Justin Levens' death may have been part of a murder-suicide.
Authorities are looking into the possibility the former UFC fighter shot his wife, then killed himself.
Authorities said Thursday they are continuing their investigation into
the deaths of mixed martial arts fighter Justin Levens and his wife as
a possible murder-suicide, with Levens potentially the shooter.
An Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman said Levens, 28, died
of a gunshot to the head, and his wife, Sara McLean-Levens, 25,
suffered a fatal single gunshot to the chest that penetrated her heart.
They were discovered in their Laguna Niguel condominium Wednesday
afternoon by McLean-Levens' mother, who had not heard from her daughter
in five days, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino. The bodies had
apparently been in the home for at least a couple of days.
A handgun was found near Justin Levens' body, and Amormino said if it's
established to be a murder-suicide, the MMA fighter was "definitely the
shooter."
Levens, who fought as a lightweight, was suspended by the California
State Athletic Commission after testing positive for a banned
pain-killing medication earlier this year before the "Affliction
Banned" show at Honda Center. He would later fight and lose on an
Indian reservation card in Lemoore, and was troubled by a career on the
down slide, said his close friend, Tom Atencio, vice president of Seal
Beach-based Affliction Clothing.
"He had suffered quite a few consecutive losses. Fighting was his life
and it wasn't going well for him," Atencio said. "I wish I could answer
what happened. I don't know."
The MMA community reacted with grief and confusion about what might
have prompted the tragedy involving the former Ultimate Fighting
Championship and World Extreme Cagefighting athlete. The fighter,
raised in low-income housing projects in Philadelphia, had a rough
childhood and was "on his own since 15," said Atencio, who shared
holiday meals with Levens and called him "one of my best friends."
Levens was convicted in 2003 of spousal injury, according to Orange
County Superior Court records. He fought under the instruction of Marco
Ruas, a former bare-knuckle street-fighter in Brazil who won an early
UFC event (UFC 7), and coached several MMA fighters at his South Orange
County instruction facility. Levens went on to fight under Ruas in the
defunct International Fight League before losing that final fight in
Lemoore.
(Story from the LA Times)
