Wrestler Benoit, wife and son found dead

By DEBBIE NEWBY, Associated Press Writer
5 minutes ago

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. - WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife, and son were found dead Monday and police said they were investigating the deaths as a murder-suicide.

Detective Bo Turner told television station WAGA that the case was being treated as a murder-suicide, but said that couldn't be confirmed until evidence was examined by a crime lab.

The station said that investigators believe the 40-year-old Benoit killed his wife, Nancy, and 7-year-old son, Daniel, over the weekend, then himself on Monday. A neighbor called police, and the bodies were found in three rooms.

Lead investigator Lt. Tommy Pope, of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department, told The Associated Press the deaths were being investigated as homicide, and that the causes of death awaited autopsy results on Tuesday. Pope said the bodies were discovered about 2:30 p.m., but refused to release details.

The house is in a secluded neighborhood set back about 60 yards off a gravel road, surrounded by stacked stone wall and a double-iron gate. On Monday night, the house was dark except for a few outside lights. There was a police car in front, along with two uniformed officers.

Benoit was a former world heavyweight and Intercontinental champion. He also held several tag-team titles during his career.

"WWE extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to the Benoit family's relatives and loved ones in this time of tragedy," the federation said in a statement on its Web site.

Benoit was scheduled to perform at the "Vengeance" pay-per-view event Sunday night in Houston, but was replaced at the last minute because of what announcer Jim Ross called "personal reasons."

The native of Canada maintained a home in metro Atlanta from the time he wrestled for the defunct World Championship Wrestling.

The WWE canceled its live "Monday Night RAW" card in Corpus Christi, Texas, and USA Network aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit in place of the scheduled wrestling telecast.

"My relationship with Chris has extended many years and I consider him a great friend," Carl DeMarco, the president of WWE Canada, said in a statement. "Chris was always first-class — warm, friendly, caring and professional one of the best in our business."

man you wouldn't think benoit would do that. this is as twisted as the vince mcmahon is dead storyline

I was just floored when I heard this news. Like many of the long time wrestlers, I've been watching these guys since their very early days, if not their first matches. I have to admit, I teared up a couple times watching that last night. It's a sad event when one person dies, but when an entire family gets wiped out, that makes it so much worse. I also know he has two other kids from a previous marraige. What must be going through their minds right now? This is very sad.

I feel for his family and all but the fact that he was a wrestler is not important to me.

Juiced?

Police ruled the death a double homicide-suicide and are investigating whether steroids may have been a factor in the deaths.

Steroids and HGH = BAD STUFF!

This story makes me sick. WWE needs to be looked into by the goverment or something. That or Vince needs to get serouis about removing steroids from WWE. He needs to set up some sort of support system for them to get help....he can afford to reinvest into the guys who make him all that money.....give a little back to them.

This sickens me this story.

By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 6 minutes ago



FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. - Pro wrestler Chris Benoit strangled his wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son and placed a Bible next to their bodies before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley, authorities said Tuesday.

Investigators found anabolic steroids in the house and want to know whether the muscle man nicknamed "The Canadian Crippler" was unhinged by the bodybuilding drugs, which can cause paranoia, depression and explosive outbursts known as "roid rage."

Authorities offered no motive for the killings, which were spread out over a weekend, and would not discuss Benoit's state of mind. No suicide note was found.

"In a community like this it's bizarre to have a murder-suicide, especially involving the death of a 7-year-old," District Attorney Scott Ballard said. "I don't think we'll ever be able to wrap our minds around this."

The Montreal-born Benoit was one of the stars of the WWE wrestling circuit and was known for his wholesome family-man image. His wife, Nancy, was a wrestling stage manager who worked under the name "Woman." They married in 2000.

When he won the world heavyweight championship in 2004, Benoit (pronounced ben-WAH) hoisted the belt over his head and invited his wife and child into the ring to celebrate. Asked by the Calgary Sun that year to name his worst vice, Benoit replied: "Quality time with my family is a big vice. It's something I'll fight for and crave."

Despite those appearances, Nancy Benoit had filed for a divorce in 2003, saying the couple's three-year marriage was irrevocably broken and alleging "cruel treatment." She later dropped the complaint, as well as a request for a restraining order in which she charged that the 5-foot-10, 220-pound Benoit had threatened her and had broken furniture in their home.

