Chiefs linebacker Belcher struggled with head injuries, alcohol and painkillers before he snapped and killed girlfriend, friends say

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker and former Long Island high-school star Jovan Belcher was allegedly battling football-related head injuries and booze, painkiller and domestic problems when he snapped and murdered his girlfriend before killing himself in front of two coaches Saturday.

A pal of Belcher’s told the Web site Deadspin.com that Kasandra Perkins, the mother of Belcher’s 3-month-old daughter, had threatened to leave him for good amid fighting between the pair.

The couple had only recently reconciled after Perkins left their rented house in Kansas City with the baby at one point to stay with friends. Perkins had returned, but friends said the relationship was still volatile.

Kansas City Chiefs running back Jovan Belcher (right) battled head injuries, drugs and alcohol before he snapped and killed his girlfriend Michele Perkins (left), friends said.

It didn’t help that he was drinking every day and taking painkillers while dealing with the effects of debilitating head injuries, the friend said.

Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said today that Belcher was "a player who had not had a long concussion history.’’

Belcher, 25, and Perkins, 22, had argued for the last time when she returned home late from a concert Saturday morning. But the Belcher friend said the concert was only a “tipping point.”

“This was the result of a long-term conflict,” the pal said. “She made it clear that she was leaving and would contact a lawyer’’ to fight for custody and child support.

Cops today revealed that Belcher shot Perkins nine times before committing suicide with a different gun. His mother witnessed the slaying; she had been in town to help Perkins with the new baby, sources have said.

Belcher’s mother, Cheryl Shepherd, will now take custody of the couple’s infant daughter and plans to return with the child to the family’s West Babylon home, where her troubled son grew up, his relatives said.

The kin said the baby was in another room when Belcher snapped and unloaded on Perkins.

“[Shepherd’s] taking it as anyone else would've taken it,” said Belcher’s cousin, Eric Oakes, 20, who lives in the mom’s renovated house where Belcher grew up. “She just lost a son. We're all coming together.”

Oakes, wearing a game-warn Chief’s jersey with Belcher’s number 59 on it, said his cousin was his role model.

"[He's] always trying to steer me right. That's the only person I wanted to be like. A role model, basically my father. He's the person who made me play football,” said Oakes, who played running back for West Babylon HS.

In Kansas City, relatives trickled in an out of the home that had become a murder scene.

“I think she was home alone a lot,” said Kristen Van Meter, 31, a neighbor who went to community college with the victim. “He was kind of quiet. he would come and go.”

When he was there, she said, there were lots of parties.

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Boat Show may block Miami’s 2016 Super Bowl bid

This winter, the biggest NFL match-up in South Florida might be Super Bowl versus Boat Show.

As South Florida readies a bid for the 2016 Super Bowl, it must contend with a major potential conflict on the tourism calendar. The National Football League may move the Super Bowl to Presidents’ Day weekend, already home to the five-day Miami International Boat Show since the 1940s.

It’s a significant enough conflict that, in the past, local tourism officials have declined to pursue a Super Bowl if it fell on boat show weekend. But this time around they may have no choice. For the first time, the NFL is requiring that potential host cities agree to a Presidents’ Day weekend Super Bowl if they want to pursue the big game at all, said two people who have seen the NFL request for Super Bowl bids.

The NFL “invited South Florida [to bid] knowing there was going to be an issue with Presidents’ Day weekend and the boat show,” said Nicki Grossman, Broward’s tourism director. “In the past, South Florida has not responded to a Super Bowl date that included Presidents’ Day weekend. This package is different.”

South Florida vies with New Orleans as the top Super Bowl host, with government and tourism leaders touting the game as both a boon to the economy and a publicity bonanza. But the notion of accommodating both Super Bowl and boat show — not to mention a major arts festival in Coconut Grove — strikes some top tourism officials as a bad idea.

“There is not sufficient hotel inventory available in Miami that weekend to host a Super Bowl,” said William Talbert, president of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have taken a close look at that weekend, and it’s not physically possible in Miami to host Super Bowl during the Presidents’ Day weekend because of the boat show and the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. The hotel inventory is all being used for these two great events.”

