# Chris Benoit, family found dead



## Magica (Jun 25, 2007)

I'm not that much of a fan of wrestling, but someone on here probably is.

http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/benoitdead



> Chris Benoit, family found dead
> Written: June 25, 2007
> 
> World Wrestling Entertainment is deeply saddened to report that today Chris Benoit and his family were found dead in their home. There are no further details at this time, other than the Benoit family residence is currently being investigated by local authorities.
> ...



http://www.1wrestling.com/news/newsline.asp?news=29026



> MORE DETAILS ON DEATH OF CHRIS BENOIT & FAMILY
> By: Bob Ryder
> 6/25/2007 6:36:57 PM
> 
> ...


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## Sukebepanda (Jun 25, 2007)

That's kinda screwed up, especially because they're currently doing a whole, "Who killed Mr.Mcmahon?!" thing with the storyline. 

If it's true then I'm really surprised..he was one of my favorites. I'll be keeping my eye on this story.


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## Magica (Jun 25, 2007)

Nope, it's true.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/06/25/wrestler.dead.ap/index.html?cnn=yes


> FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife and son were found dead Monday and police said they were investigating the deaths as a homicide.
> 
> Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department said the three were found at their home about 2:30 p.m., but refused to release details.
> 
> ...


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## Sukebepanda (Jun 25, 2007)

Yeah, I've come to that point a moment ago..it's still a shock to me. He was one of my favorites, and I'm not a fan of wrestling because of their storyline and crap, but the technical moves. Chris, by far, was one of the better technical wrestlers out there in my opinion, so to see something like this happen is just..horrible.


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## Arshes Nei (Jun 25, 2007)

Wow, that's just crazy. I'm a former smart mark (I still watch it every once in a while) that used to appreciate Benoit's technical skill. To hear him and his whole family had died, makes me wonder if they all got some kind of the same poisoning. :/


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## BijouxDeFoxxe (Jun 25, 2007)

My friend sent my this quote from an Assiciated Press article.  My friend is an avid wrestling fan, and even hosts a wrestling talk show on the radio in Philly.



> 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.


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## Arka (Jun 26, 2007)

New reports say he may have killed his wife and child, then himself, over a period of three days.


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## Sukebepanda (Jun 26, 2007)

Nervous break down perhaps? It's still pretty shocking to think that could be the case, hopefully we'll get a straight answer once they do the blood work/autopsy, etc.


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## BijouxDeFoxxe (Jun 26, 2007)

Here's an update from the WWE website:

Benoit's death part of a double murder-suicide
Written: June 25, 2007According to lead investigator Lt. Tommy Pope, of the Fayette County Sheriffâ€™s Department, in Fayetteville, Ga., the deaths of WWE Superstar Chris Benoit, wife Nancy and son Daniel were the result of a double murder-suicide, WWE.com has learned.

Benoit failed to appear both at Saturdayâ€™s live event in Beaumont, Tx., and WWEâ€™s Vengeance: Night of Champions in Houston Sunday night, after informing WWE of a family emergency. Several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning prompted concerned friends to alert Richard Hering, VP of Government Relations for WWE, Inc. Hering, in turn, spoke with Fayette County sheriffs Monday, and requested that they respond to the Benoit residence to check on him and his family.

Authorities representing the Sheriffâ€™s Department initially had a difficult time entering Benoitâ€™s new Fayetteville home Monday afternoon, which had been guarded by two large German Shepherds roaming freely around the property. Once authorities entered the residence, they quickly located the bodies of Benoit, Nancy and Daniel. WWE was notified of the discovery at approximately 4 p.m.

At 10 p.m. Monday night, Lt. Pope held a press conference in conjunction with Scott Ballard, the district attorney for Fayette County. The press conference officially ruled authoritiesâ€™ findings as a double murder-suicide from within the home.

WAGA, a FOX-owned and operated television station in Atlanta, reported that investigators believe Benoit killed his wife and 7-year-old son over the weekend, then himself on Monday.

The three bodies have been received by the Georgia Bureau of Investigationâ€™s crime lab, in Decatur, Ga., where autopsies will be performed Tuesday morning. Toxicology reports will not become available for at least two weeks.