In the divorce filing, she said Benoit made more than $500,000 a year as a professional wrestler and asked for permanent custody of Daniel and child support. In response, Benoit sought joint custody.

The bodies were found Monday afternoon in the house, off a gravel road in this suburb about 20 miles south of Atlanta.

Benoit's 43-year-old wife was killed Friday in an upstairs family room, her feet and wrists were bound and there was blood under her head, indicating a possible struggle, Ballard said. Daniel was probably killed late Saturday or early Sunday, the body found in his bed, the district attorney said.

Benoit, 40, apparently hanged himself several hours and as long as a day later, Ballard said. His body was found in a downstairs weight room, his body found hanging from the pulley of a piece of exercise equipment.

A closed Bible was placed next to the bodies of the wife and son, authorities said.

The prosecutor said he found it "bizarre" that the wrestler spread out the killings over a weekend and appeared to remain in the house for up to a day with the bodies.

Ballard said Benoit had sent two text messages to acquaintances, one saying that his wife and son were sick. The other, to a neighbor, said the door to the house was open and that the pets were outside. The prosecutor said the messages appeared to be an attempt to get someone to the home to find the bodies after his suicide.

The boy had old needle marks in his arms, Ballard said. He said he had been told the parents considered him undersized and had given him growth hormones.

"The boy was very small, even dwarfed," Ballard said.

Toxicology test results may not be available for weeks or even months, Ballard said. As for whether steroids played a role in the crime, he said: "We don't know yet. That's one of the things we'll be looking at."

Benoit received drug deliveries from a Florida business that sold steroids, human growth hormone and testosterone on the Internet, according to the Albany County, N.Y., District Attorney's Office, which is investigating the business, MedXLife.com.

Six people, including two of the pharmacy's owners, have pleaded guilty in the Albany investigation, and 20 more have been arrested, including doctors and pharmacists.

Steroids have been linked to the deaths of several professional wrestlers in recent years. Eddie Guerrero, one of Benoit's best friends, died in 2005 from heart failure linked to long-term steroid use.

The father of Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig blamed steroids and painkillers for Hennig's drug overdose death in 2003. Davey Boy Smith, the "British Bulldog," died in 2002 from heart failure that a coroner said was probably caused by steroids.

The WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., issued a news release Tuesday evening saying steroids "were not and could not be related to the cause of death."

"The physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage," the company said, adding that Benoit tested negative April 10, the last time he was tested for drugs.

Benoit was a quiet, roughhewn figure amid the glitz and bluster of pro wrestling. He performed under his real name, eschewed scripted personas and didn't bother to fix a gap where he had lost one of his front teeth. (According to the WWE Web site, he lost the tooth while roughhousing with his pet Rottweiler.)

His signature move was the "Crippler Crossface," in which he would lock his hands around an opponent's face and stretch his neck.

"You always rooted for him, because he was a good guy and he overcame the odds," said Dave Meltzer, editor of the Wrestling Observer, a weekly news letter. "It's like if you watched `Rocky,' and in the end it comes out that Rocky killed his wife and his son."

Benoit met his wife in the 1990s when she was married to rival wrestler Kevin Sullivan. As part of the scripted rivalry, Benoit and Nancy were supposed to act as if they were having an affair. A real romance blossomed, and she left Sullivan for Benoit.

Neighbors said the Benoits led a low-key lifestyle.

"We would see Chris walking in his yard from time to time. He wasn't rude, but he wasn't really outwardly warm," said Alaina Jones, who lives across the street.

Jimmy Baswell, who was Benoit's driver for more than five years, placed a white wreath at their gate. "They always seemed like they were the happiest people," he said.

World Wrestling Entertainment said on its Web site that it asked authorities to check on Benoit and his family after being alerted by friends who had received "several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning."

"He was like a family member to me, and everyone in my family is taking it real hard," said fellow Canadian Bret Hart, a five-time champion.

The WWE canceled its live "Monday Night RAW" card in Corpus Christi, Texas, after the bodies were discovered.

Monday's show was supposed to be a memorial service for WWE owner Vince McMahon. In a storyline concocted by the WWE, McMahon was supposedly "assassinated" in a limousine explosion two weeks earlier. McMahon appeared at the beginning of Monday's telecast and acknowledged the bombing was made up.

The McMahon storyline has been dropped.

