(Collage created by Caledonian Kitty. Picture credits: imdb / skysports / elpasotimes / wrestlingfigs)
*Please be aware that I will be sharing some very disturbing details in this post which will discuss sensitive subjects such as Domestic Violence, Suicide, Murder and Substance abuse*
So, here it is, I have finally decided to write about Chris Benoit after years of requests and because I couldn't bring myself to do it which may sound strange. I have written about many disturbing cases over the years but there are some that even I can find a bit too hard to get through and with the Chris Benoit case, it's always been a very dark and disturbing part of wrestling history. Not only that, it is a story that shocked the hell out of everyone and still to this day so many people struggle to even comprehend what actually happened and why it happened. Looking back, especially if you are a wrestling fan like myself, it's clear watching old clips and taking into account everything that was going on just before Chris Benoit murdered his wife, his son and then took his own life, the glass was beginning to crack more and more.
I try to be non-objective in my posts but you will probably find in this series (in case you haven't read the first instalment: The Tragic Story of Miss Elizabeth) that I might share my own thoughts here and there and as always, I welcome yours. If you've just stumbled across this post....basically I am currently writing about some of the dark and disturbing cases and stories from the world of wrestling and this is the second instalment. I come at this not only as a true crime writer but as a wrestling fan so like many of you reading this now, I grew up glued to the TV screen, on the edge of my seat waiting for my favourite wrestlers to make their grand entrances, I was hooked on many a storyline, I felt the adrenaline when standing next to Batista (yes, I've been to shows), I watch wrestling practically every day and it's always been a part of my life since childhood.
Wrestling has brought me a lot of joy and great memories in my life and for most of us it is something special and fun. So when we lose one of our superstars it is heartbreaking and we have lost a lot of people over the years. We've seen a lot of scandals too, we know there is a lot of negative stuff that goes on and gets covered up but still we find ourselves committed to it. I still remember when the horrible news was made public that the legendary (I'll describe him as that for that time because he was an icon back then) wrestler Chris Benoit, his beautiful wife Nancy (who was also a legend in the wrestling world) and their adorable son, Daniel were found murdered at their luxurious family home in Fayetteville, Georgia on the 25th of June 2007.
All these emotions just hit me at once and I know it was the same for many other people. Horror, shock, confusion, sadness, grief and anger, wanting to know what happened. All these emotions and not for one second did I think that Chris was responsible, it never even entered my mind and usually with these horrible situations your first thought is to assume it was a father who went on a rampage. I wasn't the only one, it seemed that nobody believed Chris to be responsible, most of us assumed that some psychotic fan had broken into the house, maybe a burglary gone wrong or some sort of dodgy business deal with the wrong people resulting in a horrific outcome. WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) seemed to be of the same mind as us because through the tears of everyone involved with the company, they wasted no time in having a 3-hour tribute show to Chris and his family.
(Chris Benoit. Picture credit: imdb)
Most of us cried watching the tribute show and we saw Vince McMahon who was usually playing his character to the back row, appear emotional and serious as was to be expected in the shocking circumstances. The grief stung us all but then more details emerged and it was worse than any of us could have imagined, with utter disbelief, we found out that the man we had been crying for and paying tribute to as well as Nancy and Daniel, was in fact responsible for murdering his beautiful family. Nobody wanted to believe it, conspiracies and rumours ran wild. Kevin Sullivan's name kept being mentioned along with crazy theories and the worst of all was a section of fans who believed that Nancy was responsible and had set-up Chris to take the blame which was ridiculous and utterly disrespectful. I may have been (and still am) a wrestling fan but some people are devoted to certain superstars and with some fans Chris was their idol since their childhoods, it was so traumatic for them that having to face the truth was too much, in their minds there had to be some other explanation.
There's been books written about Chris Benoit and documentaries shared and they've all been informative but some of the details are mixed, opinions are varied and even relatives of Chris and Nancy can't seem to agree on the exact details. Some people have said things on podcasts that investigators dispute, there was talk of a suicide note that Chris had left behind but according to his older surviving son, this was false. I also found in my research that not only did this nightmarish series of events almost ruin WWE, there was this quick 'all hands on deck' approach to making WWE appear as amazing as possible, as detached from Chris as much as possible and in no way, shape or form held responsible for anything that may have helped this situation to escalate to which it had. The simple fact was, WWE were not supportive enough of their wrestlers, red flags had been ignored on more than one occasion and steroids have always been in the background. Untimely and sudden deaths have constantly plagued the profession which you could say is the case with all kinds of sport. I found in my research that there is the 'Official story' and then there's 'The Truth' People will cover their backs, flush the steroids down the toilet and come up with an 'official' story to explain the circumstances in a more palatable way.
