How did boxer Arturo Gatti die?

Arturo Gatti's final round was fought in probate court in Montreal, Canada. Sadly it was Gatti versus Gatti.

Arturo left behind a fortune in cash, investments and real estate. All of it willed to his wife and son.

"My brother really sweat for it, he bled for it, for that money," said Fabrizio Gatti.

Arturo's younger brother says the rest of the family was cut out when Arturo signed the will just three weeks before he died.

"It looks bad," Erin Moriarty commented to Amanda Gatti.

"Yeah, it does," acknowledged Amanda. "But I don't have an explanation for that. Because that's what happened, you know? I don't have an excuse for that because there's no excuse."

"She wants to go to court because she wants everything," said Fabrizio Gatti.

The Gattis say they offered to split the assets with Amanda, but she refused. So they slugged it out in court. They hoped that if they could connect Amanda to her husband's death, the judge would throw the will out.

"I don't understand," Amanda said, "because if they have any doubts, they would fly to Brazil, they would do an investigation themselves or hire someone to do it."

Amanda didn't know it at the time, but that is exactly what the Gatti family did.

They enlisted private investigators Paul Ciolino and Joe Moura. Both have worked in the past for CBS News and "48 Hours Mystery," but not in this case.

"I told them from the beginning...when we hired them, to prove to everybody that my brother got murdered," said Fabrizio Gatti.

Backing the investigation are John and Pat Lynch in New Jersey. The goal, says Pat, is "to clear his name."

"Do you want to make sure that Amanda is proven to be involved in his death?" asked Moriarty.

"This is not a witch hunt against Amanda, OK? We have our suspicions about what happened," John replied.

When the Gatti family investigators arrived in Brazil last May, they headed straight for the beach-front condominiums where Arturo, Amanda, and their son had vacationed in 2009.

They're convinced Brazilian police bungled the investigation.

"Well, local authorities gave this thing about eight hours worth total when they started," explained Ciolino.

They've got tools Brazilian police didn't have, like forensic specialist Andre Stuart's high-tech measuring stick.

"This is a 3D dimensional device," Stuart explained. "It measures three dimensionally points in space, a million points a second."

They want to see if evidence at the scene supports the authorities' official theories, which Ciolino boils down to this:

"He took his wife's purse strap, a cloth purse strap, tied it around this beam right here," Ciolino said motioning to the beam. "Pull the chair underneath [the stairs], stood up on top of the chair, wrapped the cloth around his neck and hung himself. That's the theory."

The detectives don't buy it. For starters, they don't think Arturo was hanged at all.

"I believe he was hit in the head in that apartment, rendered unconscious and then strangled," stated Ciolino.

"Murdered?" asked Moriarty.

"Yes. ...without doubt he was murdered."

After investigating for 10 months, that's the conclusion they deliver in a 317-page report and press conference. A panel of experts they've assembled strongly agrees.

"You simply cannot hang yourself the way the Brazilian authorities have identified," Dr. Alfred Bowles, an expert on body movement, told those in attendance.

"This is homicide," said forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht.

"And that blood tells us everything we need to know," forensic scientist Brent Turvey explained. "The blunt-force injury to the back of his head was most likely inflicted in the apartment. And why do we know that? We know that because of the blood flow."

That blood, say these experts, is evidence that Gatti was attacked in the apartment. But they are ignoring the witnesses in Brazil who said Arturo was bleeding earlier in the evening. "48 Hours Mystery" tracked down a taxi driver who saw Arturo fighting in the street.

"I could see the back of his head was bleeding," the taxi driver said through a translator. "Yes, the next day, I saw that the head rest in the back seat was stained with blood."

"48 Hours Mystery" spoke with two other people who also saw Arturo Gatti bleeding.

But the detectives say what happened after Gatti died is just as important. Where his body was found, they say, rules out suicide.

"If he fell after strangling and hanging himself, he's going to fall straight out on that table, he's going to be out there, he's not going to be underneath here," Ciolino explained at the scene.

The detectives took those measurements from the scene to Dr. Bowles, a body movement expert, who was brought in by Ciolino to determine if Arturo's body could have ended up where it's shown in police photos.