His comments are at odds with the region’s top Super Bowl organizer and reflect the burden that the boat show may be to South Florida’s Super Bowl hopes for 2016 and 2017. The NFL invited Miami and San Francisco to bid for the 2016 Super Bowl by April 1, with the loser vying with Houston for the 2017 game. Talbert said the bid package states both decisions will be made in May.

For now, South Florida’s Super Bowl organizers face a largely hypothetical challenge, because the current NFL schedule has the Super Bowl occurring two weeks before Presidents’ Day weekend. The bid requirements for the ’16 and ’17 Super Bowls include three consecutive weekends as possibilities for the game, with the latest falling on the Presidents’ Day holiday.

Still, possible logistical hurdles may combine with political obstacles if the Miami Dolphins resume their push for a tax-funded renovation of Sun Life Stadium, the Super Bowl’s South Florida home.

Last year, the Dolphins proposed that Broward and Miami-Dade counties subsidize a $225 million renovation at Sun Life as a way to keep the region competitive for Super Bowls and other large events. The renovation includes a partial roof that would prevent the kind of drenching Super Bowl spectators suffered in 2007 when a rare February downpour hit Miami Gardens.

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Solution to the Herald Hunt

Here are the solutions to the 2012 Herald Hunt. Hunters were told that the answer to every puzzle was a number.

The Signpost Puzzle

In Kenneth M. Myers Park, Hunters encountered a small forest of signposts, one of them marked as the starting point. A sign there said: FOLLOW THE HEAT TO VICTORY.

Each signpost had two words on it, pointing in opposite directions. The initial signpost had Jupiter pointing in one direction, and Venus in the other. Hunters had to divine that their cue was “follow the heat.” In this case, the “hotter” choice was Venus, the closest planet to the sun. Walking in the direction Venus was pointing brought them to another signpost labeled “passion” and “logic.” Clearly, passion is the hotter of the two. So Hunters on the right path continued in the direction passion was pointing them, and so on, until they finally got to a signpost with no words on it, the end of the road. So what had they learned? In addition to the two words pointing in opposite directions, each signpost also had a letter on it. If you collected the letters from each of the posts along your path, you came up with FOURSCORE+TWO. A score is old-fashioned lingo for “20.” But 82 was not a possible answer. Smart Hunters thought back to the use of the word HEAT in the opening hint. Was this a basketball reference? In hoops, a “score” is two points. Four score plus two, then, equals 10, which was the solution to this puzzle.

The Art Basel Puzzle

A Carnival cruise entertainer stood at a podium imitating a snobbish art lecturer named Art Basel. He was going on and on about the huge canvas at his side, a large painting of a black circle on a white background.

Hunters had been handed a printed catalog description of the painting, which was titled “Stop.” Art Basel, noting that the work was from the artist’s “Circular Period,” exhorted his audience to see the painting as “reduced to its essential element,” which was “all about finality, termination, endings and stopping points.” He urged them to “drink in of its symbolic meaning, a meaning which is echoed in many places.”

He continued: “The totality of its essence and the meaning of its symbolic nature can reveal the truth we all hold in our hands.

"It all adds up!" he insisted repeatedly.

Turns out this big black circle was in fact a large punctuation mark, namely a period. If Hunters added up all the periods they “held in their hands” in the form of the catalog copy, they got the solution: 15.

The Cruise Ship Comedians Puzzle

Carnival comics took turns doing stand up on the Hunt stage. They told lots of jokes, or parts of jokes. They set the jokes up, but always stopped before the end, then looked around at the lack of audience response and said variations on, “What are we missing here?"

What they were missing was: the punch lines.

Alert Hunters noticed that within sight of the stage, Hunt volunteers were handing out free punch at two punch stations. Each punch station had a serpentine bellrope for lines to form. In other word, these were the “punchlines” that the comics were drawing so much attention to. It so happened the bell ropes snaked in a distinctive pattern. The one on the left was in the shape of a 2, and the one on the right was the shape of a 5. The solution was 25.

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Buzzmakers: AJ is a Dad and Angus Apologizes

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. Charges Filed Against Lindsay Lohan

California prosecutors have officially filed charges against Lindsay Lohan.

