Ex-boxing champ Edwin Valero kills self in jailValero

Venezuela's former lightweight boxing champion Edwin Valero, left, is escorted by a police officer to a police station in Valencia, some 150 kms (some 93 miles) west of Caracas, Sunday, April 18, 2010. Venezuelan police said they detained the suspended WBC lightweight champion Valero on suspicion of killing his 20-year-old wife Jennifer Vieira, whose body was found in a hotel in Valencia.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Former boxing champ Edwin Valero committed suicide in his jail cell on Monday just hours after he was arrested in his wife's killing, police said.

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

He said Valero was found by another inmate, who alerted authorities in the police lockup in north-central Carabobo state. Valero still showed signs of life, but they were unable to save him, Flores said.

The 28-year-old was detained Sunday on suspicion of killing his wife, the gravest in a string of problems that had threatened to derail his career. Prosecutors said Sunday night that they had planned to charge Valero in the killing.