SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A federal judge on Monday ordered the detention without bail of Puerto Rican boxer Félix Verdejo after being charged with the death of his 27-year-old pregnant lover whose body was found in a lagoon.

Verdejo is charged with kidnapping and carjacking which resulted in the death of Keishla Rodríguez and the intentional murder of an unborn child. He made no comment during Monday’s virtual hearing in which he relied on a translator.

“This is a case eligible for the death penalty,” said Judge Camille Vélez.

A criminal complaint filed by the FBI accuses Verdejo of punching Rodríguez in the face and injecting him with a syringe filled with an unidentified substance purchased from a social housing complex. He alleges that he then tied her arms and feet with wire, tied a heavy block to her before throwing her off a bridge at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, and then shot her.

The complaint states that a witness she did not identify helped Verdejo kidnap and kill Rodríguez.

The US government has 30 days to present the case to a federal grand jury; meanwhile, the date of Verdejo’s next hearing has yet to be announced.

Rodríguez, who was reported missing Thursday after failing to show up for her job at an animal grooming company, was found in a lagoon near the U.S. Territory’s capital on Saturday. Officials identified her on Sunday via dental records.

Verdejo and his lawyers previously declined to comment, and police say the boxer originally did not. cooperate and declined to answer questions.

Rodríguez’s family said she was pregnant with Verdejo’s child. Keila Ortiz, the victim’s mother, told reporters her daughter called on Thursday and told her Verdejo was on her way to her house to see the results of a pregnancy test.

“I told him, ‘Be careful’ because he had already threatened her,” Ortiz said. She said Verdejo told her daughter not to have the baby, mentioning her career and family.

Verdejo is married and has a baby girl, but had known Rodríguez from college and had a relationship with her, her parents said.

Verdejo (27-2, 17 KOs) represented Puerto Rico at the 2012 Olympics and became a professional boxer that year, competing in the lightweight division. His career was temporarily hijacked after his hospitalization following a motorcycle accident in 2016.

The case outraged many in Puerto Rico, where another woman was recently found burned to death after filing a domestic violence complaint that a judge dismissed. A Superior Court judge announced an investigation into this decision.

Hundreds of people gathered on Sunday on a bridge that crosses the lagoon where Rodríguez’s body was found to demand justice for her and other women killed, some throwing flowers into the water below. Another protest was staged on Monday, where people gathered near the governor’s mansion to demand that officials do a better job of protecting victims of domestic violence.

Governor Pedro Pierluisi told a press conference his administration was attacking what he called a model of gender-based and discriminatory violence.

“We recognize that this is decades old and unfortunately it is a culture that needs to be corrected,” he said. “There are several steps to follow.”

DáNica Coto, The Associated Press