Finland’s first openly gay professional hockey player was allegedly murdered by his former boyfriend on Saturday, just weeks after they broke up.
Janne Puhakka, 29, was found dead inside his home in Espoo, Finland, where he had been living with his much-older partner, Rolf Nordmo, prior to separating, according to Finnish news outlet YLE.
Nordmo, a 66-year-old veterinarian originally from Norway, allegedly confessed to gunning down his former beau.
The retired hockey pro who played junior hockey in the QMJHL, recently had moved out after the relationship ended, but had remained “somewhat involved” with his former lover, investigators said.
When Puhakka returned over the weekend to discuss “practical matters,” cops said Nordmo allegedly grabbed a hunting rifle and gunned down his ex.
Nordmo was taken into custody when police arrived on the scene.
According to YLE, he allegedly admitted to the shooting while he was being interrogated.
Nordmo initially was arrested for manslaughter, but the charge has since been upgraded to murder because “the act is suspected to have been committed with premeditation and in a particularly brutal and cruel manner,” according to a police statement.
While local police didn’t officially release the names of the victim or suspect, they did confirm that the pair “had been in a relationship” and “the motive for the crime was the ending of the relationship between the victim and the suspect.”
Puhakka, who also starred on the Finnish version of The Traitors reality show, began secretly dating Nordmo in 2014 — when he was just 19 years old.
He didn’t open up about his sexuality until after his retirement from hockey in 2018.
“I didn’t want people to know about my sexuality,” Puhakka said in a 2022 interview with South West News Service. “I was scared of the way I would be perceived in the ultra-masculine sporting world.”
He also confessed that he initially lied and told some people that Nordmo was his uncle in order to evade questions about their relationship.
“I had to keep him a secret and it isn’t a nice thing to hide the person you love,” Puhakka said.
During his pro career, Puhakka played for the Espoo Blues and Espoo United in Finland’s Liiga hockey league. He later joined the Rapaces de Gap side in France’s Ligue Magnus league in 2017 before retiring.
The police investigation is ongoing.