I have been rooting for benoit ever since he started on WWE and this kind of thing shocks me. I mean for him to die but his wife and son?

Something still doesn't seem right about this. Ok, I'll grant you anyone can snap. I'll also grant you different drugs affect different people different ways. I've been around steroids the better part of 15 years now, personally know many professional body builders who take gobs of steroids, and even took them myself for about 5 years. In my experience, steroids just don't do that. It's a mental thing.

Look at it this way. You take an average guy. If he has a good workout regiment and takes a standard bulking steroid like Deca-Durabolin, in 8 weeks he can gain upwards of 30 pounds of lean muscle on his 1st cycle. My 1st cycle I used Sustanon and gain 28 pounds. Anyway, now this average guy is lifting more than he ever has and is getting bulked and/or ripped. Now he is beginning to think he is superman. Believe me, my friends had to set me straight!!!!! He thinks he is indestructable and that's where the rage comes from. It's not really rage, but it's a "I'm so bad ass, nothing can harm me."

The other part of the story that is weird is the bibles that were left by his wife and son. Chris was an atheist. He hated religion. I don't think steroids would suddenly make you believe in God.

Yes he could have snapped. But this 2+2 doesn't equal 4 to me.

Hunter368 said:

This story makes me sick. WWE needs to be looked into by the goverment or something. That or Vince needs to get serouis about removing steroids from WWE. He needs to set up some sort of support system for them to get help....he can afford to reinvest into the guys who make him all that money.....give a little back to them.

This sickens me this story.

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Why would he do so. I believe Vince is on Steroids. When I flew him in Iraq he was so fricken huge and there is no way a man his age can keep that body without the ****.

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:

Why would he do so. I believe Vince is on Steroids. When I flew him in Iraq he was so fricken huge and there is no way a man his age can keep that body without the ****.

Click to expand...

Without a doubt. I'd love to see how many steroids and what kinds he is stacking.

and they say my sport - cycling is ****** up. this is a sad loss but so is every sports personality taking that crap. what a stinking waste. all I hear in my head is that the guy gave up on life and wanted an end and took his whole familie with him. Would of been interesting to counsel the Benoit family as they needed it. The wrestling sports federation has always had crazy stinkin puffed up probs since the inception and as Chris mentions one of the leading personalities is on the "stuff" without a doubt ............ how idiotic

Thorlifter said:

Something still doesn't seem right about this. Ok, I'll grant you anyone can snap. I'll also grant you different drugs affect different people different ways. I've been around steroids the better part of 15 years now, personally know many professional body builders who take gobs of steroids, and even took them myself for about 5 years. In my experience, steroids just don't do that. It's a mental thing.

Look at it this way. You take an average guy. If he has a good workout regiment and takes a standard bulking steroid like Deca-Durabolin, in 8 weeks he can gain upwards of 30 pounds of lean muscle on his 1st cycle. My 1st cycle I used Sustanon and gain 28 pounds. Anyway, now this average guy is lifting more than he ever has and is getting bulked and/or ripped. Now he is beginning to think he is superman. Believe me, my friends had to set me straight!!!!! He thinks he is indestructable and that's where the rage comes from. It's not really rage, but it's a "I'm so bad ass, nothing can harm me."

The other part of the story that is weird is the bibles that were left by his wife and son. Chris was an atheist. He hated religion. I don't think steroids would suddenly make you believe in God.

Yes he could have snapped. But this 2+2 doesn't equal 4 to me.

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I also personally don't think that steroids come into play here, especially as the appear to be legitamately prescribed. And also, did you hear that apparently someone posted news of Nancy Benoit's death 14 hours before the cops found the bodies, and supposedly the guy is an employee of WWE.

I haven't watched wrestling since Guerrerro died, and Benoit has always been one of my favorite guys to watch, so this is absolutely shocking to me.

His suicide is kinda odd though... He hung himself with a pull-down machine? You have to be REALLY serious to go that way.

By HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 21 minutes ago



ATLANTA - Investigators had not yet discovered the bodies of pro wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and their 7-year-old son when someone altered Benoit's Wikipedia entry to mention his wife's death, authorities said.

Authorities said Thursday they are trying to determine who altered the entry on the collaborative reference site 14 hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their son.

Benoit's Wikipedia entry was altered early Monday to say the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife's death.

