A full, seven-hour autopsy was performed just two days after Brazilian authorities ruled the boxer's death a suicide by purse strap. Baden, host of HBO's Autopsy and a former chief pathologist for the New York State Police, assisted at the family's request and said afterward that the first, apparently partial autopsy conducted by a crack forensics team in Brazil had somehow overlooked bruising on Gatti's body.

"The first surprise was that it was a partial autopsy, and not a full autopsy; the second was that there were some important findings, like the injuries that had not been identified."

[...]

Partial autopsies are unusual in suspected homicides, said Baden, who described the overlooked injuries as bruises that weren't cited in the initial forensic report.

Baden, who assisted in the autopsy at the family's request, said the Montreal medical examiners will perform further toxicology tests in Canada and are also awaiting more information on the scene of death from investigators in Brazil.

"There were definite injuries that had not been seen by Brazilian authorities," Baden said.

"But one needs all of the information - including the toxicology, which is not available yet - to be able to come to the conclusion as to whether it's homicide or suicide."

Gatti's wife, Amanda Rodrigues, was released last week after police concluded that Gatti hanged himself from a wooden staircase a little more than 7 feet off the ground. On Friday, police in Recife provided more information about Gatti's death, including a suspiciously tortured explanation for one of the wounds found on Gatti's body. According to the cops (and via the Associated Press):

• Gatti stood on a stool and kicked it out from underneath him, then remained suspended for three hours before crumpling to the floor.

• Rodrigues told police she was sleeping with the couple's son upstairs. At 6 a.m., she went downstairs to get milk, saw Gatti on the floor and thought he had passed out drunk, presumably in the vicinity of the bloodied purse strap later found by the first investigators at the scene.

• The night before he died, Gatti drank seven cans of beer and a couple bottles of wine. The couple later got into a loud fight near a beach in Porto de Galinhas. At one point, according to witnesses, Gatti picked up Rodriguez by her chin and threw her to the ground. When a security guard from a nearby hotel tried to intervene, Gatti punched him in the face. A crowd had gathered, and people grew angry, "some throwing stones and even a bicycle at the boxer."

• One stone struck Gatti in the back of the head, thus explaining a wound that police had originally attributed to a small steak knife found near the body

Rodrigues spoke with the Associated Press on Thursday and offered the following theory as to why her husband of two years might have killed himself:

"I believe that when we got home and he saw that he hurt me, he thought I would leave him, that I would tell him to just let me go, that I would separate from him," she said. "He did that in a moment of weakness. He was drunk, maybe he didn't know what he was doing, maybe he thought I would leave him the next day."

And now comes word that Rodrigues reportedly stands to receive the entirety of Gatti's inheritance, in addition to $1 million from a life insurance policy. If the matter of Gatti's death still seems very much unresolved, do not worry. A so-called "celebrity pathologist" and a fleet of scalpel-wielding Quebecois are on the case. So is Canada's foreign affairs minister, the Honourable [sic] Lawrence Cannon, who on Friday did the Canadian equivalent of blasting Brazil's Keystone Cops routine, which is to say he issued an exceedingly polite announcement:

"The government of Canada is seeking more information on the investigation into the death of its citizen, and on the findings of the investigation."

Oh, Lawrence. You'll have to bring more heat than that if you wanna wind up in Nancy Grace's green room.

Second autopsy of Gatti's body revealed unexpected details, says pathologist [Canadian Press]
Police: Gatti hung himself from stairs [AP]
Canada wants more info about Gatti's death [National Post]
Gatti's widow stands to inherent ex-boxer's fortune, says brother [Canadian Press]

Pretty much everyone in attendance at the service in Jersey City last night (where the boxer trained) is of the opinion that Gatti did not hang himself in a Brazilian hotel room. Even a guy who has been hit in the head as many times as Mickey Rourke can see that. They aren't saying Gatti's wife is a psychotic killer or anything ... okay, maybe they are saying that.

Gatti's manager, Pat Lynch, has Brazilian lawyers on retainer and still hopes to put Amanda Rodrigues on trial in Canada (where Gatti lived and was buried) or another court in Brazil. Lynch says the investigation was "pathetic" and that Gatti would "never in a million years" have killed himself. He's not alone in that sentiment.

"Absolutely a hundred percent couldn't see him ever commit suicide," said Mike Skowrunski, Gatti's longtime assistant trainer. "He loved life. If he was going to kill himself, he would have called and said goodbye to me."

Isn't that what everyone says when someone they know commits suicide? "I would have know if he was sad!" Nobody ever sees it coming, which is kind of the point. Then again, that doesn't change the fact that Gatti's death and the ensuing police work was unbelievably shady and it does seem pretty likely that there was some foul play involved, even if it was accidental. That's Mickey Rourke thinks and he's a famous actor!

Actually, the words he used were "evil" and "bullshit." It takes him awhile to get to the angry cursing, but you knew Mick would come through in the end.

Mourners at Arturo Gatti's memorial service express disbelief that death was a suicide [Newark Star-Ledger]

The autopsy conducted on Arturo Gatti doesn't rule out the possibility of suicide, which, for those of us sick of celebrity tragedies this summer, is unwelcome news. Now we'll get a slew of alternate theories, and a trial for his wife, and more gruesome details then we ever wanted to know.

The report finds that Gatti's body was "suspended and hanged, indicating he may have committed suicide." That doesn't explain much, especially how his wife could have been in a room with a hanging body for 10 hours and not noticed something amiss. So the autopsy also retains the possibilities of "murder or accidental death," the latter I can only assume referring to David Carradine.

So: suicide, or maybe murder, or maybe an accident? We only learn two things: that, yes, Gatti is conclusively dead, and that death by purse strap isn't considered natural causes, even in Brazil.

The results of my journalism post-mortem indicate that this story has legs.

Report: Gatti May Have Committed Suicide [AP]

Amanda Rodrigues, Gatti's 23-year-old wife, must've mixed up her words with the police, because they're ready to formally accuse her of the murder. They found a bloody purse strap in the hotel room where he was strangled, and once Rodrigues had trouble explaining how she was in the room for 10 hours without knowing he was dead, suspicion was thoroughly aroused. For the next time someone has to explain themselves, might I recommend the following alibis:

• I blacked out and/or had amnesia
• I was engrossed in a World of Warcraft raid
• I was busy murdering someone else
• I was visited by a leaping Scott Bakula

They were on a second honeymoon, but Gatti's friend Acelino Freitas said that Gatti and his wife were about to separate. Well, that's one way to do it.

Once Gatti is laid to rest, here's some advice for those playboy former superstars. If you're not seeing eye to eye with your special lady, stay as far away from her as possible for a while.

Police detain wife of former boxing champion Gatti [AP]
Arturo Gatti found dead on second honeymoon in Brazil [NY Daily News]
Arturo Gatti's Wife Appears To Be Murder Suspect [Boxing Scene]