'The Contender' Boxer Najai Turpin Commited Suicide

Up-and-coming Philadelphia boxer Najai "Nitro" Turpin, 23, one of the sixteen contestants appearing on NBC's upcoming The Contender boxing reality-competition show, apparently committed suicide in a parked car on the Valentine's Day morning of February 14, 2005.

According to police reports in the Philadelphia Daily News, Turpin was sitting in a Chevrolet Lumina when he shot himself at 4AM ET. Turpin leaves behind his girlfriend, who was the mother of his two-year-old daughter Anje and appeared with him on The Contender ... and who, according to initial reports, was with him at the time of his suicide.

The New York Daily News reports that Turpin's trainer, Perry "Buster" Custus, was planning to pick him up at his girlfriend's house that morning to drive to the Poconos and help train another boxer. Custus said about Turpin, "He had a lot of stuff on his mind. I was going to talk to him about it while we were driving to camp. You never really knew what was going on in Najai's head."

In addition to his girlfriend and toddler daughter, Turpin leaves behind a younger brother, sister, niece and nephew, whom he became responsible for when his mother died when he was 18. One of Turpin's given reasons for appearing on The Contender was to enable him to better support his family.