Arturo Gatti's death ruled a suicide
Police in Brazil have made an official ruling on the death of Arturo Gatti, and they have decided the death was a suicide. Gatti's wife, Amanda Rodrigues, has been ordered to be released immediately. She was being held as a murder suspect.
Brazilian police say the death of boxer Arturo Gatti was a suicide and a court has ordered the release of his wife.
She was once suspected of killing him.
Lead investigator Paulo Alberes tells The Associated Press that authorities found that Gatti killed himself on July 11 in a seaside resort in northeastern Brazil.
Earlier, police said that Gatti's 23-year-old wife, Amanda Rodrigues, had strangled him with her purse strap as he drunkenly slept.
State court Judge Ildete Verissimo de Lima in the city of Recife has ordered her immediate release.
There is something about all of this that does not add up, one way or the other. Either the facts were reported poorly from the get-go or nobody really knew what the hell they were talking about from day one of this tragic event. Neither "outcome," as it were, would have made anybody feel any better. The fact of the matter is that a beloved and respected boxer and man is gone from this world, and nothing will change that.
Gatti's family and friends said immediately when the idea of suicide came up following Gatti's autopsy that there was "no way" that Gatti could have done something like this, and I don't intend to hurt any feelings or speak out of turn at all, but if you've ever known anyone that has committed suicide, there's no set type of person that comes to that end. They can be fun-loving, live life to the fullest sorts of people, or they can be downtrodden, beaten up by life people. Arturo Gatti was no less likely to have done it than anyone else, really. It would surely be a shock to those that knew him best -- and I mean an earth-shattering sort of shock -- but from the outside looking in, I can say with the deepest respect to everyone that it's not out of the question.
The whole case has been odd, though. Something isn't right here. I don't know what's not right, but something isn't. I don't expect this is the last we'll hear of this story, and I don't expect the Gatti family to accept this ruling, either.
UPDATE -- More from ESPN:
(P)olice began to back off the [murder] accusation about a week later after a coroner's report said Gatti may have killed himself as he was found "suspended and hanged." The autopsy report didn't exclude the possibility he was slain, but said he also could have died in an unexplained accident, besides killing himself.
"The police investigation concluded that Arturo killed himself," said Celio Avelino, Rodrigues' attorney. "I've said before it would have been impossible for her to suspend and hang a man of that size."
Judge Ildete Verissimo de Lima ordered the immediate release of the 23-year-old Rodrigues after receiving the police report.
The judge wrote in the ruling that police informed the court "the detention of the suspect was no longer needed" as the investigation "excludes the possibility of murder."
"The victim ... committed suicide by hanging," Lima's ruling read, referring to the police investigation findings.
The police missed that he was suspended and hanged when they started their investigation? The Gatti family absolutely needs to launch their own investigation. What has happened in this case is a travesty and it seems like it's been mishandled from step one.
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i think the gatti family will have their own investigation to get to the bottom of it.
kinda like the carradine family did in thailand (although that was a pretty obvious “accidential” hanging)
by sonofapsycho on Jul 30, 2009 4:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The ESPN report says that he was found hanged. How’s that? What, the police didn’t notice the first time? Somebody’s got some splain’n to do…
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
by Matt Miller on Jul 30, 2009 4:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Right
Wasn’t the initial report that he was found in bed, and that his wife didn’t notice he was dead for several hours? Did Gatti normally “hang suspended” in bed? Was he a bat?
Someone definitely got something very, very wrong here (at the least).
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
by jrok on Jul 30, 2009 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I think the initial report was he was on the couch, where he had passed out drunk or whatever, and she didn’t notice he was dead for about 10 hours or something.
by SC on Jul 30, 2009 5:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
i think i remember that he was passed out drunk in bed in the initial report.
by sonofapsycho on Jul 30, 2009 5:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
"I don't know what's not right, but something isn't..."
I’ll tell you what isn’t right, if I may….
There were reports that Gatti had been stabbed in the back of the head with a kitchen knife. So, either this was the lamest attempt ever at suicide, which involved a failed knife-wound-trauma related incident, followed by an even more determined attempt by hanging himself with his wife’s purse-strap (where does she do her accessory shopping? A hardware store?) without her knowledge, while lying in bed drunk, or there are/have been lies reported all the way through.
Actually, it’s obvious to me now. Of course Gatti was so determined to die that he tried to first kill himself with a big knife, and then carried on with the next best thing at hand, which wouldn’t have been another sharp thing, or a razor blade, or some pills. Which suicide intent person wouldn’t reach for a handbag? How silly of me to think otherwise….
Boxing is the beginning of all sports. I'm willing to bet that the first sport was a man against another man in a fight. (Omar Epps)
by Chaos100 on Jul 30, 2009 6:14 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Sure, his wide may not have been able to hang him...
but another person could have.
by Polish Rifle on Jul 30, 2009 6:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
The police ruled out the possibility of another person being in the room, but the police said a lot of things.
by SC on Jul 30, 2009 9:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I have no doubt that both of Arguello’s and Gatti’s death had foul play involved.
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
by Zocalo on Jul 30, 2009 11:00 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Possibly
But the possibility that Arguello committed suicide makes a lot more sense. The facts at least match up there, although the facts also would match up to someone in his party killing him to cover up a greater scandal.
One other silly thing I want to point out is that people with post-concussion syndrome do have a much greater chance of depression as well.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
by Brickhaus on Jul 31, 2009 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I just want to point out what the lead investigator in this case had to say about it two weeks ago, after he arrested Amanda.
Lead investigator Moises Teixeira told The Associated Press on Monday nothing is being ruled out but he is certain the woman acted by herself.
“It was technically impossible for a third person to have been in the flat,” where Gatti was found dead early Saturday, Teixeira said. “The investigation isn’t finished, but we continue to think she did this alone.”
The investigator said Rodrigues told them she thought her husband had committed suicide or that someone had entered the apartment and killed him. Teixeira ruled out both scenarios.
And here’s the initial findings of the crime scene:
Police also said there was a knife wound in the back of Gatti’s head and displayed a small steak knife along with the bloodied, white purse strap – both found near his body.
Citing the results of the autopsy, the Jornal do Comercio newspaper said the wound "may have occurred when the body fell to the floor.’’
Police have also said they think the crime scene had been altered before they arrived – indicating that Rodrigues could have tried to make it appear as if Gatti had committed suicide, police spokeswoman Milena Saraiva told the AP earlier this week.
What the hell changed so much in two weeks? No word coming directly from Teixeira about this in anything I can find. I hate to put this so bluntly, but the Brazilian justice system isn’t exactly renowned for being incorruptible. It’s actually a pretty brutal situation down there, with low paid cops looking for payouts, death squads, summary executions. I’m not that she definitely did it… I mean, it could also be that the initial charges and shifting facts were an attempt to shakedown Amanda. But I’ve seen a few news outlets treating this as though the justice system down there is totally on the up-and-up.
"This fight'll be the nastiest thing you'll ever see. I been sober for six weeks, and that makes me vicious."
-- Randall 'Tex' Cobb
by jrok on Jul 31, 2009 10:48 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

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