilt despite the presence of irrefutable evidence.
A firearm was seized from Felix which he used to shoot the victim from the bridge and for which he had an official permit.
Also a cell phone check confirmed the fact that Felix Luis and Keishla were in the same location on that fateful night.
Keishla’s final farewell was on May 8th and the funeral ceremony was all over the national news.
It was a kind of action calling for the perpetrators of the tragedy to be punished to the full extent of the law as well as an action to draw public attention to the problem of gender violence.
The coffin with Rodriguez’s body was brought to the cemetery not in a traditional hearse but in a white carriage over which white flower petals were thrown from the air.
Many famous Puerto Rican natives including show business stars athletes politicians and public figures spoke out about the high profile incident.
Verdejo was charged with carjacking kidnapping premeditated murder and the murder of an unborn child.
All of these crimes together carried the death penalty.
But the relatives of the deceased from the very beginning asked the court to elect a sentence of life imprisonment for the killer so that he would suffer in captivity for the rest of his life.
The hearing was repeatedly postponed due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.
But in the spring of 2021 the trial was held in virtual mode.
The court found that the crime was committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy and with particular cruelty against a pregnant woman.
It was possible to reconstruct the chain of events of that night and the details of the crime mainly thanks to the testimony of Luis who did not deny his guilt.
He admitted that it was he who at the request of a friend got the drug for injection and also brought a wire and a concrete block to get rid of the body.
But Felix continued to insist on his non involvement in the case although his words could not seriously affect the situation.
By the way the wife of the boxer who acted in court as a witness almost immediately after the arrest of her husband filed for divorce and tried to abstract from what was happening focusing on the development of her business and raising a young daughter.
According to some reports not so long ago Elisa Santiago remarried.
Elisa herself admitted in an interview that she repeatedly received anonymous calls and messages with death threats as well as death wishes to her and even Miranda.
Many considered it was the spouse of the athlete as the organizer of the crime but no evidence was found.
In the summer of 2023 it became known that the jury having familiarized itself with all the evidence and heard the testimony of all the witnesses was finally ready to announce the final verdict.
Felix Verdejo and his accomplice Luis Cadiz were found guilty on each of the charges against them.
But despite this the killers had not yet been sentenced.
The next court hearing was scheduled for mid November 2023.
Most likely both men involved in the deaths of Keishla Rodriguez and her unborn child would go to prison for life with no right to ever leave prison.