WWE.com has further information relating to both the investigation and the cause of death, but the Fayette County Sheriffâ€™s Department has requested that WWE.com not release any additional details at this time.


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## Arshes Nei (Jun 26, 2007)

From Yahoo's AP
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070626/wl_canada_nm/canada_usa_wreslter_death_col_4

_
MIAMI (Reuters) - Professional wrestling superstar Chris Benoit killed his wife and 7-year-old son before hanging himself from his weight machine, authorities said on Tuesday.

Investigators said the murder-suicide happened over Friday and Saturday in the suburban Atlanta home where the bodies of Benoit, his wife and young son were found on Monday.

Nicknamed "The Rabid Wolverine" and "The Canadian Crippler," Benoit had canceled two events in Texas over the weekend citing an undisclosed "family emergency," his employer, World Wrestling Entertainment, said on its Web site.

Benoit then sent "several curious text messages" to friends early Sunday morning and this prompted authorities to check on him and his family at their home, the statement said.

Autopsy results showed that Benoit first murdered his wife, Nancy. She was bound at the feet and wrists and died of asphyxiation sometime on Friday, Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard told a news conference.

She was wrapped in a towel and some blood was found under her head but Ballard said there were no other signs of a struggle.

The couple's son, who also died of asphyxia, was apparently killed as he lay in bed on Saturday morning, hours before Benoit hung himself, Ballard said.

"It was the cord from the weights," he said, describing how Benoit managed to strangle himself.

Benoit left no suicide note but placed bibles alongside the bodies of his wife and son, Ballard added.

"In a community like this it's bizarre just to have a murder-suicide and certainly involving the death of a 7-year-old child," said Ballard. "I don't think we'll ever be able to wrap our minds around that completely."

Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department said it could be several weeks before toxicology reports were available. But he said anabolic steroids were among the prescription drugs found in Benoit's house.

In some cases, use of muscle-building steroids has been linked by U.S. health officials to uncontrolled outbursts of anger or combativeness.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution said the Benoits had lived together since 1997 and were married in 2000 but separated about the same time Nancy Benoit filed for divorce in May 2003.

In an accompanying petition, the newspaper said Nancy Benoit had sought protection from domestic abuse, claiming she was intimidated by threats of violence from her husband.

She later filed to have the divorce and protective petitions dismissed.

Benoit began his career in his native Canada more than 20 years ago and wrestled in Japan before moving back to North America._

Quite honestly I feel really horrible for the poor kid. He was only seven and to have his own father do that?


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## Baderach (Jun 26, 2007)

I'm not sure I agree with the tribute to Benoit.

To his family, perhaps, yes.  His wife and child certainly deserve it.

A murderer, however, no matter how much of a celebrity they may be... does not.


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## Sukebepanda (Jun 26, 2007)

I'm sort of torn on the whole thing. I watched the tribute the other night and it was nice seeing his fellow workers talk about him and his family, how he was a big 'family man' and really loved his wife and children..then something like this happens, totally going against all of what they said except for the parts of how he worked hard for his job. 

They also seemed to make a lot of comments about how he was a very private person, so it's possible he could have had issues no one knew about, and then coupled with the steroids to cause him to have bursts of anger and whatnot. I really feel bad for his kid though, it makes me wonder what his other kid/s must feel towards him now, knowing and seeing what he's done.

He was a great wrestler despite the problems he apparently developed.


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## imnohbody (Jun 27, 2007)

The tribute was planned before the details of the deaths came to light. Since WWE had already paid for the airtime, they had to do something with the timeslot if they didn't want their money wasted (and, no, as a business WWE is not going to just "take one for the team", even if they can afford it; if nothing else, that pisses off advertisers and the TV stations left with nothing to draw eyeballs to help pay bills). The details started coming in after the tribute show had started, but they still had a show to make, with the same problem I just noted, about airtime.

It's sad that it happened, but I think what bothers me more is the usual "WWE is stupid/evil/etc" crowd using it as an excuse to hop on their pet hobbyhorse.

I don't for a second think that Vince _wouldn't_ make a deal with Satan if he thought it'd bring the ratings, mind you.


