RSSWWE Wrestler Chris Benoit, Wife Nancy and Son Daniel Found Dead in Their Atlanta, GA Home (Murder – Suicide???)
Its a case of professional wrestling meeting the grim reality of the real world. WWE 
Super-star wrestler, Chris Benoit, his wife Nancy and their son Daniel were all found dead in their Fayetteville County, GA home in suburban Atlanta. Canadian born Chris Benoit, known to many wrestling fans as the “Rabid Wolverine” and his families deaths are being investigated as a homicide.
The police are not releasing any further details at this time.
“There are no further details at this time, other than the Benoit family residence is currently being investigated by local authorities,” the WWE statement said on its website.
WWE said information about the deaths came from “authorities” in Fayetteville County, Ga. A spokesman for the Peachtree City Police Department said he had no information on the report, telling a reporter to contact his superior on Tuesday. (CTV)
WWE Wrestler, Family Found Dead
WWE professional wrestler Chris Benoit his wife Nancy and their 7-year-old son were found dead in their home near White Water Country Club in Fayette County on Monday afternoon.
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.
Police are investigating the deaths as a homicide. (11 Alive)
WWE wrestler Chris Benoit and family found dead
“Wrestling has consumed my life,” Benoit said in a 2004 WWE career retrospective video. “Wrestling is my mistress. It’s my passion. It defines who I am as a person.”
WWE last night canceled its scheduled live 3-hour “Monday Night RAW” program, which coincidentally was originally billed as a “memorial service” for WWE chairman Vince McMahon, whose character was recently killed off in a controversial scripted storyline.
McMahon opened the show from center ring in an empty arena and clarified that Benoit and his family had died “in reality.” McMahon called Benoit “one of the greatest WWE superstars of all-time.” (News Day)
Update I: AJC: Officials were investigating the deaths as a murder-suicide.
From Fox News: “Officials were not commenting to the press on the case otherwise, but the Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported cops saying the deaths were not gun-related.”
Update II: From the Fayetteville Citizen News: Wrestler, family found dead
Ballard said sheriff’s deputies were called to the Benoit home around 2:30 p.m. after another wrestler called the sheriff’s department asking them to check on the family because Benoit had failed to show up for an event in another state. When deputies got to the Benoit home off Quarters Road, they smelled the odor of decaying bodies, Ballard said.
The family’s bodies were found inside the home, Ballard confirmed.
“Every indication is that this is a murder-suicide,” Ballard said, adding that additional investigation still has to take place before a final determination can be made.
Ballard said when he heard that a young child was killed, it “just tore my guts out.
Update III: Details of the deaths of Chris Benoit, his wife and their 7-year-old son may seem “a little bizarre”
Authorities were investigating the deaths at a secluded Fayette County home as a murder-suicide and were not seeking any suspects outside the home.
Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The details, when they come out, are going to prove a little bizarre.”
Those details may emerge after the completion of autopsies scheduled for Tuesday.
Investigators believe Benoit, (pronounced ben-WAH,) killed his wife and son over the weekend and then himself sometime Monday. The bodies were found Monday afternoon in three different rooms of the house on Green Meadow Lane, in a subdivision off a gravel road about two miles from Whitewater Country Club. (Houston Chronicle)
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35 Responses to “WWE Wrestler Chris Benoit, Wife Nancy and Son Daniel Found Dead in Their Atlanta, GA Home (Murder – Suicide???)”
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WrestlingNewsWorld.com reporting that police are investigating the incident as a Homicide.
Very shocking and sad news to both the hard core and casual fans who follow WWE. I was in disbelief when I first heard from a friend on the phone that this was being reported. Hope SM can help sort some of the facts about what is happening in this unfolding story too.
My condolences to all friends and family of the deceased.
Amazingly shocking set of events.
What a tragedy.
R
What is going on in the world today? I saw one report that says they were NOT shot. These wrestlers are surrounded by tragedy too often. I can’t believe this. Owen, Ms. Elizabeth, Eddie, etc all to tragic and too young.
Chris backed out of the PPV citing family problems.
My 3 sons are huge wrestling fans.. they met Hulk Hogan, and have been to wrestling shows, they never miss it on tv. They tell me that WWE Monday Night Raw on USA is doing a tribute to Chris right now.
I live in Fayetteville, GA, and the local media is reporting an apparent murder suicide.
The District Attorney said Monday night that he felt confident that Chris Benoit killed his wife Nancy, their 7-year-old son and then himself.
Tragic and sad story.
Don’t forget Mr. Perfect.. and I loved watching Andre the Giant.
