Case of Attack on Skater Takes Bizarre Twist

The probe of an attack on figure skating star Nancy Kerrigan took a bizarre twist Wednesday as federal authorities were investigating the husband and bodyguard of her chief rival, and NBC News reported that the bodyguard had confessed to participating in the plot.

The NBC report also quoted unidentified sources as saying the weapon had been recovered in Detroit, from a dumpster behind the ice rink where Kerrigan was attacked last Thursday after a practice session at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. The attacker escaped.

Earlier Wednesday, the Portland Oregonian reported that the FBI was investigating allegations that Tonya Harding’s husband, Jeff Gillooly, and her bodyguard, Shawn Eric Eckardt, were involved in the attack. Harding won the competition in Detroit to earn a berth on the U.S. Winter Olympic team after Kerrigan was forced to withdraw because of the injury to her right leg. Kerrigan was later added to the team.

Harding has denied any link to the attack, saying she felt cheated of a chance to compete with Kerrigan.

“I can’t believe it,” Harding said Wednesday. “I mean, why does someone want to discredit me? I just don’t understand. It’s ludicrous.”

NBC and the Oregonian said Harding had no knowledge of the alleged plot. NBC said authorities expected to arrest four people late Wednesday or this morning on federal charges.

Wednesday night, Deputy Detroit Police Chief Benny Napoleon said at a news conference that no arrests had been made but that the investigation was “progressing satisfactorily.” He would not comment on whether anyone had confessed.

Authorities had planned to intercept Gillooly and Eckardt en route to an ice festival in Virginia, at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, then make an announcement Wednesday, sources said. Two FBI agents boarded an aircraft in Chicago searching for the men. When the skater and the two men were not found, authorities in Oregon were asked to help find them, sources said.

Harding, from Portland, Ore., abruptly canceled the appearance in Fairfax, Va., today, citing problems with the media.

Kerrigan, the 1992 Olympic bronze medalist, is a gold-medal favorite at next month’s Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. She had no comment Wednesday on the developments in the case.

The U.S. Figure Skating Assn. named Kerrigan, 24, of Stoneham, Mass., to the Olympic team with Harding even though she was unable to compete at the championships in Detroit.

The Portland newspaper reported that Gillooly and Eckardt allegedly spoke with a “hit man” about carrying out the attack. The story was based on information from a man who said he heard a tape of a conversation in which the plot to injure Kerrigan was discussed.

NBC said that, according to its sources, authorities do not have the tape. The sources said the tape was destroyed by one of the suspects.

NBC said the alleged plot came to light because the bodyguard taped the meeting and later played the tape for a friend, a minister.

According to the Oregonian, a minister named Eugene C. Saunders, 24, told a private investigator that he had listened to the tape.

The Portland private investigator, Gary Crowe, said Saunders came to him for advice after an acquaintance played the tape recording for him. Crowe said Saunders told him that the tape recording made it clear that Kerrigan was the target.

Saunders told him a man’s voice on the tape asked, “Why don’t we just kill her?”

The response was: “We don’t need to kill her. Let’s just hit her in the knee.”

He said Saunders identified the voices on the tape as those of Gillooly, Eckardt and an Arizona man.

Crowe said Saunders’ acquaintance became worried after receiving threats from the Arizona man because Gillooly had failed to pay the $100,000 promised. Gillooly acknowledged that he was interviewed by the FBI earlier this week but denied the charges.

“That’s illegal,” he told the Oregonian. “I wouldn’t do that. I have more faith in my wife than to bump off her competition.”

Eckardt called the allegations absurd.

Harding, who was married in March, 1990, has a history of marital problems with Gillooly, 26, who works in a state Liquor Control Commission warehouse. She twice has filed restraining orders against Gillooly and has filed for divorce two times, only to change her mind, court records indicate.

Last March, Harding filed a report with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Department, accusing Gillooly of assault. No arrest was made, officials said.