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## Arshes Nei (Jun 28, 2007)

This is weird btw:

 http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Death_of_Nancy_Benoit_rumour_posted_on_Wikipedia_hours_prior_to_body_being_found


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## Zero_Point (Jun 30, 2007)

That IS peculiar...
In light of that, I wouldn't be surprised if this was some elaborate promotional stunt. If it is, then it's bad. Like Sci-fi Channel original movie bad.


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## Vgm22 (Jun 30, 2007)

When I first heard this from my sister IMing me, I was shocked. My family are huge wreastiling fans. I'm kinda/sorta as used to watch it a lot in the past, but haven't been watching it lately. Well my second sister has been reading everything on this, out loud. It doesn't sound like a murder/suicide to me. It sounds like a murder by someone else to make it look like a murder/suicide. Things just look to suspicious when reading some of the articles before they found the bodies.


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## Armaetus (Jun 30, 2007)

I'm not sure about everyone's feelings on Benoit, but I honestly don't give a rat's ass about a pretending-to-fight figure in the Phony Wide Wrestling. Yes, it's blunt because I don't care but what is disturbing that he smothered his mentally retarded son in his sleep with a plastic bag and his wife with some cord from benching equipment or something.

It all it seems WWE cares about is the money, regardless if Benioit is a butcher or not. From last I heard, they cancelled the tribute to him.


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## Wolf-Bone (Jun 30, 2007)

Um, they canceled his tribute in light of the knowledge that he killed his family and himself. Y'know, because I doubt most people who knew him assumed right off the bat he did it.

Does WWE only care about money? Probably, but it's not a WWE-problem specifically, it's intrinsic to the entire culture of professional wrestling. The coming weeks and months will be very telling of what WWE cares about. At some point they're going to have to learn that being the number one wrestling organization means having to set higher standards for the quality of life of their workers (not employees, because technically and more importantly LEGALLY, no wrestler is an employee but an independent contractor, which is part of the problem). You can't have the largest audience, and therefor the most media coverage and then use the defense that "it's just the nature of the business" when people die prematurely and just expect people who don't KNOW the nature of the business to accept that. Being the biggest player in the game means being under the most scrutiny and therefor having the most responsibility. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I've been working on my own rant about this, since I WAS a wrestling fan until a few months ago when I realized people with real jobs are the REAL gladiators in the arena, and these muscle heads are just the bread and circuses.


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## Arshes Nei (Jun 30, 2007)

Wouldn't a person who wears diaper and into infantilism, be a phony then? What I'm saying is I understand that people don't like wrestling, but using how it's fake or pretend really makes me scratch my head when people fake other things and think that's acceptable? Acting isn't real either, why is that ok? The actor who stars in an action movie half of the time doesn't even do his/her own stunts, and being part of the Screen Actor's Guild they'll get more health benefits than all the people who are in wrestling will get combined.

I think that a lot of artists can relate to wrestling since it seems like its based on performance, ego, and going over the top and being told you deserve shit pay because you're doing it because you love it.

Ironic huh?

Basically what happened is that Benoit was being pressured by his wife to stay home to help take care of his son. The nature of Wrestling wouldn't let him do that. He snapped and strangled his wife. When he realized he was going to prison, it then became what about his son? He believed no one would take care of the kid so he killed him and then killed himself.

It's tragic really.


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## Wolf-Bone (Jul 3, 2007)

Arshes Nei said:
			
		

> Wouldn't a person who wears diaper and into infantilism, be a phony then? What I'm saying is I understand that people don't like wrestling, but using how it's fake or pretend really makes me scratch my head when people fake other things and think that's acceptable? Acting isn't real either, why is that ok? The actor who stars in an action movie half of the time doesn't even do his/her own stunts, and being part of the Screen Actor's Guild they'll get more health benefits than all the people who are in wrestling will get combined.



All the rationalizations I hear for that usually come down to actors having more acting skill, TV and movies having more artistic merit (and with shows like V.I.P and movies like Evan Almighty, who could argue?), and usually a jab thrown it about how everyone who's a wrestling fan is white trash. The latter I think is the most telling. It's like I said before, a lot of wrestling's problems come down to the culture of the business itself, which has a strong white-trash contingent.

What's both sad and funny at the same time is being a hip-hop fan and listening to people who love gangsta rap bash wrestling for being fake and overdone, and their own irony being totally lost on them.



