Fayetteville, Ga. – Pro wrestler Chris Benoit strangled his wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son and placed a Bible next to each body before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley, authorities said Tuesday.
Investigators found anabolic steroids in the house and want to know whether the muscle man nicknamed “The Canadian Crippler” was unhinged by the bodybuilding drugs, which can cause paranoia, depression and outbursts known as “roid rage.”
Authorities offered no motive for the killings, which were spread out over a weekend. No suicide note was found.
The Montreal-born Benoit was one of the stars of the WWE wrestling circuit and was known for his wholesome family-man image. His wife, Nancy, was a wrestling stage manager. They married in 2000.
When he won the world heavyweight championship in 2004, Benoit hoisted the belt over his head and invited his wife and child into the ring to celebrate.
However, Nancy Benoit had filed for a divorce in 2003, saying the couple’s three-year marriage was irrevocably broken and alleging “cruel treatment.” She later dropped the complaint, as well as a request for a restraining order in which she charged that the 5-foot-10, 220-pound Benoit had threatened her and had broken furniture in their home.
The bodies were found Monday afternoon in the suburb about 20 miles south of Atlanta.
Benoit’s 43-year-old wife was killed Friday in an upstairs family room, her feet and wrists were bound, and there was blood under her head, indicating a possible struggle, District Attorney Scott Ballard said.
Daniel was probably killed late Saturday or early Sunday, the body found in his bed, the district attorney said.
Benoit, 40, apparently hanged himself several hours and as long as a day later, Ballard said. His body was found in a downstairs weight room, his body hanging from the pulley of a piece of exercise equipment.
Ballard said Benoit had sent two text messages to acquaintances, one saying that his wife and son were sick. The other, to a neighbor, said the door to the house was open and the pets were outside. The prosecutor said the messages appeared to be an attempt to get someone to find the bodies after his suicide.
The boy had old needle marks in his arms, Ballard said. He said he had been told the parents considered him undersized and had given him growth hormones.
“The boy was very small, even dwarfed,” Ballard said.
Toxicology test results may not be available for weeks or even months, Ballard said. As for whether steroids played a role in the crime, he said: “We don’t know yet. That’s one of the things we’ll be looking at.”
Benoit received drug deliveries from a Florida business that sold steroids, human growth hormone and testosterone on the Internet, according to the Albany County, N.Y., District Attorney’s Office, which is investigating the business,
Six people have pleaded guilty in the Albany investigation, and 20 others have been arrested.
