Gatti's body exhumed for new autopsy

MONTREAL — Boxer Arturo Gatti's body was exhumed Friday to allow the Quebec coroner's office to perform a new autopsy at his family's request. The development comes a day after Brazilian police classified Gatti's death as a suicide.

Until Thursday, police in the northeastern Brazil city of Recife considered it a homicide, with his wife as the prime suspect. Now, police say Gatti hanged himself with a handbag strap from a staircase column more than seven feet off the ground. Gilles Ethier, deputy chief coroner of the western part of the Province of Quebec, said Gatti's family had retained an American pathologist, who will assist with the autopsy this morning at the Montreal morgue. "Clearly, it's necessary for us to pursue the investigation," Ethier said. "Of course, it's a little more complex for the pathologist because the body has been embalmed."

Gatti's Montreal funeral was July 20.

Many of his friends and family have expressed disbelief at the suicide ruling, and Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said in a statement Friday that government officials will seek more information from Brazilian authorities on the Gatti investigation and its findings.Ellen Haley, a spokeswoman for Main Events, the longtime promoter of Gatti's bouts, said in a statement "we do not believe that he took his own life."

She said members of the Gatti family, along with his boxing manager Pat Lynch, will carry out their own investigation. "We believe that once the results of that investigation are revealed, the truth will come to light and justice will be done," Haley said.

Gatti's wife, 23-year-old Amanda Rodrigues, was released Thursday after being held since July 12 in Recife. She and Gatti arrived with their 10-month-old son a few days before in the resort town of Porto de Galinhas, where they rented a two-level apartment.

Milena Saraiva, a Recife police spokeswoman, provided more information Friday about Gatti's death.

Police ultimately concluded he hanged himself in the apartment early on July 11 from a wooden staircase column that was 7.3 feet off the ground. He stood on a stool and kicked it out from underneath him, police said. The autopsy report said Gatti was suspended for about three hours before his body fell to the floor.