Janne Puhakka, left, and Rolf Nordmo (via Instagram)
Janne Puhakka, 29, the first openly gay hockey player in the Finnish hockey league, was found shot to death in his home. His former partner, Rolf Nordmo, a Norwegian veterinarian, 66, was arrested for the murder and has admitted he shot Puhakka.
The couple had recently broken up. Puhakka’s body was found after friends, who were concerned when they couldn’t get through to him, called police to do a welfare check.
Nordmo had recently moved out of the couple’s house in Espoo, about 13 miles from Finland’s capital Helsinki. Originally charged with manslaughter, the indictment was upgraded to murder because, a police statement said, there’s evidence it was premeditated.
Nordmo was married to a woman for 17 years and had three children with her. He came out at age 40.
Puhakka began playing hockey at six and joined the Finnish national youth team at 16. After joining the professional hockey team two years later, he hesitated about coming out publicly, afraid of the reaction of his teammates, but eventually did so to help others in the league come out.
— David Taffet