Benoit strangled wife, smothered son

[Bond]

ATLANTA - Pro wrestler Chris Benoit strangled his wife and smothered his son before hanging himself in his weight room, a law enforcement official close to the investigation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Authorities also said they are investigating whether steroids may have been a factor in the deaths of Benoit, his wife and their 7-year-old son. Steroid abuse has been linked to depression, paranoia, and aggressive behavior or angry outbursts known as "roid rage."

"We don't know yet. That's one of the things we'll be looking at," said Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard. He said test results may not be back for weeks.

Autopsies were scheduled Tuesday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Authorities were investigating the deaths at a secluded Fayette County home as a murder-suicide and were not seeking any suspects. The official who described the manner of death spoke on the condition of anonymity because the information was to be released at a news conference later Tuesday.

Investigators believe Benoit (pronounced ben-WAH) killed his wife, 43-year-old Nancy, and son Daniel during the weekend and then himself Monday. The bodies were found Monday afternoon in three separate rooms of the house, off a gravel road about two miles from the Whitewater Country Club.

Nancy Benoit filed for a divorce in May 2003, saying their three-year union was irrevocably broken and alleging "cruel treatment." But she later dropped the complaint, as well as a request for a restraining order in which she charged that 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 his response, Benoit sought joint custody.

Fayette County Coroner C.J. Mowell did not return calls seeking comment. The answering service for his funeral home said he was out of town.

Asked about the condition of the interior of the house, sheriff's Sgt. Keith Whiteside said investigators found "nothing really out of the ordinary." He said Benoit was found in the home's weight room, his wife in an office and the son in an upstairs bedroom.

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 the Benoits' 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 received "several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning."

The WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., said authorities asked that it not release further information on the deaths.

Benoit, born in Montreal, was a former world heavyweight champion, Intercontinental champion and held several tag-team titles. His names in the ring included "The Canadian Crippler."

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

"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 with the World Wrestling Federation. The federation has since changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment.

Benoit had maintained a home in metro Atlanta from the time he wrestled for the defunct World Championship Wrestling. The Fayette County Tax Assessors Office lists the value of the house, situated on more than 8.5 acres, at nearly $900,000.

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.

Benoit's wife managed several wrestlers and went by the stage name "Woman." They met when her then-husband drew up a script that had them involved in a relationship as part of a story line on World Championship Wrestling, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Benoit has two other children from a prior relationship.

Source: Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070626/ap_on_re_us/wrestler_dead;_ylt=AtLkJRC9mJ_v3quzid3fk6Ks0NUE)

Very disturbing.

[Dyne]

My coworker told me this morning. This is really creepy.

Condolences to the rest of the family. :(

[Professor S]

Until the WWE lightens up on their worker's schedules, wreslers are going to contnue to die early for various reasons, whether through drugs or events such as this. Its just not healthy.

[Typhoid]

Until the WWE lightens up on their worker's schedules, wreslers are going to contnue to die early for various reasons, whether through drugs or events such as this. Its just not healthy.

But they choose to get into that line of work - they know they're sacrificing a life, to be on TV for 20 or so years, with a chance of being the 'next' Hogan.

They need to be giganticly huge to be appealing on the screen, so they "need" to do steroids, because it's the fastest, and easiest way to build muscle, and is most likely widely accesable to them.

[Professor S]

But they choose to get into that line of work - they know they're sacrificing a life, to be on TV for 20 or so years, with a chance of being the 'next' Hogan.

Well by this logic a professional that works onskyscrapers or high voltage lines shouldn;t be afforded any protection or regulations for their health and safety? After all, their career is their choice right? Who cares if they get hurt or worse, die?

I'm not saying that Benoit is not at fault here, but there is a systemic problem in wrestling that is more related to a lack of options than anything else. If you want to be a pro wrestler and make a decent living, you have three options. 1) WWE. 2) TNA. 3) Japan. That doesn't leave for a lot of options for the up and comer trying to make a name for themselves. So things such as drugs and living through a hellish schedule become musts to get noticed.

This means that organizations can force their workers to suffer through mentally and physically unhealthy schedules. Afterall, the alternative is not practicing their trade.

My point is that wrestlers shouldn't have to do steroids, wrestle over 300 times a year and pop pain killers to do what they want/love to do. Its that lack of choices that leads to this type of abuse. Any other industry in the US with so few choices would have been regulated by the government years ago, but wrestling has always slipped by, for reasons more sadly prejudicial than legal. Wrestling is "silly", therefore wreslers are "silly" and do not need to have the same safeguards that any other dangerous industry would have.

Its just sad and wrestlers keep dying before their time. This is a list of well known that have died before the age of 50. If I were to name those that never made it to the big time, the list would go on much further.

