Over a three-day period between June 22 and 24, 2007, Chris Benoit, a 40-year-old Canadian professional wrestler employed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), murdered his wife Nancy and their seven-year-old son, Daniel, before hanging himself at their residence in Fayetteville, Georgia, United States.
[2][3] Since the tragedy, numerous explanations for Benoit's actions have been proposed, including severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)[4] and steroid and alcohol abuse,[5] leading to a failing marriage and other personal problems.
Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s On Friday, June 22, 2007, Chris Benoit killed his wife Nancy in the bonus room of their house in Fayetteville, Georgia, 22 miles south of Atlanta.
A balled-up combination of a tube sock and tape was also found in the kitchen trash and appeared to be soaked in dried blood, which led police to believe that it was being used as a makeshift gag prior to Nancy's death.
[14] It was also suggested that track marks on Daniel's arms were the result of human growth hormone (HGH) injections because Benoit and his family considered him undersized due to his condition.
[15] Benoit's coworker and close friend, wrestler Chris Jericho, stated that from his own research on the condition, the symptoms "fit Daniel to a tee, all across the board".
"[17] District Attorney Scott Ballard later released a statement saying that a source with access to Daniel's medical files found no mention of any pre-existing mental or physical ailments.
"[19] At about 3:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, June 23, 2007, fellow wrestler and close friend Chavo Guerrero[20] received a voicemail message from Benoit's phone stating that both Nancy and Daniel had food poisoning and he would be late for that night's house show in Beaumont, Texas.
[23] On the 2016 Talk is Jericho podcast, Toffoloni claimed that over the weekend, the search history on Benoit's computer showed he had researched "the quickest and easiest way to break a neck".
[30] Neuroscientist and former wrestler Christopher Nowinski argued that Benoit may have been suffering from repeated, untreated concussions throughout his life, ultimately leading to an unstable mental state.
[37] In February 2008, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported that Nancy may have suspected Benoit of having an affair with a female WWE wrestler, and that they may have also argued over a life insurance policy.
The deaths at the Benoit household were first reported to fans of WWE via the company's Mobile Alerts Service[citation needed] and posted to its official website soon after.
On its corporate website, the company released the following statement: "World Wrestling Entertainment was informed today by authorities in Fayette County, Ga., that WWE Superstar Chris Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and his son were found dead in their home.
Coincidentally, the show was supposed to be a memorial for the Mr. McMahon character, who on the June 11 episode of Monday Night Raw "died" in a limo explosion, with the remainder of the ensuing angle cancelled entirely.
It was not until the last hour of the tribute program that successive reports surfaced that Chris, Nancy and Daniel had all died on different days over the weekend, and that the police were not looking for any other suspects.
[citation needed] The following night, Tuesday, June 26, after details of the murder–suicide became available, WWE aired a recorded statement by McMahon before its ECW broadcast: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
[41]On Friday, June 29, before that week's edition of SmackDown!, McMahon released another statement indicating that the related events of the tragedy were not known to WWE at the time.
[76] With Benoit and his death allegedly linked to steroid abuse, WWE underwent investigation by the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding their talent wellness policy.
In January 2009, Henry Waxman, outgoing chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, requested that the Office of National Drug Control Policy chief, John P. Walters, "examine steroid use in professional wrestling and take appropriate steps to address this problem."
The committee investigation also uncovered how easily wrestlers could secure "therapeutic use exemptions" (TUEs, permission to take banned substances for medical reasons) so they could continue performing while using steroids.
"[78] At the time of the murder–suicide, research was being led by forensic neuropathologist Bennet Omalu into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in former players of gridiron football.
The issue came to the forefront following Omalu's 2002 report on Pro Football Hall of Fame member Mike Webster after the player's death.
On September 5, 2007, Julian Bailes, the chief of neurosurgery at West Virginia University, conducted a news conference in New York City to announce the results of Benoit's postmortem brain examination.
The findings of CTE in Chris Benoit suggest that there may be a common syndrome among athletes who suffer multiple head injuries in contact sports.
Wrestlers diagnosed in postmortem research include Axl Rotten, Balls Mahoney, Jimmy Snuka, Harry Fujiwara (Mr. Fuji) and Ron Bass.
[90] Terence Kindlon, the lawyer for MedXLife co-owner Gary Brandwein, denied allegations that his client's company sold steroids to Benoit.
[92] This followed eleven wrestlers that were named in a Sports Illustrated steroids investigation that began March 2007, which included Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Oscar Guttierez (a.k.a.
[95] Investigators seized both Benoit and Nancy's medical records, as well as records belonging to Mark Jindrak, Hardcore Holly (Robert Howard), Lex Luger, Rey Mysterio, Jr., Buff Bagwell (Marcus Bagwell) and Johnny Grunge (Mike Durham), all of whom were patients of Benoit's doctor, Phil Astin.
[96][97][98] At the press conference held by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) on July 17, 2007, it was announced that three different drugs were found in Nancy's system: hydromorphone, hydrocodone and Xanax.
[108] After news of the early death notice reached mainstream media, the anonymous poster accessed Wikinews to explain his edit as a "huge coincidence and nothing more.