Married former boxer Félix Verdejo turned himself in to federal agents on Sunday night and was charged with killing his pregnant lover, 27, after she was found shot dead in a Puerto Rican lagoon.  

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said late on Sunday that Verdejo was being charged with kidnapping and carjacking resulting in death and with intentionally killing an unborn child.

A criminal complaint filed by the FBI accuses Verdejo of punching Keishla Rodríguez in the face and injecting her with a syringe filled with an unidentified substance bought at a public housing complex.

It alleges he then bound her arms and feet with wire and tied a heavy block to her before throwing her off a bridge at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.

The complaint states that Verdejo then shot at Rodríguez’s body as he stood on the bridge.

The complaint says a witness it did not identify helped Verdejo kidnap and kill Rodríguez.

Rodríguez was found in a lagoon near the U.S. territory’s capital Saturday, a couple of days after she was reported missing.

She was identified on Sunday from dental records, Puerto Rico´s Institute of Forensic Science said in a statement.

Verdejo and his attorneys previously declined comment, and police said the boxer did not originally cooperate and refused to answer questions.

Rodríguez’s family said she was pregnant with Verdejo’s child. 

Keila Ortiz, the victim’s mother, told reporters that her daughter had called her before she vanished on Thursday and told her that Verdejo was going to her house to see the results of a pregnancy test.

‘I told her, “Be careful,” because he had already threatened her,” Ortiz said. She said Verdejo had told her daughter not to have the baby, mentioning his career and family.

Verdejo is married and has a young daughter but had known Rodríguez since middle school and kept in touch with her, her parents said. 

They reported her missing after she didn’t show up for her job at an animal grooming business.

Verdejo was previously questioned by police, but had refused to answer questions about his lover’s disappearance.   

At the time, police captain Luis Díaz said Verdejo was not considered a suspect in Rodríguez’s disappearance. 

Police were investigating several anonymous calls received by Rodríguez’s parents in which a female could be heard sobbing in the background.

Officers had found a four-door gray Kia Forte was found abandoned at a lot next to a home in the municipality of Canóvanas. It was later identified as Rodríguez’s car.

His wife, Eliz Marie Santiago, also met with the police for questioning on Friday night.    

Verdejo represented Puerto Rico at the Olympics in 2012, the same year he became a professional boxer competing in the lightweight division. But, he has not fought since December 12, 2020 when he was knocked out in a 9th round loss to Masayoshi Nakatani in Las Vegas.

 Verdejo won his first 23 fights before suffering a TKO loss to Antonio Lozada Torres on March 18, 2018, at Madison Square Garden in New York. 

The former WBO Latino lightweight champion rebounded by winning his next four bouts and then suffered the setback loss to Nakatani.

The case has outraged many in Puerto Rico, where another woman was recently found burned to death after she filed a domestic violence complaint that a judge dismissed. 

A Superior Court judge has announced an investigation into that decision.

Hundreds of people gathered Sunday at a bridge that crosses the lagoon where Rodríguez’s body was found to demand justice for her and other women killed, with some throwing flowers into the water below.