RENO - Ross Brymer, a former Mustang Ranch bodyguard who served time for killing boxer Oscar Bonavena at the gate to the brothel, was found dead Tuesday. He was 55.
Brymer's body was found in a friend's home on Wells Avenue. Cause of death wasn't immediately apparent, and autopsy results weren't expected for about two weeks.
Brymer served 15 months in prison for killing Bonavena after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 1976 slaying of the Argentinian boxer, once a top-ranked heavyweight title contender whose ring opponents including Muhammad Ali.
Investigators said Bonavena may have been the victim of a premeditated murder because he allegedly was the lover of then-brothel owner Joe Conforte's wife, and guards had orders to shoot him if he showed up at the brothel.
Brymer later got a life term for arranging the sale of the drug Valium to a police undercover agent and started serving time on that sentence in mid-1985. He was paroled in 1991 but returned to prison in 1995 as a result of a parole violation. He was released again in 1996.
