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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."

-Associated Press

WOW...

The Canadian Crippler..? My heart goes out to his family man, that's just horrible...Odd though, that they would do a tribute to him when the prognosis is a murder suicide....

Seriously....

Man, celebrity wrrestler would be the last person i picked as a murder suicide.....

Damn... i liked his character to.....

UPDATE:

Wrestler Benoit strangled wife, smothered son, hanged self in weight room
Jun. 26, 2007 10:58 AM

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.

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.


-Associated Press

Wikipedia notes death of Benoit's wife before body found

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Investigators are looking into who altered pro wrestler Chris Benoit's Wikipedia entry to mention his wife's death hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their 7-year-old son.

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

A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said Thursday that the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Connecticut, 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, Georgia, 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.
Officials raid office of Benoit's doctor

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 Friday.

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.

In other developments Thursday, Ballard told the AP that 10 empty beer cans were found in a trash can in the Benoit home. An empty wine bottle was found a few feet from where Benoit hanged himself, Ballard said.

It could take several weeks for toxicology tests to be completed on Benoit to see what substances, if any, were in his system.

Benoit took four months off from work in 2006 for undisclosed personal reasons, McDevitt said.

"He was feeling depressed, that kind of thing," McDevitt said.

In the days before the killings, Benoit and his wife argued over whether he should stay home more to take care of their mentally retarded 7-year-old son, according to an attorney for the WWE wrestling league.

The child had a rare medical condition called Fragile X Syndrome, an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism.

Chris Benoit's father, Michael Benoit, declined to comment on the slayings when reached Thursday by telephone in Alberta, Canada. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/06/28/wrestler.ap/

Man, that's so messed up...So phukked man...

This from Steve Simmons of the TorontoSun a few days back. It's also emerged now that Benoit's Dr. illegally prescribed him ridiculous amounts of anabolic steroids. You have to wonder if if the same doc is linked to other wrestlers.... :?

Benoit a 'juice freak'
Bruce Hart says wrestler had trouble with reality

Chris Benoit was a "delusional juice freak" who chased the dark side and had trouble distinguishing between his fictional character and reality, says the man who started him out in professional wrestling.

"The last time I saw him he was in pretty rough shape mentally," said Bruce Hart, son of the legendary Stu Hart. "I didn't know all the details but I knew it wasn't good. I was not at all shocked (by what happened).

"If I could see and determine that in a few visits, how the hell could they (World Wrestling Entertainment) not have known something was wrong? (In my opinion) I think the WWE needs to re-evaluate what it is doing here."

Hart will not simplify the shocking murder of Benoit's wife and 7-year-old son or the eventual suicide of the wrestler by attributing it only to steroid usage. But he truly believes that steroid abuse, in combination with delusional behaviour, painkillers and failing health -- "almost all the people we started out with (who did steroids) began breaking down around 40," Hart said -- is a deadly cocktail that needs to be further examined.

"I've known too many wrestlers who couldn't separate the character they play on television from their real life," said Hart, who has wrestled professionally, promoted wrestling and trained wrestlers all his life.

"Wrestlers start believing their press clippings and what is said on television. It's like an actor leaving the set but still playing the part. There's a delusional element to this. I've seen it over and over again. Some people can't separate the character from real life, and Chris was one of those people.

"From my experience, that has been quite prevalent with wrestlers and that becomes exacerbated by steroids, drugs, painkillers and failing health."

They hadn't seen each other much over the past few years, with Hart still in Calgary and Benoit working the circuit. "We saw each other mostly at funerals," Hart said. "At my brother's (Owen), my dad's, my brother-in-law's (Davey Boy Smith). Not that long ago I was talking to Hillbilly Jim and we were reminiscing a little. I told him I was worried about Chris."

While the WWE has a drug-testing policy, Hart believes they should bring in psychologists and physicians to evaluate not only their drug-testing procedures but how they treat their athletes, deal with them, and the toll their gimmicks take on the lives of their performers.

"Imagine if Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Mark Messier were all dead in their 40s. Imagine what the reaction would be?" Hart asked. "There would be investigations and more investigations. Wouldn't people want to know what happened and why?"

Hart was also deeply angered that the WWE aired a three-hour tribute to Benoit on Monday night.

"I kept hearing 'He was a nice guy, a great guy' and I knew him when he was a kid. But all I know now is he's a murderer," Hart said. In my opinion, "for them to do a tribute show was disgraceful."

Officials at WWE Canada refused to comment yesterday.

WWE owner Vince McMahon told NBC Today Show viewers yesterday that "steroids may or may not have had anything to do with this. It's all speculation until the toxicology reports come back."

Hart did wonder if Benoit had been given an unfavourable medical report, which may been another factor in his violent behaviour. "A lot of the steroid users start getting liver and kidney problems around the age of 40," Hart said. "There are a lot of wrestlers out there who are dead that you never heard about whose bodies broke down. I've known others who had looming health issues and went a little crazy. Maybe this caused him to go off."

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Columnists/Si ... 5-sun.html

Toothless Aggression