#6 … That is what I first suspected when I heard this news.
R
Although I have only been to one wrestling match … out in Clevelend a while back, I have had the opportunity to meet outside the ring in real life in just passing …
Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant. When Andre shook my hand I though I would never see it again. What a big dude he was.
R
I loved Andre.. watched that biography about him on the Bio channel..Nice tribute to him. My sons went to meet Hulk in the mall a couple years ago. He was traveling with his daughter promoting her cd.. If you wanted his autograph, you had to buy her single cd. My sons got the autograph and also had their pictures took shaking his hand. They couldn’t believe how big he is in real life.
Oh I thought the same thing but did not want to post. Given what we had seen in the past couple of days, it almost seem as this is becoming a pattern for ppl to solve their problems. Man, I ask this …how can anybody kill their children? There really has to be an element of mental illness. I wonder if Chris’s co-wrestlers noticed any change in him recently? When men kill themselves and their families, it is thought that the wife was going to leave. When men kill the family and not themselves it seems there is another women. God, what have we come to?
There seems to be not scaredness in protecting life. Sad, Sad. I just hope that Chris was not under the influence of steroids. My understanding is that steriods can make you hostile.
Maggie; this might give away my age, but do you also remember Bruno Sammartino & Andre wrestling? Those were the days. Bruno was a nice guy in person too. Here in Las vegas, the body building couple, Craig Titus and Kelly Ryan are in jail on suspicion of murder. I have to wonder if any of it is connected to steriods?
From the Fayetteville Citizen News:
Wrestler, family found dead
Mon, 06/25/2007 – 10:06pm
By: John Munford
Authorities believe wrestler Benoit killed wife, son then himself
Authorities believe a professional wrestler, his wife and son ‑ found dead in their central Fayette County home Monday afternoon ‑ died in a murder-suicide.
District Attorney Scott Ballard said Monday night that he felt confident that Chris Benoit killed his wife Nancy, their 7-year-old son and then himself.
Ballard declined to release the cause of death, but said that earlier news reports that the Benoits died of gunshots were false. The crime lab is in the process of confirming the cause of death, but Ballard said there was enough evidence on scene to make him confident that the Benoits were not killed by another person.
Ballard said sheriff’s deputies were called to the Benoit home around 2:30 p.m. after another wrestler called the sheriff’s department asking them to check on the family because Benoit had failed to show up for an event in another state. When deputies got to the Benoit home off Quarters Road, they smelled the odor of decaying bodies, Ballard said.
The family’s bodies were found inside the home, Ballard confirmed.
“Every indication is that this is a murder-suicide,” Ballard said, adding that additional investigation still has to take place before a final determination can be made.
Ballard said when he heard that a young child was killed, it “just tore my guts out.”
Benoit made his WWE debut in January 2000, following a stint in ECW and WCW and he was at one time world heavyweight champion, world tag team champion and intercontinental champion.
the Valiant Brothers were Hilarious with the Grand Wizard….always in the background causing problems for everyone….
such a shame about this latest killing
Benoit was one of my favorite wrestlers and I will truly miss him. My heart goes out to his family
We do have some potential inside connections down in this area, so we shall see if we cant get much more on this disturbing news.
R
Chris Benoit was the best wreslter in the WWE and potenitally the world, he was the toughest and most respectable man. He will be loved and missed. I don’t believe all that their saying. Chris will be missed, and thank you Chris for those unforgivable moments in your wrestling career.
This is a tragic end to a well respected man. It is a shame that he could not reach out to those he considered friends (ie. Chavo Guerrerro). I only hope that his soul is at peace and that of his family. Thank you Chris for everything you did in the ring and for the fans, and as much as i respect you, you took the easy way out dude. I will most certainly pray for you and your family
Just heard that Benoit sent curious text messages Sunday Morning that alert WWe officials to a potential problem. Also apparently WWE has more info, but cannot release it at this time.
Are these killings losing the ability to shock us? I was thinking the other day … in the 1950s (I think it was), the murder of the Clutter family in Kansas (I think) sparked universal outrage and the book “In Cold Blood.”
Today … it might stay in the news for a few days. I’m exaggerating, but you get my point.
It seems that calamities, both manmade and natural, are coming ever faster and more furious. Some of us are old enough to remember when school shootings were inconceivable, or seemed to be.
They’re still not everyday events … but how many of us can say that we really are shocked at them? Certainly they no longer fit in the category of news that is inconceivable.
WHAT are we becoming?
Rodney Piper, now he was the bomb, any guy that could wrestle in a skirt had my vote.