A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Conn., where World Wrestling Entertainment is based.

An IP address, a unique series of numbers carried by every machine connected to the Internet, does not necessarily have to be broadcast from where it is registered. The bodies were found in Benoit's home in suburban Atlanta, and it's not known where the posting was sent from, Bass said.

Benoit strangled his wife and son during the weekend, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself on the cable of a weight-machine in his home, authorities said. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.

Also Thursday, federal drug agents said they had raided the west Georgia office of a doctor who prescribed testosterone to Benoit.

The raid at Dr. Phil Astin's office in Carrollton began Wednesday night and concluded early Thursday, said agent Chuvalo Truesdell, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration. No arrests were made.

Hours before the raid, Astin told The Associated Press he had treated Benoit for low testosterone levels, which he said likely originated from previous steroid use.

Among other things, investigators were looking for Benoit's medical records to see whether he had been prescribed steroids and, if so, whether that prescription was appropriate, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because records in the case remain sealed.

Astin prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past but would not say what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office on June 22.

State medical records show that Astin's privileges were suspended for three months in 2001 at a Georgia hospital for "reasons related to competence or character."

Astin did not return calls to his cell phone from the AP on Thursday.

Anabolic steroids were found in Benoit's home, leading officials to wonder whether the drugs played a role in the killings. Some experts believe steroids cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."

Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard said in a statement Thursday that he could not immediately comment on the raid.

Benoit's page on Wikipedia, a reference site that allows users to add and edit information, was updated at 12:01 a.m. Monday, about 14 hours before authorities say the bodies were found. The reason he missed a match Saturday night was "stemming from the death of his wife Nancy," it said.

Reporters informed the Fayette County district attorney's office of the posting Thursday, and the agency forwarded the information to sheriff's investigators, who are looking into it, a legal assistant said in an e-mail to the AP.

WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said that to his knowledge, no one at the WWE knew Nancy Benoit was dead before her body was found Monday afternoon. Text messages released by officials show that messages from Chris Benoit's cell phone were being sent to co-workers a few hours after the Wikipedia posting.

WWE employees are given WWE e-mail addresses, McDevitt said, though he did not know whether Chris Benoit had one.

"I have no idea who posted this," McDevitt said. "It's at least possible Chris may have sent some other text message to someone that we're unaware of. We don't know if he did. The phone is in the possession of authorities."

On Thursday afternoon, the Wikipedia page about Benoit carried a note stating that editing by unregistered or newly registered users was disabled until July 8 because of vandalism.

Yes his "juice" was prescribed by a doctor, but I don't think that makes it legal if it's not for a legit reason.

"Hey doc, I have a low testosterone level"
"Ok, lets get you on Winstrol"
"No I like Sustanon"
"Ok, 5 cc's a week"
"Can we make it 20 cc's?"
"Ok"

And for the doctor to prescribe them due to low testosterone levels is just an excuse for not coming off a cycle correctly. You see, the way you do a "safe" cycle is you pyramid it. Start will small dosages, peak in the middle, the taper down. Still, because your body didn't need to produce test on it's own, it slows down the process. So after a couple months of being clean, you would have low test levels if you didn't "clean up" correctly. That's why you take another drug (either Clomid or Nolvadex) one week after your last dosage to encourage your body to start making test on it's own again. These also reduce the chance of getting man boobs due to high estrogen levels.

I know there are many wrestlers that have had breast surgery to get rid of puffy nipples.....Triple H, The Rock, and Kane, just to name a few.

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:

Why would he do so. I believe Vince is on Steroids. When I flew him in Iraq he was so fricken huge and there is no way a man his age can keep that body without the ****.

Click to expand...

Exactly. Recently Sylvester Stallone was refused entry into Australia for failing to declare something like 45 ampoules of Human Growth Hormone which he said was "for personal use". Customs initially thought that that sort of quantity would indicate illegal trafficking. Taking into account the size of the man and his age I have no doubt it was all 'his'. The idiot got off with a light fine. I'm sure others wouldn't have.

In the past 10 years 60 wrestlers, under the age of 45, have died. Something is very wrong.

This is one of the reasons (besides the fact that I discovered that wrestling was fake like 17 years ago!) that I hate wrestling and dont watch it.

To be honest, I'm sorry if I step on someones toes here, WWF is nothing more than a well choreographed theater to me....