I wrote last week about the sensationalistic coverage of the Chris Benoit family deaths by the cable news shows, but I also mentioned that there has been a significant amount of good reporting on the story, too.

The most in-depth and revealing coverage that I have seen was provided by Dave Meltzer in this week’s Wrestling Observer. In addition to including details about the deaths that I had not seen reported elsewhere, Meltzer also gives readers a compelling – and chilling – look into Benoit’s state of mind leading up to what police are calling a double murder/suicide.

The wrestling world was in a state of shock after the news broke that Benoit had killed his wife, Nancy, and 7-year-old son, Daniel, but a few people who knew the Benoits were not all that surprised that their marriage ended in tragedy (although they were stunned that Benoit killed his son), according to Meltzer. He said that those familiar with the Benoits’ relationship called it a “time bomb waiting to explode.”

Meltzer paints a portrait of Benoit as a man with two distinct personas – the one he showed to his fans, friends and co-workers; and a much darker, troubled one that very few saw. Those close to Benoit told Meltzer that his downward spiral began with the death of his best friend, Eddie Guerrero, in November 2005, and that the deaths of several other friends in a short span, including Mike Durham (Johnny Grunge of Public Enemy), also hit him extremely hard.

A close friend of Nancy’s told Meltzer that Benoit’s drug usage escalated after Guerrero died and had worsened as of late. Benoit also was described as becoming increasingly paranoid and showing signs of losing touch with reality, as he was said to have believed that he and his family were being stalked.

The friend said that Nancy called her last Thursday – the day before police believe Benoit strangled his wife to death – and told her that she was afraid of her husband and that “if anything happens to me, look at Chris.” The friend said she urged Nancy to leave the house immediately and hide out in an apartment, but she didn’t take her advice.

According to Meltzer, investigators believe Benoit killed Nancy after an argument in which she told Benoit she was leaving him and taking Daniel with her. As to why Benoit later killed Daniel, Meltzer said police speculation is that Benoit realized that his son, who reportedly had a mental disability, would be taken away from him, and he believed Daniel would be better off dead than living with his disability and having no parents.

The most startling revelation in Meltzer’s report is that investigators believe Benoit killed his son by strangling him in a hold resembling his finishing maneuver, the “Crippler Crossface.” That belief is based on bruising found on Daniel’s one arm and his face and no bruises being found on his neck. Meltzer wrote that the reason police have publicly referred to it as a “chokehold” is because they didn’t want to add to what had become a media circus by saying that a wrestler had killed his son with his finishing hold.

We will probably never know exactly what drove Benoit to commit such heinous acts, but Meltzer’s report at least provides some plausible answers as well as insight into aspects of Benoit’s life that had been hidden from the public.