baltimoresun.com

« Coming to grips with Benoit family’s deaths | Main | Reflecting on the Benoit tragedy »

June 26, 2007

More details on Benoit family's deaths

The wrestling world continues to be in a collective state of shock over the deaths of Chris Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and 7-year-old son Daniel, which authorities in Georgia are calling a double murder/suicide.

More details surrounding this incredibly sad situation have been made public. According to a law enforcement source quoted by the Associated Press, Benoit strangled his wife and smothered his son before hanging himself in his weight room.

Fayette County (Ga.) district attorney Scott Ballard told AP that whether steroids and “roid rage” may have been a factor is “one of the things we’ll be looking at.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also has reported that Nancy Benoit had filed for divorce and petitioned for protection from domestic violence in 2003. A restraining order was issued on May 12, 2003 that barred Benoit from the family’s residence, but on Aug. 19, 2003, Nancy Benoit filed to dismiss the divorce and protective petitions, according to the story.

Authorities in Fayette County have scheduled a 3 p.m. news conference regarding the Benoit family deaths, AP reported.

Regarding WWE’s Smackdown/ECW tapings tonight in San Antonio, the decision was made to do a show consisting entirely of matches and without any story lines or angles, according to wrestlingobserver.com.

Some fans have criticized WWE for making Raw a three-hour tribute to Benoit last night in light of the nature of the deaths. I certainly see that point, but I can’t fault WWE for what it did. We have to remember that Benoit’s peers and WWE officials were stunned by the news, and some of the details surrounding the deaths didn’t break until later in the day, most likely after the wrestlers’ personal memories of Benoit had been taped for the show. It is a fact that Benoit was universally loved and respected in wrestling circles, and the Chris Benoit that his peers were paying tribute to was the Chris Benoit that they knew, not the Chris Benoit that authorities reportedly believe committed an unspeakable act.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 2:48 PM | | Comments (8)
        

Comments

You can say what you want but there should be some respect given to his son and wife. NOT Benoit. He was a great wrestler, one of my favorites. All that is gone now. He has destroyed 2 lives.

This is more than surreal. I used to hang out with Dwayne Gill (Gillberg) and we hung out with Chris a few times years back. I could never in my wildest dreams have guessed that he was capable of committing such a heinous act. Your child is your legacy, it's the piece of you that you are supposed to leave behind when you leave this world, not take with you. Chris will forever be remembered as a great competitor and a winner inside the ring, but now a coward and loser outside it.

I think WWE was trying to do their best last night for a change. WWE got grief for continuing the show after Owen Hart died. They also went on with the show the day after Eddie Guerrero died. This time, when the show aired, all they knew was that one of the greatest wrestlers had died with his family. They tried to be respectful and honor the good things he brought to wrestling. I didn't even see any mention of a murder-suicide until the show was over. An hour into the show, all that was released was that investigators were looking at it as a homicide. Give WWE a break for a change. It seems they can't win for anything.

Personally, I thought the world of Benoit and never could have thought him capable of this. Realizing it happened shows me how troubled he must have been. It's sad, because now everyone will always think of Chris Benoit as the guy who killed his family. I know that is not the legacy he wanted to leave behind. I'm sure a lot of people are wishing they saw the signs to prevent something like this. When I read the details this afternoon, all I could think was "say it isn't so." Tragic. It's a sad day for everyone, but I truly feel for those family and friends close to the situation.

I never thought in my wildest dreams Chris was even capable of doing this. Like BLS said your child is your legacy or at least part of it. I'm still in shock over this. I thought it was the right decision at the time to change RAW and go ahead with a tribute show because nobody really knew what was going on at that time. Now that we all know what happened everyone is now second guessing the decision to air Raw and maybe even the Mr. McMahon storyline. The question that remains is why Chris did this and I think the answer will more than likely be who knows. In Kevin's last blog I said that I'll always love and respect Chris for who he was, my feelings now remain unchanged until we find out why he did this to 2 innocent people. I know people will never forgive Chris for taking Nancy and Daniel away. We should all pray for Chris' and Nany's family and hope the Lord will help them thru this horrible tragedy.

I'm really shocked and appalled at most mainstream media coverage of this tragedy. As soon as word was leaked that anabolic steroids were found in the house, nearly every media outlet began to attribute the murder-suicide to "roid rage". How irresponsible. As the WWE press release from yesterday afternoon noted, these appear to have been acts that were deliberate and pre-meditated, not acts of blind "rage".

Ultimately I hope that the WWE is not thrown under the proverbial bus for this tragedy. Say what you will about them being complicit (even if unknowingly so) in the early deaths of numerous wrestlers over the years, but they really try to do it right now, by implementing random independent drug testing.

I'd like to see a lot more balanced reporting on this story. I have to give kudos to Kai Jackson for his report at 11 on Channel 13 last night; he was the only reporter that I heard mention the WWE press release that stated the case that the acts were deliberate and not "roid rage".

I'd also like for the mainstream press to cover a positive story or two about the business; a story about John Cena receiving an award from the Make-A-Wish foundation, a story about Huk Hogan being Make-A-Wish's most requested visitor of all time instead of latching on to every negative story about the business.

I think WWE is getting to much heat for Monday's tribute show. Sure it looked bad after all the details came out but come on what were they supposed to do? They meant well at the time they aired it.

I will always think of Chris as one of the best in the WWE. He deserves everyones respect as a wresler but as a person he just had some demons as we all do, only he couldn't deal with his. And until we hear the final word on the roid rage lets just pray that it isnt so.

I think anybody that doesn't think this is very sad and very upsetting news is not living on this planet. I'm a Canadian and I 'm not very proud of this man any more. I do not watch wrestlng. I think it is nothing more than bad acting. But I do think that the show was only trying to pay respect to a man. At the time they had no way of knowing the truth of what had happened. I do however thank God that his ex wife and Kids were spared. At least they can live on however hard it will be for them. Let our thoughts and prayers go to them now.

Post a comment

All comments must be approved by the blog author. Please do not resubmit comments if they do not immediately appear. You are not required to use your full name when posting, but you should use a real e-mail address. Comments may be republished in print, but we will not publish your e-mail address. Our full Terms of Service are available here.

Please enter the letter "j" in the field below:
About Kevin Eck
The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Eck blogs about professional wrestling.
E-mail Kevin.
-- ADVERTISEMENT --

Cast your vote
Most Recent Comments
Photo galleries
Sign up for FREE local sports alerts
Get free Sun alerts sent to your mobile phone.*
Get free Baltimore Sun mobile alerts
Sign up for local sports text alerts

Returning user? Update preferences.
Sign up for more Sun text alerts
*Standard message and data rates apply. Click here for Frequently Asked Questions.
Blog updates
Recent updates to baltimoresun.com sports blogs  Subscribe to this feed
Charm City Current
Stay connected