The charges, which include willfully resisting, obstructing, or delaying an officer in the course of their duties, supplying false information to a police officer and reckless driving, stem from the car accident Lohan was involved in last June when she crashed her Porsche into the back of a dump truck on the Pacific Coast Highway.

All three charges are misdemeanors, and no court date has been set at this time.

The accident in June occurred when she was on her way to the set of Liz & Dick. According to The Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica prosecutors had been weighing charges against Lohan for weeks after police said they found evidence she lied when she claimed she was not behind the wheel of her Porsche.

The charges come just hours after Lohan was arrested early Thursday morning after a brawl broke out at a New York City nightclub. Lohan was arrested for allegedly punching a female patron at Club Avenue, and is facing third degree assault charges from the incident.

2. Nancy O'Dell Launches New App

ET host Nancy O'Dell is combining her love of two things -- reporting and kids -- by launching a new storybook app on iTunes.

The highly interactive app features a holiday theme and uses the story and games to educate users. The voice of Arty the cameraman is provided by Bryson Foster, the Muscular Dystrophy Association's National Goodwill Ambassador, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the MDA.

Nancy says of her endeavor, "As the host of Entertainment Tonight, one of the things I love most about my job is how much I learn by meeting interesting people and going to so many different places. So, I thought, how fun it would be for little kids to do that too! Obviously, they can't travel the world in reality by themselves, but they can via an app."

Nancy discloses, "Every app is a magical story as Ashby and her FUNtastic crew go on their adventures. And what better first assignment for a little reporter to cover than Santa's Big Premiere on Christmas Eve. Little Ashby files her report on what the Holiday Spirit is all about!"

Check out the app, available just in time for the holidays, here.

3. Backstreet Boy AJ McLean Welcomes Baby Girl

Backstreet Boy AJ McLean and wife, makeup artist Rochelle Deanna Karidis, had their first child together on Tuesday, In Touch reports.

According to the news source, the couple welcomed a baby girl named Ava Jaymes.

"We are all doing well and are thrilled to welcome Ava to the world," said the singer, 34.

Ava was born weighing 7 lbs. and 7 oz., according to In Touch.

AJ and Rochelle made their pregnancy announcement just four months after their Beverly Hills wedding.

AJ announced the baby's gender and name via Twitter in July.

4. Angus T. Jones Apologizes For 'Men' Remarks

In a self-written statement obtained by ET, Two and a Half Men star Angus T.

Jones breaks his silence on controversial remarks made by the actor about the series in a video testimonial for Forerunner Christian Church.

In the note, Jones apologizes for harm he might have caused to his colleagues for labeling the popular CBS show as "filth" and in urging viewers not to watch. He writes:

I have been the subject of much discussion, speculation and commentary over the past 24 hours. While I cannot address everything that has been said or right every misstatement or misunderstanding, there is one thing I want to make clear.

Without qualification, I am grateful to and have the highest regard and respect for all of the wonderful people on 'Two and Half Men' with whom I have worked and over the past ten years who have become an extension of my family.

Chuck Lorre, Peter Roth and many others at Warner Bros. and CBS are responsible for what has been one of the most significant experiences in my life to date. I thank them for the opportunity they have given and continue to give me and the help and guidance I have and expect to continue to receive from them.

I also want all of the crew and cast on our show to know how much I personally care for them and appreciate their support, guidance and love over the years. I grew up around them and know that the time they spent with me was in many instances more than with their own families. I learned life lessons from so many of them and will never forget how much positive impact they have had on my life.

I apologize if my remarks reflect me showing indifference to and disrespect of my colleagues and a lack of appreciation of the extraordinary opportunity of which I have been blessed. I never intended that.

The video in question shows Jones opening up about his conversations with God and how his new-found religious beliefs led him to stop doing drugs and leading a selfish life.

5. Bobbi Kristina in Crash That Sent Car Off the Road

Bobbi Kristina Brown was cited by police after being involved in a car accident Wednesday in which the vehicle left the road and traveled down an embankment.

Police in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta confirmed to ET that a passerby called 911 just before noon to report that the black Chevrolet Camaro had veered off the road and traveled through a wooded area striking trees before eventually coming to a stop.

