Venezuelan former World Boxing Council lightweight champion Edwin Valero was charged yesterday in Caracas on suspicion of murdering his 24-year-old wife Jennifer Carolina Viera de Valero. Early this morning the 28-year-old suspect committed suicide by hanging. He was discovered at 1:30 a.m. by another inmate and died shortly after officers arrived in his cell.
Valero reportedly left his hotel room in Valencia, Venezuela at dawn on Sunday and told a security guard that he had killed his wife. According to federal police chief Wilmer Flores, the body of Jennifer Viera was found when officers entered the hotel room that the couple had shared. She was stabbed three times.
Valero had been cited previously for suspected assault and battery against his wife, and his mother and sister. Just last month he was arrested briefly after his wife was taken to a hospital with injuries consistent with a beating. She would not press charges, and told hospital personnel that she had fallen down a flight of stairs.
The troubled boxer also recently crashed his car while drunk. His last fight was in February. His record was 27-0 with 27 knockouts.
More photos and video coverage of Valero’s suicide below: