TMZ.com is reporting more details on the Benoit Family tragedy. According to a TMZ source, Benoit was texting friends during the Vengeance pay-per-view and may have watched the event with his son who may have still been alive at the time. TMZ says law enforcement sources tell them that Benoit is believed to have strangeled Nancy on Saturday, then smothered his son in bed sometime on Sunday before hanging himself in the weight room of their home on Monday. Investigators refuse to officially comment, pending final confirmation by the coroner on the cause and time of the deaths.
Wrestling 101 had updates from Wade Keller’s Audio Summary from PWTorch.com. Take this as pure speculation until otherwise confirmed by Georgia Authorities.
It is being reported he suffocated his wife and son, perhaps a day apart. And then hung himself. Late Sunday night, he sent a strange text message to a person within the WWE. The police broke into the house at 2:30 pm Monday and found them in separate rooms.
Vince called all the wrestlers backstage this afternoon for an emergency meeting. Wrestler were already bawling and crying. A longtime WWE wrestler said it was the most emotional state he’s ever seen the wrestlers.
There was a really uneasy feeling Sunday. Everybody felt something was wrong.
One wrestler said “It was bound to happen”. There was a strong suspicion backstage that Benoit did this right away. There was also a suspicion that Nancy had done it. They had a volatile relationship and everyone knew it.
Hardly anybody backstage really knew Benoit. He had a very small inner circle that one time included Eddy Guerrero and recently included Chavo Guerrero. But even they had a certain psychological distance from Benoit. Everyone could tell that something wasn’t right lately with Benoit.
Chris was a very nice and pleasant person to be around, but a person close to Benoit said that Chris had “snap potential”.
A lot of steroids were found in the Benoit household, and Benoit has had bouts with “roid rages”. WWE may suffer publicly because of their unenforced “Wellness Policy”.
If the above report is part of a paid service from PWTorch.com, then I apologize and give them full credit. It is not a site I normally go to and I haven’t had time to check. That said, if it is a paid service and they are pissed I posted this, then it is pretty slimey to use this tragedy to grab sign-ups for your premium service.
Pro Wrestling Insider is reporting that WWE’s Shopzone merchandise website has pulled all merchandise related to Chris Benoit. Searches for Benoit’s name in the website’s search engine are returned “discontinued.” Benoit’s name has been removed to the degree that the listing for the DVD of Wrestlemania XX now reads, “Triple H defends his World Heavyweight Championship against Shawn Michaels.”
I don’t know what to think of this. I just read what Rick Scaia at Online Onslaught.com wrote and aside from being most a rehash of what we already know, the most interesting part is his references to recent problems Benoit was having at home and that it wasn’t a secret amongst his friends. Again, as with most everything coming out about what happened, it is all speculation.
Depending on how tightly certain people guard Chris’ privacy, you should not be surprised to hear stories about how Benoit’s troubles at home were not exactly a well-kept secret over the past few weeks, to the point that co-workers were worried.
If this is true, then why didn’t someone do more. In his tribute Chavo Guererro Jr said he was at Benoit’s house last week. If the problems were that obvious, why didn’t he talk to Benoit and get him help. Why didn’t anyone do anything if his problems weren’t a secret? Does the WWE include mental health in their Wellness Plan? They should. This is a terrible tragedy and it’s hard to comment on until all the facts are available. We may never know what transpired in the Benoit house over the past few days and weeks. The life of a wrestler is a hard one, not only for the wrestler but for his family too.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer is reporting that an anonymous source within the police department, Chris was found dead in his weight room; Nancy was found dead in the living room; and Daniel was found dead in his bedroom. The Police Department is working under the theory that Chris Benoit killed Nancy on Saturday, son Daniel on Sunday, and then killed himself on Monday.
WWE.com reported that Benoit sent curious text messages Sunday morning, which concerned friends to alert Richard Hering, WWE’s VP of Government Relations to call Fayette County sheriffs to check the residence. Sources report that Benoit sent the text messages to Chavo Guerrero, one of his close friends.
WWE officials learned of Benoit’s death at 4 p.m. They gathered the wrestlers to the ring area where they were told only of the deaths of Benoit, wife Nancy and son Daniel. They were told the live show was being canceled.
UPDATE: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has more details from the local authorities: Investigators believe Benoit killed his wife and son over the weekend and then himself sometime Monday. “I’m comfortable with our belief that this is a murder-suicide,” Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard said Tuesday. The bodies were found in three rooms. Autopsies were planned for Tuesday.
Benoit’s employer, World Wrestling Entertainment, said on its Website Tuesday that Benoit had sent “several curious text messages” to friends, but police on Tuesday said they had identified only one. Fayette Sheriff’s Lt. Tommy Pope on Tuesday confirmed a text message had been sent from Benoit’s cellphone at 4:30 a.m. Saturday, but he decline to disclose the message’s content or recipient.
Benoit was found in the home’s weight room, his wife in an office and his son in an upstairs bedroom.
Tonight’s WWE Smackdown taping and ECW broadcast will take place at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas as planned, according to the building. WWE will be holding a make-up show in the future for last night’s canceled Corpus Christi event at the American Bank Center. At this point, the Mr. McMahon storyline has been completely dropped.
