sports & health

Former Champ Kills Self in Jail

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)—Former boxing champion Edwin Valero, who gained fame for knocking out all his 27 opponents and having a tattoo of Hugo Chavez on his chest, was found dead in his jail cell Monday and police said he hanged himself after being arrested in his wife’s murder.

The former lightweight champion used his own clothes to hang himself from a bar in his cell early Monday, Venezuelan Federal Police Chief Wilmer Flores told reporters. Valero’s lawyer, Milda Mora, confirmed that Valero had committed suicide saying he used the sweat pants he was wearing.

Flores 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 when they took him down, but they were unable to save him and he died about 1:30 a.m., Flores said.

The 28-year-old was detained Sunday on suspicion of stabbing his wife to death. Prosecutors said Sunday night that they had planned to charge Valero in the killing.

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sports & health

Top Prospect in NFL Draft Won't Go No. 1

In February, when many NFL scouting departments were putting the final polish on their draft reports, an NFC coach had an eyebrow raising question for his general manager. With the franchise beginning to hammer out its draft board, a consensus was building: There was a very good chance that a safety was going to be at the No. 1 slot on the board.

“Has that ever happened before?” the coach asked his general manager.

The GM shook his head: “Never.”

This particular ranking, the coach would later note, gave no weight to team-centric concepts such as need, value or salary slot. It was just a preliminary snapshot of who the franchise believed were the best, rock-solid, can’t miss NFL players in this upcoming draft. And University of Tennessee safety Eric Berry … well, he fit all of those titles. In fact, he might have been the only player who matched that description back in February. And almost two months later, not much has changed.

“One [player] who I have thought for a while was as close to [flawless] as possible, that’s Berry,” the coach said. “He’s as perfect a player as there is in this draft. And I like [Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong] Suh a lot. I think he’s pretty special, too. But I just can’t see Berry not having a great, great NFL career.”

Of course, such admiration guarantees Berry nothing once the draft begins on April 22. He won’t be the first player to hear his name called in New York. Or the second or third. Indeed, thanks in large part to the salary slotting system that NFL rookies fit into, Berry likely won’t hear his name called until fourth or fifth at the earliest in this draft. And he may go even a few slots later.

Thanks in part to a Cold War era hangover in the league’s value system, safeties still enter the league’s annual draft as red-headed stepchildren, right alongside centers and guards. And Berry is no different, subject to the archaic thought that safeties are little more than roving outfielders whose chief mission is to keep a lid on the deep abyss of a football field – the last line of defense in a worst-case scenario.

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sports & health

USA Swimming Coaches Molested, Secretly Taped Dozens of Teen Swimmers

In a sex abuse scandal that some victims compare to what happened in the Catholic Church, at least 36 swimming coaches have been banned for life by the USA Swimming organization over the last 10 years because of sexual misconduct with teenagers they coached.

The coaches have molested, fondled and abused dozens of swimmers, according to court records and interviews conducted by ABC News for reports Friday on "World News with Diane Sawyer" and "20/20."

One coach, Brian Hindson of Kokomo, IN, secretly taped teenage girls he coached in two high school pool locker rooms, one in which he directed girls to a "special" shower room where he had a hidden camera inside a locker.

"It was a sense of betrayal," Indiana swimming star Brooke Taflinger told ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross for a report to be broadcast Friday on "20/20."

Taflinger's parents later identified Brooke for the FBI as one of the girls who was taped naked in the locker and shower area.

"I gotta tell you, it hurt," Brooke's father, Bruce Taflinger, told "20/20." "My wife only had to look at one picture before she turned away in tears," he said.

FBI agents became aware of the pictures after a North Carolina woman bought the coach's computer on E-Bay and discovered a video clip of a young girl in a locker room appearing to be taped without her knowledge. A subsequent search of Hindson's home turned up more locker room footage and a large selection of child pornography.

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