Chris was what we call an 'old school' wrestler who had worked his way up with many challenges, in wrestling terms he was considered to be 'small' in the beginning but he refused to give up. A devoted fan of wrestling from the tender age of 11, he grew up idolizing Thomas Billington aka the Dynamite Kid (I will be writing about Thomas and his cousin, Davey Boy Smith aka The British Bulldog, in an upcoming post).
The Dynamite kid as well as his cousin, The British Bulldog, were no strangers to scandal and had shocking ends to both of their careers and lives. I will go into all of the details in the coming weeks but Chris was transfixed with the Dynamite Kid when he was younger and tried to copy everything from his style to his signature moves. Chris was always a determined individual even as a young boy and he was able to pull strings and meet his idol backstage at a show, Chris was just 13 at the time. At that time the Dynamite Kid was riding the high of his career but it was all soon to come crashing down, but in that moment, the young Chris Benoit was starstruck and wanted to be just like him.
(The Dynamite Kid & The British Bulldog. Picture credit: skysports)
So, a little bit of background on Chris Benoit's upbringing, he was born Chris Michael Benoit on the 21st of May 1967 in Montreal, Quebec (his birth date of the 21st of May was the same as his future wife Nancy's, although she was born in the year 1964). He was a quiet child, able to speak both English and French fluently, he had moved to Edmonton with his sister and parents earlier in his childhood. As I mentioned earlier, he'd been obsessed with wrestling since childhood idolizing the Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart. He studied the Dynamite Kid and when he did go into the wrestling business himself he was regularly compared to his idol. Chris was determined to achieve his dream and he did whatever it took to get there even taking steroids and training like crazy despite still being a young kid. No matter how hard he worked though, he was still deemed 'small' for a wrestler but he never lost his determination and at 18 he begged Stuart Hart for a chance to learn the ropes and he was put through his paces to see if he could take it. Chris was taken to 'The Dungeon' and was taught the hardcore training (which was often described a torturous and like the worst bootcamp you could ever imagine) and lifestyle that he would have to commit to if he was determined to succeed, he gave it all he got.
One thing you could say about Chris Benoit back then was that he was never shy of hard work, he would travel every weekend to these gruelling training sessions when other young guys would be out at the weekends partying, during the week Chris would work for his Dad.
In some ways you have to admit how remarkable it was that he ended up working with (and trained) by some of the wrestlers he idolized growing up. He travelled far and wide to learn his craft and even wrestled in Japan for a year as well as Mexico and Europe. During this time he was never too proud to get his hands dirty by doing the menial tasks whilst continuing to learn the ropes from his trainers.
When he met fellow wrestler Eddie Guerrero, the pair found that they had a lot of similarities including trying to make it in the wrestling world despite constantly being thrown obstacles and deemed 'too small' and often overlooked. There friendship became more like a brotherhood and the pair would joke about being soulmates but it was true. Eddie became the rock that Chris would lean on when times were difficult. Eddie was the voice of reason and would often put Chris straight if he began to get frustrated and doubt his ability.
Chris didn't find it that easy to open up to people so with Eddie he had this unique bond. Any problems that he had he would talk to Eddie about them. Chris did have some other close friends that he grew up in the industry with and they meant so much to him. These friendships were very important to him.
Chris had been married twice and had three children in total. His first marriage to Martha ended in 1997 and with her he had both a son, David and a daughter, Megan. His second marriage to Nancy came about after the pair had gotten close after they had been working together on a storyline which involved Nancy's then husband, the wrestler Kevin Sullivan. It was actually Kevin's idea to have this love triangle storyline and would tell both Chris and Nancy to make sure that they were seen together in restaurants and the same hotels. Chris didn't feel comfortable with this in the beginning but soon accepted the idea. During this time, Nancy and Chris became close especially when Nancy confided in Chris about how the marriage was suffering and that Kevin would be violent at times. Chris was like a big teddy bear to Nancy and in the beginning was very romantic and protective so they fell in love and Nancy got divorced from Kevin and Chris's marriage to Martha had already broken down.
(Nancy Benoit. Picture credit: imdb)
When Nancy married Chris it was to be her third and final marriage and her first time at being a mother. Their son, Daniel was born on the 25th of February 2000. By the time Nancy had met Chris she had already made an established career in the wrestling field herself but not as a wrestler, more of a valet and manager. Nancy had been close friends with Miss Elizabeth (who I wrote about in part one of this series).