			
				Arshes Nei said:
			
		

> I think that a lot of artists can relate to wrestling since it seems like its based on performance, ego, and going over the top and being told you deserve shit pay because you're doing it because you love it.
> 
> Ironic huh?



Actually us animators are told that all the time. Right from the moment I entered the school and hear the teachers tell us what to expect from the business I saw a fucked up parallel between the life of a wrestler and the life of an animator. Having to relocate for work constantly, most places having no union, no over-time, being unemployed a lot, working 12 hour days or more, and burning out at age 50 or younger and having nothing to show for it.

But hey, we're supposed to do it because we're HARDCORE. We're EXTREME. And most of all, we're supposed to consider ourselves lucky if we can GET work "when they've sent it all to the Gooks" as one actual DIRECTOR put it.

I'm not worried too much about myself, because I've had a few other jobs before I did this, and I've heard similar rhetoric. It's funny, EVERY occupation thinks they're made up of the thoughest, most extreme bad asses on the planet. Their shit consists of equal parts gold and titanium alloy, with kryptonite sprinkles. No one can fuck with them. "If you wanna get rich, DONT GET INTO THIS BUSINESS- har har har!".

What worries me is a lot of these kids swallow this crap gook (oops, I mean hook) line and sinker, and they're idiots. And they WILL burn out. They won't use the job for what every job these days is supposed to be meant for - a segue into a better job - i.e; art director, producer etc because they'll still be delusional enough to think the guys watching at home give a flying fuck that they're animating characters they didn't even design themselves.

That's why The Rock is smart, and most people PERIOD aren't. He left wrestling when he was at the top of his game, and that's how we're always going to remember him as a wrestler, unlike the Jake "The Cokehead" Roberts and Hulk Hogan. And we'll still be dreaming about that huge comeback, even when he's making loads more money in movies, racking up less injuries. It wouldn't surprise me if he was running for office one day, and we'll still be talking about it.



			
				Arshes Nei said:
			
		

> Basically what happened is that Benoit was being pressured by his wife to stay home to help take care of his son. The nature of Wrestling wouldn't let him do that. He snapped and strangled his wife. When he realized he was going to prison, it then became what about his son? He believed no one would take care of the kid so he killed him and then killed himself.



Okay, if Benoit's grasp of the english language was any indication, he wasn't exactly a genius but would he honestly believe there's no such thing as CHILD SERVICES to look after his kid?

Like I said, I got my own rant on Benoit I'm fine tuning which is going to be incredibly brutal and piss A LOT of people off, but even I don't think he was dumb enough to think his kid had no hope outside of him and his wife.


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## Oni (Jul 4, 2007)

It scares me when random horrible things like this happen. nteresting that the wrestler laid bibles next to his victims. I actually respected the guy once.


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## Dragsooth (Jul 4, 2007)

Well I never watched wrestling, the idea of 2 fat guys trying to get on top of each is kinda boring <_<
And what do you expect the world is coming to an end, do you think everyone will be throwing around flowers? >.>


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## Oni (Jul 4, 2007)

Dragsooth said:
			
		

> Well I never watched wrestling, the idea of 2 fat guys trying to get on top of each is kinda boring <_<


Hey now! It is awesome when 300 punds of muscle body slams another 300 pounds of muscle. The Crucifix Powerbomb(Razor's Edge), ...simply beautiful. ^.^


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## Wolf-Bone (Jul 4, 2007)

http://www.prowrestling.com/article/columns/2099

An article explaining ways WWE can get its act together.


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## Wolf-Bone (Jul 4, 2007)

RVD defends steroids and basically acts like the dumbass comic book junkie that he is.

Ultimate Warrior also defends steroids, but makes a distinction between USE and ABUSE, as if anyone gives a fuck.

Fuck both of you bitches. Hey, I've been having major back problems lately, work related at that, maybe I should see if I can get prescription steroids since my job requires me to be about as strong as a wrestler and Im like 160.


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## Magica (Jul 17, 2007)

Wrestler's slain son was probably sedated, investigators say

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/17/wrestler.murder/index.html


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## imnohbody (Jul 17, 2007)

So much for the "roid rage" theories...



> The investigators found no other drugs, *including steroids*, in Benoit's body.



(emphasis mine)


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