Nancy Kerrigan's father dies; brother charged in attack

He served a portion of his military service in Egypt, but it was not immediately clear what his duties were, when he served, and what caused him to develop PTSD, which is usually associated with soldiers in combat.

"He denies any responsibility for this,'' attorney Denise C. Moore, who was appointed to represent Mark Kerrigan, said of Daniel Kerrigan's death. "He is quite distressed over his father's death. He is grieving.''

No Kerrigan family members were in the courtroom.

Nancy Kerrigan was thrust in the international spotlight in 1994, when she was whacked in the knee during an Olympics tryout in a plot orchestrated by rival skater Tonya Harding and her former husband, Jeff Gillooly. Kerrigan went on to win a silver medal in the Olympics.

A family friend, James Day, said the death of Daniel and the arrest of Mark have left the family emotionally reeling.

"It's a tragedy, a no-win situation, and the family is grieving,'' he said. "The family is such a beautiful family. They’ve lost a husband, a father, and brother.''

Asked about Mark Kerrigan, Day said, "There are a lot of things we don't have an answer for.'' He said Mark Kerrigan is a dog lover who feels most comfortable spending time alone with his pets.

In a death notice published by the Globe today, the Kerrigan family announced a funeral Mass will be said Thursday morning for Daniel Kerrigan at St. Patrick's Church on Central Street in Stoneham.

According to court records, Mark Kerrigan has had a turbulent history with his parents. In 2008, his parents sued him in Middlesex Superior Court demanding that he make good on money they provided to him.

The parents said Mark Kerrigan owed them $105,000 they had spent taking care of his dogs, paying the mortgage on his Wilmington home, and for paying the lawyer who represented him on assault charges in 2006.

At the time the lawsuit was filed in 2008, Mark Kerrigan's address was listed as the Middlesex County House of Correction in Billerica where was serving a sentence for a the 2006 Woburn District Court assault conviction, records show.

A judge rejected the parents' request to put a lien on their son's home. "There is no credible evidence that on or before the time the plaintiffs incurred expenses on behalf of their son, the defendant, they did so pursuant to an agreement or expectation of reimbursement from him,'' Judge Thomas R. Murtagh noted.

The case was dismissed.

Mark Kerrigan has an eight-page driving history stretching from 1983 to 2006 and includes at least four drunken driving convictions -- in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine -- several drug convictions, at least three accidents and numerous tickets for speeding and traffic violations including driving without a seat belt, according to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

In the police report, officers describe arriving at the Kerrigan family home and finding Daniel Kerrigan alive but lying on the kitchen floor, where blood stains were visible.

As they investigated, Mark Kerrigan came up from the basement, appearing to be intoxicated. He was belligerent, but admitted that he had gotten into a struggle with his father, police said in the report.

Police said they searched an area in the basement where Mark Kerrigan was seen standing and discovered a stash of whiskey bottles.

In 2005, according to the state Department of Correction, Kerrigan was released from the substance abuse treatment center run by the DOC.

Stoneham police Chief Richard Bongiorno said police arrested Kerrigan on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on an elderly person and causing serious bodily injury. After his arrest, he was taken to Melrose-Wakefield Hospital for a medical issue that Bongiorno would not disclose.

Mark Kerrigan was released from the hospital Sunday around 4 p.m. and today was transported to Woburn District Court where he is expected to be arraigned on the one arrest.

His father was taken to Winchester Hospital where he was pronounced dead around 3:40 a.m. Sunday, Bongiorno said.