"The investigation revealed the driver lost control and the vehicle left Beaver Creek Road on the east side and traveled down an embankment," a police statement said. Damage to the vehicle was described in the statement as "moderate."

Upon the initial arrival, officers say they found Bobbi Kristina standing beside the vehicle and she was uninjured. "Our officer completed an official accident report and issued a traffic citation to Ms. Brown for the offense of failure to maintain lane," the police statement said.

Bobbi Kristina appeared to address the accident Wednesday on Twitter.

"My#PersonalGuardianAngel thankumommiss&loveumre u'lleverkno. NotAScratch&ok Wow,PraiseGod. @nickdgordon #SeriousChangeswithinME," she wrote.

She also tweeted: "#LETMELIVE without YOUppl crucifying me?! OH, yes now I remember .. YOUppl did the SAME DAMN THING2 JESUS.& he overcame you ALL. #NOWWATCH."

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Burned up: Rapper Leslie torches Post front page for covering his attempt to weasel out of a $1M reward

YouTube

Ryan Leslie was obviously still burned up over The Post's 'Finders Keepers' front page, about the rapper being forced to hand over a $1 million reward he tried to weasel out of.

We’re New York’s hottest paper!

Cheapskate rapper Ryan Leslie reacted to a $1 million verdict against him by burning the front page of The Post in front of cheering concert fans.

The hip hopper hothead was spewing over a Manhattan federal jury ruling on Wednesday that he had to own up to the $1 million reward he promised for the return of his MacBook Pro that had been stolen in Cologne Germany.

How The Post covered the story

German Auto body shop owner Armin Augstein, 54, who found the missing laptop and returned it, but never saw a cent, sued Leslie here and won.

Leslie posted a video on YouTube of him angrily rapping: “Don’t believe everything you read in the f---in’ news,

‘Cause these haters’ll really prefer to see you lose” at the Long Island University campus in Brooklyn.

As he held up The Post’s front page, someone in the audience shouted out: “Burn it!” after which he lit the paper, then dropped it to the floor and stamped on it.

Earlier, the multi-talented Harvard grad — who has produced songs for Britney Spears and Mary J. Blige — told the crowd how he was shamed by the coverage.

“And so I woke up today to get me some orange juice, man, and the lady who works at the deli was like ‘aw man - you’re the guy on the front page of the paper today!’ and I looked at the headline. It said ‘Rap Weasel...”

Leslie claimed the laptop was worthless because he couldn’t retrieve his multi-track songs on the hard drive and will apparently appeal.

Augstein’s lawyer Michael Fischman said his client had been waiting two years for Leslie to make contact.

“He still has not accepted responsibility — for the reward offer. We therefore have no reason to be optimistic about his intentions he obviously does not have a good track record of following through with what he says.”

Cynthia.fagen@nypost.com

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Boat Show may block Miami’s 2016 Super Bowl bid

This winter, the biggest NFL match-up in South Florida might be Super Bowl versus Boat Show.

As South Florida readies a bid for the 2016 Super Bowl, it must contend with a major potential conflict on the tourism calendar. The National Football League may move the Super Bowl to Presidents’ Day weekend, already home to the five-day Miami International Boat Show since the 1940s.

It’s a significant enough conflict that, in the past, local tourism officials have declined to pursue a Super Bowl if it fell on boat show weekend. But this time around they may have no choice. For the first time, the NFL is requiring that potential host cities agree to a Presidents’ Day weekend Super Bowl if they want to pursue the big game at all, said two people who have seen the NFL request for Super Bowl bids.

The NFL “invited South Florida [to bid] knowing there was going to be an issue with Presidents’ Day weekend and the boat show,” said Nicki Grossman, Broward’s tourism director. “In the past, South Florida has not responded to a Super Bowl date that included Presidents’ Day weekend. This package is different.”

South Florida vies with New Orleans as the top Super Bowl host, with government and tourism leaders touting the game as both a boon to the economy and a publicity bonanza. But the notion of accommodating both Super Bowl and boat show — not to mention a major arts festival in Coconut Grove — strikes some top tourism officials as a bad idea.

