Report: Venezuela to exhume MLB pitcher Gonzalez

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)—Venezuelan authorities reportedly will exhume the body of former major league pitcher Geremi Gonzalez(notes) to probe whether he was killed last year by lightning, as an autopsy determined, or was the victim of a deadly robbery.

Prosecutors in the western city of Maracaibo plan to exhume the corpse Oct. 29 at his family’s request, the newspaper Diario Panorama said Friday, citing unidentified judicial sources.

Officials at Venezuela’s Public Ministry and police were not available to confirm the report late Friday. Telephone calls to Gonzalez’s mother, Adriana Acosta, were not returned.

Authorities determined that Gonzalez, 33, died instantly when he was hit by lightning at a beach in May 2008. Investigators ruled out homicide after an autopsy blamed “an electric shock produced by natural causes.”

Doubts surfaced, however, after a friend notified the family that some of Gonzalez’s belongings were being offered for sale, including a gold chain he was wearing when he died, federal police commissioner Cesar Gomez told Diario Panorama.

Gonzalez’s ex-girlfriend, Carolina Villalobos, who acts as a spokeswoman for the family, asked federal police in August to exhume the body and review the case.

Gomez said police will reopen their investigation to probe whether Gonzalez could have been killed in a robbery that turned deadly.

Gonzalez pitched for five major league teams from 1997 to 2006, compiling a 30-35 record in 131 games with 83 starts.

The right-hander won two games and lost one in 28 appearances for the Boston Red Sox in 2005. He won 11 games for the Chicago Cubs in 1997.

Gonzalez also played for the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers.