
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 7, 1994                   TAG: 9402070097
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: SHEFFIELD LAKE, OHIO                                LENGTH: Short

SKATER'S BROTHER HAD MENTAL ILLNESS

The younger brother of Olympic ice dancer Elizabeth Punsalan had been home on a weekend pass from a psychiatric hospital only a few hours when he told police he stabbed his father to death.

Ricardo Punsalan, 20, told police Friday night he attacked his father, Dr. Ernesto R. Punsalan, 57, as he slept in their home, about 20 miles west of Cleveland.

The elder Punsalan, a general surgeon, was aware of his son's ongoing battle with mental illness but didn't want to commit him to a long-term center, a family friend said.

"He was worried about him," said Dr. Paresh Patel, a colleague of Punsalan's at EMH Regional Medical Center in Elyria. "He said, `He is my son, he should be at home.' He seemed to be a nice kid."

On Sunday, Ricardo Punsalan was being held without bond at the Lorain County Jail and was to be arraigned this morning in Lorain Municipal Court on a charge of aggravated murder.

Elizabeth Punsalan, 23, said late Saturday that she will compete later this month in the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. - Associated Press

by CNB