Janne Puhakka, Finland’s first openly gay professional hockey player, was shot to death by his former partner over the weekend. He was 29.
The athlete also happened to be starring in “Petolliset,” the Finnish version of “The Traitors,” which has decided to indefinitely postpone this week’s Season 2 finale due to his death. Puhakka remains an active Traitor in the game.
Finnish network Nelonen issued the following statement on Monday, following Puhakka’s death early Sunday morning. The social media post was captioned: “Information regarding the final episode of ‘Petolliset.’”
“The final episode of the season of ‘Petolliset’ was scheduled to be shown on Thursday of this week. We have come to the conclusion that right now is not the right time to air an episode. We will return to the question of the possible presentation of the episode later,” the message read (translated to English from Finnish using Google Translate). “We share in the grief of Janne’s loved ones.”
According to Finnish Police, Puhakka was killed when he returned to a home in Espoo’s Henttaa, which he shared with 66-year-old former partner Rolf Nordmo. The exes were reportedly estranged husbands who had separated weeks prior. “It was revealed in the interrogation that the motive for the crime was the ending of the relationship between the victim and the suspect,” local authorities noted.
Nordmo is currently in custody with his charge upgraded to murder as “the act is suspected to have been committed with premeditation and in a particularly brutal and cruel manner.” He used a legally owned hunting shotgun to kill Puhakka and is said to have confessed to the crime.
While the police did not confirm either identity due to national laws, local outlet YLE confirmed the reporting.
Puhakka publicly came out in his 2022 memoir “Ulos Kopista” upon his retirement from hockey. He played a season for the Espoo Blues for Finland’s Liiga before joining France’s Ligue Magnus in 2017.
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