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PHOTO BY: Edsau Olivares/AP

by: USA Today

Former boxing champion Edwin Valero committed suicide in his jail cell today just hours after he was arrested in his wife's murder, according to police in Venezuela.

The former lightweight champion used his own clothes to hang himself in his cell, Venezuelan Federal Police Chief Wilmer Flores told reporters. He said Valero tied his clothes to a cell bar to hang himself.

Valero was found by another inmate and still showed signs of life, but jail personnel was unable to save him, Flores said.

Valero was jailed yesterday on suspicion of killing his wife, Jennifer Viera, who was stabbed to death at a hotel. Prosecutors had said yesterday they intended to charge Valero.

In March, Valero was accused of assault in an alleged attack on his wife, who went to a hospital with bruises and a damaged lung. Valero denied any wrong-doing, and said his wife had stumbled from a stairway. His wife corroborated that story, but investigators expressed doubt, in part because she had come to the same hospital twice before with similar injuries.