“There is not sufficient hotel inventory available in Miami that weekend to host a Super Bowl,” said William Talbert, president of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have taken a close look at that weekend, and it’s not physically possible in Miami to host Super Bowl during the Presidents’ Day weekend because of the boat show and the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. The hotel inventory is all being used for these two great events.”

His comments are at odds with the region’s top Super Bowl organizer and reflect the burden that the boat show may be to South Florida’s Super Bowl hopes for 2016 and 2017. The NFL invited Miami and San Francisco to bid for the 2016 Super Bowl by April 1, with the loser vying with Houston for the 2017 game. Talbert said the bid package states both decisions will be made in May.

For now, South Florida’s Super Bowl organizers face a largely hypothetical challenge, because the current NFL schedule has the Super Bowl occurring two weeks before Presidents’ Day weekend. The bid requirements for the ’16 and ’17 Super Bowls include three consecutive weekends as possibilities for the game, with the latest falling on the Presidents’ Day holiday.

Still, possible logistical hurdles may combine with political obstacles if the Miami Dolphins resume their push for a tax-funded renovation of Sun Life Stadium, the Super Bowl’s South Florida home.

Last year, the Dolphins proposed that Broward and Miami-Dade counties subsidize a $225 million renovation at Sun Life as a way to keep the region competitive for Super Bowls and other large events. The renovation includes a partial roof that would prevent the kind of drenching Super Bowl spectators suffered in 2007 when a rare February downpour hit Miami Gardens.

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Scott’s ALF panel let industry off hook, critics say

TALLAHASSEE --
Gov. Rick Scott used tough language in the summer of 2011 when he created a panel to help fix the deadly abuse and neglect in Florida assisted living facilities.

He pledged to provide protections for elderly and disabled ALF residents, who in recent years saw sweeping breakdowns of care as lawmakers stripped regulations and failed to protect the state’s most vulnerable people from burns, beatings and death.

Then politics happened.

In a change of tide, Scott’s panel issued its final report this week, calling for diminished transparency, fewer regulations and more money for ALF operators. The panel calls for the state to better enforce existing rules rather than create new ones. And to reward ALFs when they do right rather than punish them when they do wrong.

Although some hailed the recommendations as a step forward, not everyone was cheering.

“[Providers] are probably doing cartwheels right now,” said Brian Lee, a resident advocate and director of Families for Better Care.

The recommendations are a product of more than a year of contentious meetings and a panel on which advocates for the powerful ALF industry had the lion’s share of seats. Scott appointed the group after The Miami Herald reviewed thousands of documents and published a sweeping series on the squalid conditions for many of the state’s most vulnerable residents.

Some advocates for the elderly have blasted the panel since its formation, accusing Scott of stacking the committee with business-oriented ALF operators. Scott promised a second round of meetings would include more ALF residents and advocates. Critics contend the reverse was true.

On Friday, Scott insisted the work group is just one step, and that he’ll work with lawmakers to pass meaningful reform. He made similar promises last year.

“We need to act this session to make sure that existing regulations are being enforced to protect our seniors from abuse and to make necessary changes to stop facility operators from breaking the law,” he said this time around.

The furor from the Herald series prompted Scott’s panel to offer a variety of solutions in 2011, from stricter educational requirements for ALF caretakers to more government oversight for facilities that cause patient harm. Those emerged shortly after the series was published and served as a foundation for sweeping legislation that lawmakers softened and then defeated in 2012, under pressure from powerful industry lobbyists.

The new round of proposals offer bits and pieces of that original package.

Larry Polivka, chairman of the panel and head of the Claude Pepper Foundation, touted the group’s more resident-friendly proposals. Those include an appeals process to give evicted residents recourse and the creation of an independent nonprofit organization to train and credential providers.

“I think the workgroup struck a good balance,” he said, adding that the first round of proposals are not moot. “It has to be a carrot-and-stick approach. You can’t live by punitive measures alone.”

But Pat Lange, lobbyist and director of the Florida Assisted Living Association, said the final report appears to stand on its own. And she hopes it stays that way.

“The more recent conversations have been much more productive. This agrees with what we’ve felt from the beginning, which is that the regulations that exist are adequate,” she said. “I think [the panel] realized they need to make some differences in some of the ways they were handling recommendations.”

