Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 13, 1994 TAG: 9401130240
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
Shawn Eric Eckardt admitted being involved in the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit, according to NBC's "Now" program and The Oregonian newspaper in Portland. Both cited anonymous sources.
A man struck Kerrigan with a club after a practice session, severely bruising her right leg and forcing her to withdraw from the competition. The attacker escaped.
Earlier, Eckardt had called allegations that he was involved in the attack "absurd."
NBC and today's Oregonian also quoted unidentified sources as saying the club had been found in a trash bin behind the arena where Kerrigan was attacked.
On Wednesday, the paper reported that the FBI was investigating allegations that Harding's husband, Jeff Gillooly, and Eckardt were involved in the attack.
In Detroit, Deputy Police Chief Benny Napoleon said that no arrest would be announced Wednesday night.
"There is nothing else I can say at this time," he said.
Asked about the reports, Napoleon said, "It is an ongoing investigation. I'm not in a position to discuss that."
Both NBC and The Oregonian said Harding had no knowledge of the alleged plot. NBC said authorities expected to arrest four people on federal charges.
The Oregonian reported that Gillooly and Eckardt hired a "hit man" to carry 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 authorities don't have the tape, according to its sources. The sources said the tape was destroyed by one of the suspects after the Oregonian report appeared.
According to the NBC sources, Harding's husband and the bodyguard arranged for a hit man from Arizona to attend a meeting in Portland.
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 told a private investigator that he had listened to the tape. The two men then went to authorities.
NBC said that after the meeting in Portland, the hit man went to Boston, where Kerrigan lives and trains. It was there the investigators believe he originally planned to hurt Kerrigan, but bad weather somehow fouled the attempt, NBC said. The network's sources said the attacker then went to Detroit, site of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.
A man brandishing a club struck Kerrigan after a practice session, severely bruising her right leg and forcing her to withdraw from the competition. The man escaped.
The International Committee of the U.S. Figure Skating Association selected Kerrigan to the Olympic team anyway, along with Harding, who won the U.S. championship at the trials Saturday night. The two women will be part of the U.S. contingent at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Feb. 12-27.
Harding had been scheduled to fly to Fairfax, Va., Wednesday for the NationsBank U.S. Olympic Festival on Ice. But Barry Geissler, general manager of Patriot Center, where the event was to take place, said she canceled.
A representative of Bill Graham Presents, the event's promoter, said Harding told producers she was canceling because she's "having a few media problems."
No one answered the telephone at Harding's house, and her coach, Diane Rawlinson, did not reply to a message left on her answering machine. There appeared to be no one at either the home of Harding or Eckardt. It was not known where Harding, Gillooly or Eckardt were.
The U.S. Figure Skating Association declined to comment on the reports.
The Portland private investigator who spoke with Saunders, Gary Crowe, said Harding evidently knew nothing about a plot to attack Kerrigan.
Crowe said Saunders came to him for advice after an acquaintance played the tape for him.
Crowe said Saunders told him the tape 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 the 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.
Saunders was friends with Eckardt, Crowe said, but he didn't know whether it was Eckardt who had provided the tape.
Crowe described Saunders as a "straight-shooter, the straightest of the straight." He did not know which church he was affiliated with.
No one was home at Saunders' house Wednesday, and he did not return messages left on his answering machine.
Gillooly told The Oregonian he had been questioned by the FBI but denied that he was involved in the attack.
"I wouldn't do that," Gillooly said. "I have more faith in my wife than to bump off her competition."
Eckardt called the allegations "absurd."
"I would never get involved in anything like that," Eckardt told the newspaper. "That would be jeopardizing my future, my career. I mean, that's not something I could do or allow."
Harding has denied any link to the attack, saying she felt cheated of the chance to compete with Kerrigan.
Detroit police, and later FBI agents, questioned all skaters and coaches at the Olympic trials.
Outside the home of Kerrigan's parents in the Boston suburb of Stoneham, Mass., Police Chief Eugene Passaro said the skater's relatives "really don't know any more than what's on the TV."
Kerrigan's agent, ProServe, issued a statement on behalf of the family late Wednesday.
"Based on the information we have at this time, we have no comment on the investigation," the statement said. "We are sure the law enforcement authorities are working hard on this case and we hope their efforts are successful."
by CNB