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Arturo Gatti’s will changed just weeks before his death

Ex-boxing champ Arturo Gatti changed his will just weeks before his death, leaving everything to his wife and nothing to his children, a report says. Amanda Rodrigues was at first held as a murder suspect after the slugger’s bruised and strangled body was found in a room at a Brazilian resort. They released the Brazilian stripper after ruling the death a suicide.

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Arturo Gatti

However, famed coroner Dr. Michael Baden said his own autopsy found bruises overlooked by his Brazilian counterparts. Although it still may have been suicide, Baden said, it’s possible someone killed the New Jersey fan favorite, who trained in Jersey City and Paterson and won the nickname “Thunder” for some memorable bouts in Atlantic City.

Now comes news that Gatti left everything, including a $1 million life insurance policy, to Rodrigues. The CBS News Web site “Crimesider” says Gatti’s brother, Fabrizio, confirmed a report in the Canadian Press that the retired boxer and Rodrigues changed the will on June 14, leaving his full inheritance in her name and making her executor.

“Nothing goes to his children or mother or brothers or sisters,” family friend and sports journalist Jeremy Filosa the Canadian Press.

Police accused Rodrigues of strangling Gatti with a purse strap after they found his body three weeks later at the posh seaside resort, where witnesses said the two had been fighting the night before.

Police said Rodrigues changed her story several times and had trouble explaining how she spent 10 hours in the suite without noticing her husband was dead.

They later ruled out homicide and released her after three weeks in custody.

In turn, Gatti’s family in Canada had the body exhumed for the Baden autopsy.

Canadian coroners are awaiting the results from toxicology tests and are seeking more information from forensic investigators who worked the crime scene.

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