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Barbara Hershey Talks Once Upon A Time Season Two Winter Finale

In 2010, Barbara Hershey presented a tragic portrait of a stage mother in the Academy Award winning thriller Black Swan. And, believe it or not, many of the emotions that drove Erica Sayers to demand Swan Queen perfection from Nina (played by Natalie Portman) are once again bubbling to the surface on ABC's Once Upon A Time.

As Cora, former Queen of fairytale land and mother to Regina, Hershey revealed to ETonline that she believes a mother's love is what has fueled all of Cora's less-than-lovely behavior. With Once Upon A Time's winter finale unfolding this Sunday, we caught up with the Oscar-nominated actress to find out what fans can expect from the 2012 swan song!

ETonline: What attracted you to Once Upon A Time?

Barbara Hershey: I've always loved fables and fairytales. I've always thought the reason they endure is because they fill a need that we have as human animals. There is something so satisfying about them because at the root of fairytales is a story about the human condition -- of course it's magnified and fantasized, but it really is about us and I enjoy it on that level. Any TV series is a grab bag for an actor, but particularly with this one because you never know what world you're going to be in next week!

RELATED - Jamie Chung Talks Mulan's Motivation

ETonline: Actors can never view their characters as "the villain" of a show, so where does her perceived evil come from in your mind?

Barbara: Her love for her daughter. Even though how she loves and what she's doing in the name of it seems a little insane, it comes from a soft place inside of her. It's the one softness inside her. She's just very twisted and warped and unhealthy about it. There are a lot of parents who think they're doing well for their kids, but are really pushing them in a direction they want. Cora is doing that. She thinks everything she's done is in her daughter's best interest, but it's not. She's quite amazing to play.

ETonline: Given that, how much of Cora's motivation in getting to Storybrooke is revenge-based?

Barbara: None of it. I think she truly is a mother trying to reconnect with her daughter. Again, she's just so warped in her emotions and in a bubble of her own making, that her own version of love is so different from what mine would be. But Cora just wants to reconnect with her daughter and live their lives together.

RELATED - TV's 10 Biggest Love Triangles

ETonline: Should Cora get to Storybrooke, which character would you like to work with?

Barbara: I've had a lot of scenes with Hook, which has been fun. Colin [O'Donoghue] is just wonderful. Of course I'm looking forward to a Rumpelstiltskin confrontation, but I'm wide open. I'm fond of all the characters; it's such a grab bag of amazing options.

ETonline: Looking ahead, what are you excited for the fans to see as the season wears on?

Hershey: What's fun for me is that there are a lot of surprises with Cora in the winter finale. I was blown away on almost every page. I'm excited for the audience to feel that too. You'll see as we go into the future episodes, it gets really, really interesting.

Once Upon A Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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'Macho' Camacho gets big sendoff in East Harlem

Bolivar Arellano

Christian Camacho, 20, with his 14 year old brother Stanley Camacho both sons of deceased boxing Champion Hector 'Macho' Camacho. Here they were riding through the streets of East Harlem where their father was born and raised.

It was a goodbye fit for a king of the ring.

Boxing legend Hector “Macho” Camacho was given a royal sendoff today as his casket was paraded through the streets of East Harlem in a horse-drawn carriage as thousands of mourners wished him farewell.

The procession began at St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church on East 106th Street, went up First Avenue, cut across East 116th Street, traveled down Fifth Avenue and returned along East 106th Street, winding back to the church.

Revelers joined in along the way, marching behind the carriage and procession of vehicles carrying grieving family members and friends.

People were spotted hanging out car windows and sunroofs while wildly waving Puerto Rican flags and clutching pictures of Camacho in his fighting prime.

When the casket, draped in a Puerto Rican flag, arrived at St. Cecilia’s, a mob of people standing behind police barricades chanted, “Macho. Macho.”

“I love you guys,” Camacho’s mother, Maria Matias, shouted back while pumping her fist in the air. The line of people waiting to get inside and pay thier respects was several blocks long.

“I fought hard to bring my son here, where he belongs,” she told The Post.

