Former boxing champion Félix ‘El Diamante’ Verdejo met with the police and refused to answer questions following the disappearance of a 27-year-old woman who family members say is pregnant with his child in Puerto Rico.
Verdejo was accompanied by two lawyers during a half-hour meeting at the San Juan police headquarters Friday morning, a day after Keishla Marlen Rodríguez was reported missing.
Police captain Luis Díaz said Verdejo is not considered a suspect in Rodríguez’s disappearance.
A four-door gray Kia Forte was found abandoned at a lot next to a home in the municipality of Canóvanas moments before the 27-year-old fighter’s arrival at the police station.
Rodríguez’s family confirmed to WAPA TV and other outlets that the 2016 vehicle belongs to Rodríguez.
Keishla Marlen Rodríguez (left) was reported missing by her family in Puerto Rico on Thursday after she failed to report to work. The 27-year-old is reportedly pregnant and expecting a child with former boxing champion Félix ‘El Diamante’ Verdejo. Verdejo met with the police Friday and refused to answer any questions regarding Rodríguez’s disappearance. Keila Ortiz told WAPA TV that Verdejo, who is married with a two-year-old daughter, threatened her daughter because she refused to carry out an abortion
Félix Verdejo, who represented Puerto Rico in the 2012 Olympics before turning pro, has known Keishla Marlen Rodríguez since they were in middle school
The family of missing 27-year-old Keishla Marlen Rodríguez confirmed that the four-door gray Kia Forte that was found Friday morning at a lot next to a home in the municipality of Canóvanas belongs to her. The police deployed a sniffer dog to search for Rodríguez
Several of Rodríguez’s personal items were found inside the vehicle, whose doors were unlocked.
A canine unit was used to search the car and the neighborhood in hopes of locating Rodríguez.
The family filed a missing person’s report Thursday evening after Rodríguez failed to report to work earlier in the day.
Rodríguez’s mother, Keila Ortiz, told WAPA TV that her daughter and Verdejo knew each other since middle school.
Ortiz said she was at her job in Orlando, Florida, when she last spoke to Rodríguez on Thursday at 7am and learned her daughter was at her apartment waiting for Verdejo to arrive so she could provide him the results of a blood test that confirmed she was expecting with him.
Félix Verdejo arrives at the police headquarters in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to meet with investigators from the Criminal Investigation Corps
Keishla Marlen Rodríguez had been involved in a relationship with Puerto Rican boxer, Félix ‘El Diamante’ Verdejo, a former lightweight champion
Ortiz accused the married boxer of being behind her daughter’s disappearance because he had previously made threats against her and ordered her to have an abortion, she claimed.
‘He was threatening her not to have her baby. We are very happy because it is her first baby. We were happy with the news that she was going to be a mom,’ said Ortiz, who begged Verdejo to come forward with any information.
‘She told him, calm down, I will have her baby, you don’t have to recognize it. My baby’s name (will carry) my last name, calm down. I’m not going to bother you. And he told her no, that he is a public figure, that he (was worried about his career in) boxing.’
Bereliz Nichole Rodríguez told newspaper Primera Hora that the relationship between her sister and Verdejo began 11 years ago, and that she had asked Keishla Marlen Rodríguez to terminate the relationship and find somebody else.
Verdejo has a two-year-old daughter with his wife, Eliz Marie Santiago.
He is also the godfather of Bereliz Nichole Rodríguez’s two children and a cousin of her husband.
Verdejo is signed with Top Rank promotions but hasn’t fought since a knockout loss to Masayoshi Nakatani on December 12, 2020 in Las Vegas
Verdejo has not fought since December 12, 2020 when he was knocked out in a 9th round loss to Masayoshi Nakatani in Las Vegas.
He represented Puerto Rico at the 2012 Olympics and turned pro that same year, joining Top Rank promotions.
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.
A spokesperson with Top Rank told DailyMail.com that the company was aware of the incident in Puerto Rico, but declined to comment on Verdejo being a person of interest.