Edwin Valero celebrates his February victory in a title fight
CAPTIONBy Omar TorresAFP/Getty ImagesUntil his suicide today, in the hours before he was to be charged with murdering his wife, boxer Edwin Valero was relatively anonymous in the U.S. despite his 27-0 record and world championships in two weight classes.

The only state where Valero was licensed to fight was Texas, but he became a worldwide topic today when he was found hanged in a jail cell, strangled by a noose made from his own clothes. Authorities had said they intended to arraign him today for the stabbing death of Jennifer Viera, 24.

Valero's violent streak was evident to a judge in his native Venezuela who just last month ordered the boxer to rehabilitation. Valero was sentenced to six months in a psychiatric hospital, according to El Universal newspaper.

Valero's wife had been admitted to a hospital bruises and a broken rib that penetrated her lung. The same hospital had treated her twice before for similar injuries, which she claimed were from falling down stairs.

Doctors told reporters Valero was hostile when he came to the emergency room and threatened staff members. "He was arrested for threats, resistance and hostile behavior against doctors, police officials and nurses," said hospital spokesman Danilo Araque. At his sentencing, Valero admitted he was an alcoholic.

Valero also was arrested in 2009 when a neighbor called emergency services to report he had struck his mother and a sister during a family dispute, according to El Universal. The charges were later dropped.

He also was arrested last year in Texas for DUI. That legal matter had prevented him from entering the U.S., according to Boxing Scene.com. He hadn't been able to get a boxing license in any state except Texas because he failed an MRI due to motorcycle injuries suffered when he crashed while not wearing a helmet.

It's unclear when his hospital sentence was to begin.
-- Tom Weir
The end of a terrible and shocking story has come. Early this morning, Edwin Valero, the former two-division titlist who had just been arrested for the murder of his wife in Venezuela, hanged himself by his sweat pants in his jail cell, ending his own life.

It's the final awful step in what had been about a two-year downward spiral for the fighter. Over that time, he'd been involved in multiple incidents, including assault of his mother, sister and wife, a DUI charge in Texas that made it impossible for him to fight in the one state in the U.S. that would license him, several traffic incidents, gun charges, and God knows what else that never got reported.

The AP has quotes from those who knew the troubled fighter:

Jose Castillo, Valero’s manager, criticized authorities for failing to act more forcefully to prevent the killing.

"I asked the authorities not to let him out. He needed a lot of help. He was very bad in the head," Castillo told reporters. "But they let him out. They were very permissive with him and because of that, we’re now in the middle of this tragedy."

[Valero lawyer Milda] Mora, however, said Valero "didn’t accept the help the government gave him."

"He was the only one responsible," Mora said.

Valero's two children, who are eight and five years old, are staying with their grandmother. They have now lost two parents in a span of about 48 hours, their father murdering their mother, and then taking his own life. That's something they'll have to try to understand and live with for the rest of their lives. So really, I shouldn't even say "the end" of this has come. Those two children have entire lives to live.
by SC on Apr 19, 2010 2:38 PM EDT in News Analysis
This is really sad. My heart and prayers go out to their kids and family....