Chris Von Erich - 21
Mike Von Erich - 23
Louie Spiccoli - 27
Art Barr - 28
Gino Hernandez - 29
Jay Youngblood - 30
Rick McGraw - 30
Joey Marella - 30
Ed Gatner - 31
Buzz Sawyer - 32
Crash Holly - 32
Kerry Von Erich - 33
D.J. Peterson - 33
Eddie Gilbert - 33
The Renegade - 33
Owen Hart - 33
Chris Candido - 33
Adrian Adonis - 34
Gary Albright - 34
Bobby Duncum Jr. - 34
Yokozuna - 34
Big Dick Dudley - 34
Brian Pillman - 35
Marianna Komlos - 35
Pitbull #2 - 36
The Wall/Malice - 36
Leroy Brown - 38
Mark Curtis - 38
Eddie Guerrero - 38
Davey Boy Smith - 39
Johnny Grunge - 39
Vivian Vachon - 40
Jeep Swenson - 40
Brady Boone - 40
Terry Gordy - 40
Bertha Faye - 40
Billy Joe Travis - 40
Chris Benoit - 40
Larry Cameron - 41
Rick Rude - 41
Randy Anderson - 41
Bruiser Brody - 42
Miss Elizabeth - 42
Big Boss Man - 42
Earthquake - 42
Mike Awesome - 42
Ray Candy - 43
Nancy Benoit (Woman) - 43
Dino Bravo - 44
Curt Hennig - 44
Bam Bam Bigelow - 45
Jerry Blackwell - 45
Junkyard Dog - 45
Hercules - 45
Andre the Giant - 46
Big John Studd - 46
Chris Adams - 46
Mike Davis - 46
Hawk - 46
Dick Murdoch - 49
Jumbo Tsuruta - 49
Rocco Rock - 49
Sherri Martel - 49

SOURCE: http://prowrestling.about.com/od/whatsrealwhatsfake/a/wrestlersdeaths.htm

[GameMaster]

Its funny this has yet to make it into CNN's top ten list of most popular stories.

[TheGame]

Professor S, that list is pretty very alarming for me. @_@ I know so many of those people, and some of them I didn't even know had died... That really sucks.

[Perfect Stu]

Really bizzare, killed his wife friday night, and his son saturday night/sunday morning. That's actually disturbing. I know drugs can cause people to lose their minds, but i truly feel there is always a choice involved, and so I have zero sympathy for Chris.

[Professor S]

More shocking was Ballard's revelation that The Benoit's son Daniel was found with needle marks in his arms. ESPN wrote, "The district attorney said he believed that the boy had been given growth hormones for some time because the family considered him undersized." HGH can be prescribed for children deemed hormone deficient.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2917133

Anyone else still think there isn't a SERIOUS problem in the pro wrestling community???? HE WAS JUICING HIS OWN KID.

Once again, I'm not taking any blame off of Benoit, but just look at the list. Look at it. And you tell me that there isn't more to it than personal choice. This is a business based on the trade of lives for fame, and something has to change.

[Bond]

I was watching CNN and a lot of the talking heads were speculating it may have been roid rage. I suppose in a few weeks the tests will come back and we'll know for sure if he was or wasn't on steroids.

The problem I view with wrestling is that the WWE has a monopoly. So really, it's in the company's best interest to ignore steroid use. Now, of course, steroid use was ignored in baseball and football for the longest time, but, it was eventually handled because of the advantage players get from being on steroids. That is, there are competing teams within the MLB and NFL. The problem I see with wrestling is that there is no real competition, since all of the matches are staged.

[Typhoid]

Didn't Yokozuna die because he was fat?

Well by this logic a professional that works onskyscrapers or high voltage lines shouldn;t be afforded any protection or regulations for their health and safety? After all, their career is their choice right? Who cares if they get hurt or worse, die?

And again, you took what I said too literally.

If you work on a skyscraper, you know what you have to do day in and day out to succeed. You know you cant be afraid of heights. You know there is a chance you can die. You know you can get electrocuted and fall to your death. You know you should wear protective gear, or you'll get hurt.

Wrestlers need steroids to get bigger faster. They want to get bigger faster so they make it onto WWE in their prime. They know the sacrifices. They know steroids are bad. They choose to do them. They don't have to do them. They want to. They know the risks involved with the business, they know they have to give up family time, and pretty much a personal life for it.

The point is, they know full well what the business offers - in every aspect. They know what they need to do to get there. Regardless of the fact they shouldn't have to do steroids to get to the top - they pretty much have to - to be competative, and not be just a jobber.

[Perfect Stu]

Once again, I'm not taking any blame off of Benoit, but just look at the list. Look at it. And you tell me that there isn't more to it than personal choice. This is a business based on the trade of lives for fame, and something has to change.