The Calgary Sun has a story in today’s edition quoting members of the Hart family on the death of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy, and his son Daniel. Bret Hart was quoted as saying, “I don’t know the details, and I’m not sure I even want to know.” Hart continues “He was like a family member to me, and everyone in my family is taking it real hard. It’s almost like reliving the whole Owen (Hart) death over again.”
At a young age, Benoit, an Edmonton native, became a standout among many wrestling prospects who trained in the famed “dungeon” basement of the Hart family home in Calgary. “Chris was always one of the good guys – a straight guy and a hard-working guy,” Hart said. “When you list off all the qualities of someone like Benoit, he had a lot of integrity and was a good, family man. “He was really respected and really loved by everybody.”
And he’s been an outstanding mentor to the next generation of Hart family wrestlers, said Ross and Bret’s sister, Diana. That’s especially true of the last six months in Atlanta, where Harry Smith (son of the late Davey Boy Smith), Nattie Neidhart (daughter of Jim Neidhart), T.J. Wilson (Nattie Neidhart’s fiance) and Ted Hart (Ross’s nephew) had been training close to Benoit. “My son Harry and the others have all been talking about all the great plans that were to come with Chris mentoring them,” said an emotionally shaken Diana. “And they were all hoping of Bret coming back to have a Hart Foundation wrestling reunion.”
Chris Benoit sent “several curious text messages” to friends before taking his life in the Fayette home where his wife and 7-year-old son lay dead, WWE.com reported. Police late Monday called the deaths a murder-suicide. WAGA-TV reported investigators believe the 40-year-old Benoit killed his wife, Nancy, and son, Daniel, over the weekend, then himself on Monday. Police have not said how the three died. The bodies were found in three rooms. Autopsies were planned for Tuesday. “The details, when they come out,” said Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard, “are going to prove a little bizarre.”
WWE spokesman Richard Hering said that “several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning prompted concerned friends” to contact the wrestling company, which then asked Fayette County sheriff’s on Monday to go to Benoit’s Green Meadow Lane home and check on the family. Authorities initially had trouble getting to the home because of two large German shepherds on the property, the WWE said. Sheriff’s deputies were standing guard at the home on Tuesday morning, keeping back the media and the curious. The three bodies have been received by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’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 Sheriff’s Department has requested that WWE.com not release any additional details at this time.
I continue to be saddened by this situation as more information emerges. Read more from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
More details are emerging about the deaths of Chris Benoit and his wife Nancy and their 7-year-old son Daniel. Lt. Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department told ABC News that Benoit had missed several appointments over the weekend, leading concerned parties to ask police to do a “welfare check.” When sheriffs arrived at the Benoits’ home, they found the wrestler, his wife and their son dead. There were no signs of gunshot wounds or stabbing, according to Pope. Authorities are not ruling out other causes, such as poisoning, suffocation or strangulation. Pope told ABC News that his department is looking at this situation as a “possible double murder, suicide.”
Detective Bo Turner confirmed to television station WAGA that the case was being treated as a murder-suicide, but said that couldn’t be proven 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. Pope said “the instruments of death were located on scene,” but he would not specify what those instruments are or where in the house the bodies were found. Pope added the department is “not actively searching for any suspects outside of the house.”
An autopsy has been scheduled for Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. However, it could be weeks before there is a result.
UPDATE: WWE.com is reporting that the deaths of Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and their son Daniel earlier today were the result of a double murder-suicide from within the home.
World Wrestling Entertainment announced the passing of Chris Benoit and his family. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution is reporting that authorities have confirmed that Chris Benoit, his wife, Nancy and their 7-year-old son Daniel were found dead at the home near White Water Country Club in Fayetteville, Georgia. Officials would not say how the family died, other than to say they weren’t shot to death. Lieutenant Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department said the three were found about 2:30 p.m., but he would release no other details. Pope said results of autopsies on Benoit, his wife Nancy, and 7-year-old son Daniel were expected Tuesday. He would not say how the bodies were discovered, or who found them. Police are investigating the deaths as a homicide.
Benoit, 40, was a former world heavyweight champion, Intercontinental champion and held several tag-team titles over his career. Benoit’s wife, Nancy, 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 an ongoing storyline on World Championship Wrestling. Soon after, the two became romantically involved in real life and later got married. Chris Benoit is survived by his son David and his daughter Megan from a prior relationship.
Instead of its announced programming for tonight on USA Network, WWE will air a three-hour tribute to Chris Benoit. Inside Pro Wrestling extends its condolences and prayers to the Benoit family and loved ones in this time of tragedy.
UPDATE: 1Wrestling.com has some details about Benoit missing a recent house show and the Vengence pay per view last night: Chris Benoit had been scheduled to appear on a WWE house show on Saturday. Sources tell us Benoit called to first say he would be taking a later flight, and then to say he would not be attending the house show due to a family illness. According to one source, Benoit said both his wife and son were throwing up blood and he needed to stay to take care of them. Sources tell 1Wrestling.com that police were dispatched to the Benoit home after receiving a call from WWE officials who were concerned that they were not able to get in touch with Benoit.
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