Skater’s Father Is Stabbed

Ice dancer Elizabeth Punsalan has not withdrawn from the Winter Olympics despite the stabbing death of her father at his Sheffield Lake, Ohio, home, U.S. Olympic Committee officials said Saturday. The skater’s brother has been arrested.

Punsalan had originally planned to arrive here next Thursday with Jerod Swallow, her partner and husband, and although USOC officials would not confirm that date, they said they’ve been informed that she does not intend to change her travel schedule. Her competition begins on Feb. 17.

Punsalan, 23, and Swallow, 27, were driving from their home in Northville, Mich., to Ohio and could not be reached for comment. But the U.S. Figure Skating Assn. released a statement from Punsalan that said: “My father was proud of my skating achievements and would have wanted me to go on to Lillehammer. I will try to skate my very best there in his memory.”

According to a source close to the investigation, police found Dr. Ernesto Punsalan, 54, stabbed twice in the chest with a kitchen knife in his bedroom Friday night. They were responding to a call at 8:48 p.m. by his wife, Theresa.

Dr. Punsalan, a surgeon, was dead on arrival at St. Joseph Hospital in Lorain, Ohio.

Police said his son, Rickey Punsalan, 20, will be arraigned Monday in Lorain Municipal Court on a charge of aggravated murder.

“There was a continuing problem in the family,” the source said.

Sheffield Lake is a small city in northeastern Ohio, 20 miles west of Cleveland. Dr. Punsalan and his wife were planning to travel to Hamar, Norway, site of the figure skating competition, to see their daughter and son-in-law skate. There was a large sign on the Punsalan’s front lawn congratulating the skaters for earning Olympic berths with their Jan. 7 victory in the National Championships.

Upon learning about the death Saturday morning shortly before a hearing resumed in Colorado Springs, Colo., on the Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan case, USFSA spokeswoman Kristin Matta said she was “deeply saddened.”