My grandma was a huge wrestling fan and she dragged my sister and me to matches every other weekend when we were kids. I’m not sure how big these names became on a national level but some of the wrestlers I recall seeing were Cowboy Bob Ellis, Bobo Brazil, The Sheik and Dick the Bruiser. I still have an autographed picture of Cowboy Bob Ellis.
They certainly were big names around central Indiana.
_______
SM: When I first started watching wrestling the now WWE was owned by Vince Sr and it took place in Albany NY in the Washington Avenue Armory. My its come a long way since Cheif J Strongbow, Toni Gueria et al.
R
Tom and Red-
Immediately I was fearful that this would be another case of steroid-rage and all the other aberrant behavior associated with steroid abuse. I guarantee that Chris Benoit used anabolic steroids to create and then maintain his mass. His frame is too small to support normal muscle development of that size without abusing anabolic steroids.
Kerry Von Erich and many others of the “professional” wrestling community have succumbed to the psychological effects of abusing steroids to make millions of dollars for the Vince McMahons of the world, in deference to their physical and mental health and tragically the health (and lives)of themselves and their loved ones.
We’ve seen what this can do to the Lyle Alzados of professional football, and the NFL now outlaws anabolic steroids.
Do a little research into the underbelly of professional wrestling and see the correlations. All this….just for entertainment? Shameful. When is the abuse of anabolic steroids in professional wrestling going to come under more specific scrutiny?!!?
He was an angry man who took out his hate towards whatever on his family. How many times have I sounded like a broken record and mentioned people live secret lives. I mean, everyone has ideas of what they wish their lives were (most anyway), and when their lives do not pan out as they wish, they are angry. Some outwardly, some inwardly and secretively. I believe this is the case for the wrestler. He stated that “wrestling defines who I am”. Really? That is a sad statement. Our charcter is what needs to define us, not what we are on the outside. He was obviously wrestling with things outside the ring that he could not, or did not know how to overcome.
Most terrible part is that I read in a blog that first responders felt the wife and son had been dead “at least a full day longer” than Chris. Would explain the odd text messages that reported were sent by him to a friend who became concerned and called authorities who found the family already deceased.
Brenda
Ahhh the Armory, yes! That’s where we used to go to watch them here too. Talk about a long time ago…………
Upate from AP…
http://video.ap.org/v/default.aspx?g=a86cb676-93bf-4006-8764-bc5664729420&f=tnknn&fg=email
Joanie, I don’t remember Bruno..I do remember Dick the Bruiser, don’t really know what he looked like, but remember the name. I used to watch with my oldest son when, Hacksaw Jim Dugan, Jake the Snake, ScareySherry, Ms Elizabeth, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Million Dollar Man, Mr. Perfect, The Honky Tonk Man, Bam Bam, Andre, Hulk, Undertaker, Roddy Piper, and I’m sure I left out many more.
I’m hearing prescription steroids were found at the home. Such a tragedy with no explanation. My sons too are shocked wondering why.
I went to school with the son of Wild Red Berry. Anyone remember him from 50 years ago? He always talked in malopropisms. But I never was interested in “rassling,”
as we called it back then.
When I heard about these deaths, one word blazed into my mind: steroids.
Why are eulogizing a murderer? How can you kill your own son (allegedly) and your newly wife? Lets not make a hero of this person, if so we might as well hail OJ.
I read this morning that Benoit tested negative for steroids on April 10th although the drug was found in the home. More disturbing is that I read they had been injecting their son with a hormone or something because he was undersized…dwarfed almost the report read. The boy had “old” needle marks on his arms when they found him. Sounds to me as if steroids were a very, small part of this family’s problem. More a result of their lifestyle (the desire for using steroids) more than anything else.
Sad no matter what the reason. Anyone understanding yet what I said about the “secret lives”? How many of you would have guessed this could occur? This was a disfunctional bunch. Still a terrible tragedy all the same.
Brenda
[...] This wrestling death coming less than two months after the horrific murder/suicide of Chris Benoit and his family. Just another death connection to the WWE and their continual denial that any thing was ever going [...]
i dont think that chris would do such a thing to his family and i think its awful that people are blaming him for it from his biggest fan.
i think that chris bennoit was greatest wrestler ever
[...] course the death, murder/suicide that most shocked the wrestling community and those outside wrestling was that of Chris Benoit and [...]
I’m trying to find out what happen to cowboy Bob Ellis. I knew him as a friend from 1966-79. I was a jockey that rode for him and we had a lot of fun. I know he got in trouble in racing about 1979 and he was on the run and I’ve never heard from him again. I have ask everyone who knew him. I hope you can help me find him.
Alan