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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 8, 1994                   TAG: 9402080128
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LORAIN, OHIO                                LENGTH: Short

SKATER'S BROTHER PLEADS INNOCENT IN DAD'S DEATH

The brother of Olympic ice dancer Elizabeth Punsalan pleaded innocent Monday to aggravated murder in the stabbing death of their father.

Ricardo Punsalan, 20, waived his right to a preliminary hearing during an arraignment before Lorain Municipal Judge Gustalo Nunez. Nunez turned the case over to a grand jury and ordered Punsalan held without bail.

Dr. Ernesto R. Punsalan, 57, was stabbed twice in the chest Friday night in the family's home in Sheffield Lake, 20 miles west of Cleveland.

A funeral mass was scheduled for today, and Elizabeth Punsalan planned to leave for Lillehammer, Norway, after the funeral, her family said.

Ricardo Punsalan entered Hope Center - the psychiatric unit of St. Joseph Hospital and Health Center - Jan. 27 and was released to the custody of his mother.

- Associated Press

by CNB