Arturo Gatti’s Body Exhumed for New Autopsy

Due to the controversy concerning the autopsy report, Gatti’s family has requested the Canadian authorities to exhume Gatti’s body, to conduct a second autopsy. The results of the first autopsy conducted by the Brazilians were inconclusive, which led them to rule his death a suicide. His wife, who was at first arrested for his homicide, was released based on this new finding.

Gatti was vacationing in Brazil with his wife and son, at the time of his death. He was a Canadian citizen, and is body was returned to Canada, and was buried on July 20, 2009. The Canadian foreign minister, Lawrence Cannon, is assisting Gatti’s family, and friends, to learn more about how Gatti died.  They will request the Brazilian Government to provide more information on the investigations.

Amanda Rodriques, wife of the victim, was originally charged with homicide, but was subsequently released. She reportedly claimed that at 6am she went downstairs to get milk for her son, and saw Gatti, on the floor. She said she assumed he was drunk, and passed out there. At 9am she said she again went down stairs, and it was at that point she realized he was dead, and notified the police.

Milena Savaira, a Recife police spokeswoman told the Associated Press (AP) that when the first investigators arrived on the scene they found Gatti’s body on the floor, with a bloodied strap near his body. The investigators assumed that he was strangled by his wife. The investigators said that 17 witnesses claimed that the couple was involved in a loud fight on the street, near the beach in Porto de Galinhas, with a security guard intervening, but was reportedly punched in the face by Gatti. Residents got angry and threw stones, and a bicycle, at Gatti. One of the stones hit Gatti in the head, resulting in a wound that the police at first thought was a wound from a small steak knife that the police found near his body. After the street fight the couple reportedly returned to the hotel in separate taxis.

Speaking to the Associated Press (AP) his wife after being released from jail, said that he killed himself, because he probably believed she would leave him after they fought, which was not the first time. She has reportedly filed a restraining order against him in the past.

The family and friends are not convinced that Gatti took his own life. The Associated Press (AP) quoted Ellen Haley, a spokesperson for Main Events, which promoted Gatti’s bouts, as saying “we do not believe that he took his own life” She further stated that the “Gatti’s family, along with his boxing manager Pat Lynch, will carry out their own investigations”. They are disputing the results of the first autopsy, and are hoping that a second autopsy conducted by a Canadian coroner, will be produce a different finding, and at the very least, conclusive.