“He fought here, he was raised here and now he is being buried here. Look at all these supporters here, it is amazing.

“They are telling me that Camacho is alive today. His spirit is not dead. He is a champion. I will always carry him in my heart.”

She recalled how Camacho started learning to box at the age of 7 and bought her a home with his career winnings.

“My son had a good heart... and took care of me.”

Camacho was shot Nov. 20 while sitting in a parked car in his hometown, Bavamon. He was 50.

Matias lashed out at her son’s killers.

“He did not deserve to die. They killed an innocent man for no reason. One bullet took my son’s life.”

She said that police have three men in custody and are tring to peice together a motive behind the slaying.

“They don’t have all the evidence yet, but soon they will.”

A farewell for Camacho in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Tuesday was marred by violence after Cynthia Castillo, 28, who claims to have been the pugilist’s girlfriend, angered his sisters by kissing him inside the open casket and walking to a VIP area designated for family and close friends.

She then fought with his former girlfriend Gloria Fernandez outside the chapel, according to the newspaper El Nuevo Dia.

Police were called in to pull the ladies apart.

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A marriage of financial convenience?

Dilemma: I’m in my early 70s, tight in my budget and worried about down the road. My husband and I had 23 years of a great marriage. We had no children but worked in our business together and I was devastated when he died so young. But that was many years ago.

My house has a small mortgage and needs work. My income is mostly Social Security with a little bit of extra income from what savings are left. I’m quite alone, and no one knows how tight I really am, as I’ve been able to keep up appearances.

I haven’t fallen in love with anyone in all these years, but now I’m starting to think financially. There’s a very nice, older single gentleman at my club who is always flirting with me. (I don’t look my age.) We’ve had a few dates and it’s been pleasant.

He’s very wealthy and all the girls are chasing after him, but he seems to have eyes for me and is looking for some kind of commitment. Do you have any advice for someone who is thinking of making a match for money? I know women who have done that, but it seems they’re miserable in spite of the big houses, cars and jewelry. It looks like a hard way to “make a living”. On the other hand, being alone and broke is not my idea of heaven either. I have little family and am fearful of being lonely, too.

It sure seems like a solution, but … Any advice?

Meg’s advice: That’s a really difficult question, and it’s oh so personal. Many people play the money card when choosing their partner, but there needs to be some clarity first. Take off the money goggles for a second and ask yourself this: Do you like him a lot? Admire him? Do you share values? Can you laugh together? Can you crawl under the covers with him easily? These days of Viagra can put another spin on an old story. Can you be good friends? Start there, and see how it scores.

Sometimes, a relationship like this can work like a charm. Other times, it’s a nightmare that’s hard to wake up from, and yet you may not know that until you actually make a life together. Please proceed with caution.

Here are some sobering thoughts:

Are you sure he’s wealthy? He may be looking for the same thing you are … financial security and his cash flow may be weak. Do some serious checking, since money is your incentive.

How old is old? If he’s got one foot in the grave, and you don’t mind caretaking, there may be an arrangement to be had. But it may not be as secure as you think, unless he sets you up financially in the beginning, and that’s a difficult negotiation, to say the least.

Does he have children? If so, your presumed financial security may very well be compromised, as most people are going to favor their kids financially. You can’t blame him, either. What would happen to you if he goes first? Are the kids nice and welcoming? Problem children can totally rain on any parade you’re considering. Consider this a big deal … and possibly a deal breaker.

Is he cheap or generous? You can usually tell that while dating. Listen up to what he says and how he behaves. Generosity is either in him or not. Leopards don’t change their spots, especially elderly, cheap leopards. That would take any bloom off the rose for me.

Don’t let romance (his) lure you into false promises. You need to understand his full intentions up front. It’s a business decision, after all, and he wasn’t born yesterday, obviously. Although your financial worries may turn him off, it’s better to know what you’re looking at up front then to get into a situation worse than you’ve got. I’d rather be captain of my own ship, even a modest one, than a captive on someone else’s.

Got a dilemma? Email askmeg@meggreen.com. Meg Green, CFP, is a wealth manager with offices in Aventura. Her Money Dilemmas column runs monthly in The Miami Herald.

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