"He took a dummy that weighed the same amount as Arturo, that was the same height as Arturo and they dropped that thing about 1,000 times," Ciolino explained. "And the same thing happened every time... no matter how you do it he's not gonna fall sideways underneath the stairs with his head underneath the counter, it's not gonna happen."

But Dr. Bowles' tests were based on death scene photos -- photos the detectives themselves admit weren't accurate -- taken after evidence was moved around. A stool wasn't found where it was pictured -- near Arturo's feet -- according to one of the first people on the scene.

Dr. Bowles concedes that could affect his findings, but that possibility doesn't change anything for the detectives.

"Arturo Gatti was murdered," said Moura.

Asked if he believes Amanda killed her husband, Ciolino replied, "I think it's a distinct possibility she killed him."

As convincing as the detectives may sound, their case isn't airtight. There is considerable medical evidence that supports suicide. And this question remains - and it's a tough one: How could a 100-pound woman single handedly knock out and then strangle a 160-pound world champion boxer?

"Do you believe she had an accomplice?" Moriarty asked Ciolino.

"I think it's distinctly possible," he replied.

"Do you have any evidence?"

"I have emails."

"Of her in contact with someone planning murder?

"Oh no, I don't have anything like that."

"This is just your idea?"

"It is a feeling I have, yes."

In fact, there is no evidence of an accomplice. Still... Ciolino told reporters, "He was murdered because there's $6-and-a-half-million bucks sitting in a bank here in New Jersey and somebody wants it."

The investigators say they've left no stone unturned, but "48 Hours Mystery" tracked down a pair of witnesses they never talked to -- witnesses who could make you see this case in an entirely different way.

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Arturo Gatti's life and career

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[WakeUpPeople001]

1. Good wives don't like husbands who drink.

2. Of course a husband should have a will that leaves everything to his wife and children.

3. Greedy, evil people:

** Arturo's family. Why should they expect anything from his estate?

** The American investigators. Be sure that Arturo's family promised: "If Amanda gets arrested for murder and Arturo's will is declared invalid, you [American investigators] will get a large percentage of the estate".

[TheTaiManT]

She met Arturo at the Strip club where she was working in Jersey, as a Topless Dancer. There are pics of her and him on the net at her strip
club sitting at a table with her boss. She had him change his Will one or two weeks before she lured him back to Brazil where she murdered him.She cut his own mother out of his will and had her self listed as the full beneficiary. She knocked him off AFTER she had him change his will.
She ignored him at the strip club she worked at until she discovered who he was and his net worth, then she was all over him.

Google all this info and you will see for yourself. Arturo was MURDERED for his money by this stripper he sadly married. He wanted to leave her but stuck it out for his son, that cost him his LIFE.

[Wildwood1966]

wow smittyc aren't you the cynical one? From the time she walked the dog and met him? I think not -the only thing I do not agree with is that in the beginning sheshould have split it 50 50 with the family

[smittyc]

Pretty clear she did it. The scenario is as old as time. Her supporters, those defending her probably were involved in the planning and the plotting from getting her the dog, arranging the meeting on the street and getting the will written right up to the final moments. They are probably involved in her new business ventures getting paid for their "work" in this obtuse manner. The guy was set up and his days were numbered the day he met her. There is an irony here as well, the bulleye that was on his back was the money, now she wears the bulls eye.

[LockupGattisWife]

oh cmon...are the cops that stupid???lock this b up now...i fell so bad for Gatti and his family and espeically his son, but look at it like this if hee had justsettled down with someone who led a more normal life and wasnt into Titty barr dancing im sure his life wouldnt have eneded so quickly..
the sheet is she had the nerve of killing gatti..
but she is a coward...
she didnt do it fair and square..
how did he die anyways..
i hope the gatti family have hired private investigaotes and they will eventually sentencee her in a court of law to death for his murder....i think Florida is where he was murdered so yes she will be on death row son..she might want to escpae back to her backward crimianl brazil while she can befor they come lock her up... this betch and deport her as well...