I hope you aren't referring to me.

[TheGame]

A serious problem in the world today is that people seem not to want to take ownership of their own decisions. Every time someone does something good its like "I did it!" but when they do something bad they look for something or someone to blame.

Its not my job to pass judgement on people. I think he made a bad decision, period...

I kinda agree with Typhoid here. Its not the WWE's fault that they want to be a wrestler, and that they're willing to take extra steps to get to the top... Yes its bad that the WWE doesn't step in as much to stop them, but in the end everyone working there are grown ass men/women capible of making their own decisions. And its thier own decisions that got them killed.

In some industries you have to sell out to get to the top.

[Professor S]

I kinda agree with Typhoid here. Its not the WWE's fault that they want to be a wrestler, and that they're willing to take extra steps to get to the top... Yes its bad that the WWE doesn't step in as much to stop them, but in the end everyone working there are grown ass men/women capible of making their own decisions. And its thier own decisions that got them killed.

What about when it gets a wife and son killed in the process?

[Bond]

A serious problem in the world today is that people seem not to want to take ownership of their own decisions. Every time someone does something good its like "I did it!" but when they do something bad they look for something or someone to blame.
I think THAT is the biggest problem with our society today. People have confused freedom with having no responsibilities.

[Typhoid]

What about when it gets a wife and son killed in the process?

Did any of the owners of the WWE make Benoit kill his family?
Did the WWE make him take steroids, which may have contributed to it?


If a McDonalds employee kills his/her family, because they dyed their hair, and hate their new appearance, but dying their hair was the only way to ensure a job at the top, that is not the fault of the company they worked for.

[Professor S]

Did any of the owners of the WWE make Benoit kill his family?
Did the WWE make him take steroids, which may have contributed to it?


If a McDonalds employee kills his/her family, because they dyed their hair, and hate their new appearance, but dying their hair was the only way to ensure a job at the top, that is not the fault of the company they worked for.

I'm not placing BLAME, Benoit is wholly to blame, but instead asociated responsibility. When a drunk driver kills himself and a family in an accident, its not the government's fault... but it is their job to do everything to help keep that from happening again. Companies, like the government, have responsibility for the well being of their constituents and also those that they might hurt.

If a company knowingly hired drug addicts, and the addicts then killed a bunch of people, the company would hold some responsibility for enabling that addict and their destructive behavior. WWE is not taking that responsibility for the well being of their workers and danger they pose to themselves and others, the government must make them take responsibility, just as they do for construction and other labor intensive vocations (OSHA, for instance).

I really don't see why wrestling should be treated any differently when it comes to safety.

[Perfect Stu]

I think THAT is the biggest problem with our society today. People have confused freedom with having no responsibilities.

I dunno...I think a bigger problem might be people not taking accountability for their actions. There's always a finger pointing in the opposite direction.

[TheGame]

What about when it gets a wife and son killed in the process?


Its really sad that this happend, but in the end his wife and kid was his own responceability, not the WWE's. He had complete control over every decision he made.

The problem with suicide is that it's mental. Someone creates a picture of the world in their mind where they have no oppertunity and would rather die. Even with bad decisions like using drugs, they feel pressured into it.. but the truth is, its just an illusion. Not just an illusion, a destructive illusion.

Maybe he wasn't fit to continue wrestling, maybe he should have just given up. Better that then killing your own family. I really don't like to talk down on the dead like this, but in the end I just hope people can learn something from it. If it was in fact drug related he wasted his entire life.

[Bond]

Hate to bring this topic back up again, but Benoit's body had ten times the normal level of testosterone:

DECATUR, Ga. - Pro wrestler Chris Benoit had a steroid and other drugs in his system when he killed his wife and young son last month and hanged himself in the family's home, investigators said Tuesday.

Benoit's body contained 10 times the normal level of testosterone, as well as amounts of the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and the painkiller hydrocodone, authorities said.

The testosterone, a synthetic version of the primary male sex hormone, is considered an anabolic steroid. The state's top medical examiner said it appeared to have been injected shortly before Benoit died.

Dr. Kris Sperry said there was no evidence of any other steroids in the wrestler's body, and nothing to show that steroids played a role in the death of Nancy and Daniel Benoit. He also said the boy appeared to have been sedated when he was asphyxiated, and Benoit's wife had a "therapeutic" level of sedatives in her body.

Sperry said there is no consensus that the use of testosterone can contribute to paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."

Source: Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070717/ap_on_re_us/wrestler_dead;_ylt=AkFjsew0MpnQaPLJi.MVJlrMWM0F)

[Typhoid]

Did we even need any sort of confirmation on that fact?

Will someone please come out with a study to tell me if Barry Bonds is black or not - I can't tell just by looking.