To everyone around them, the Benoit family looked like the dream. They had their normal ups and downs like all marriages too but soon things began to fall apart. There was the usual pressures of their careers but Nancy decided to step down from what she had been doing to focus on family life, Chris continued on with his career and managed to achieve everything he wanted to with his proud wife and son by his side. Eddie was there cheering him on too and Eddie was also ahead in his own wrestling career. They both celebrated each other's success and the fact that all of that hard work they had done over the years had finally payed off, they were are the top of their game and like true brothers, they were so proud of each other.
(Eddie Guerrero. Picture credit: elpasotimes)
The pair had finally made it but the joy and celebration was to be cut short because sadly Eddie Guerrero passed away in his hotel room on the 13th of November 2005. He was just 38 years old and had collapsed in the bathroom, his nephew Chavo found him and tried to perform CPR on his beloved uncle but there was no response. Chavo, in a panic and not knowing what to do, frantically called Chris Benoit who got to the hotel as quick as he could and the pair dashed around the room as quick as they could trying to get rid of the stash of steroids that Eddie had been using before calling 911.
This practice of hiding or getting rid of substances that a wrestler may have been using in these tragic circumstances, was apparently common practice. In 1984 the legendary wrestler Bruiser Brody (who is also part of my series so keep your eyes peeled for that upcoming post) according to Ric Flair, had disposed of drugs that had belonged to David Von Erich when the wrestler sadly passed away whilst on a wrestling tournament of Japan. The death was reportedly attributed to an accidental overdose of Hydrocodone (which I seem to be seeing this painkiller pop up a lot in my research with wrestlers deaths). This has been disputed though with his family claiming his death was the result of a heart attack. The death has also been listed as ruptured intestines resulting from acute enteritis.
Eddie's death hit everyone really hard and at the time of his death he was at the height of his career and was very much loved and admired by the fans and his fellow wrestlers. When WWE payed tribute to Eddie, there was hardly a dry eye in the house. Chris Benoit was utterly devastated and broke down completely. Through tears he said:
''Eddie Guerrero was my best friend and I'm sure there's a lot of people he knew that would be able to say the same thing about him. He was such a beautiful person, such a kind hearted person, I couldn't find the words, words couldn't describe what kind of human being Eddie truly was. I've known Eddie for just about 15 years and spent a good portion of the 15 years with him on the road, we laughed together, cried together, fought each other, been up and down, each and every mountain, each and every highway. Eddie always led by example. He was the one friend I could go to and pour my heart out to if I was going through something, if I had a personal issue, a personal problem he was the one guy I could call and talk to and know he would understand and know he would talk me out of it because all of the experiences he'd been through. I believe in leading by example and Eddie always led by example by his life because of all the obstacles he went through and conquered and became a better person and he often used that as an example. We never left each other without telling each other that we loved each other and I can truly say that I love Eddie Guerrero. He's a man that I can say I love and I love his family and my heart and thoughts and my prayers go out to...and Eddie I know you're in a better place. I know that you're looking down on me right now. I only know that I love you and I miss you.....Eddie you made such a great impression in my life and I want to thank you for anything you have ever given me and I want to thank you from my heart and tell you that I love you and I'll never forget you and that we'll see each other again. I love you Eddie.''
The devastating loss of Eddie Guerrero had changed Chris Benoit forever, I believe that this was the beginning of the downward spiral for Chris. He and Nancy both had to deal with numerous deaths of close friends all in a short space of time. Chris had lost his closest friend in the whole world, the person who he could turn to about anything and the one who kept him on the straight and narrow, now it seemed like he was lost and felt more helpless and more devastated the more friends he had lost, people he had come up through the wrestling business with and had been so important to him. The loss of so many friends, the problems in the marriage and there was rumoured concern about Daniel's development. After the horrific deaths of the Benoit family, theories went around that Daniel had been suspected of having 'Fragile X', which is a condition that causes developmental issues. His teachers later came forward to say that this was false, Daniel was at the same level of learning as his fellow classmates and was doing well academically.
On the 28th of January 2006 the Mexican wrestler known as 'Black cat' sadly passed away and died of he sudden heart attack at the age of just 51. Victor (his real name Victor Manuel) had been responsible for training Chris whilst he was in Japan and the pair struck up a great friendship. Not long after this, another close friend of Chris's, Michael Durham known as the wrestler 'Johnny Grunge' suddenly passed away at the young age of 39 as a result of sleep apnea which led to a blockage in his arteries due to obesity. Prescription pills were also listed as a factor. Michael had been supporting Chris through the death of Eddie.
Chris kept a diary which he wrote letters to Eddie as a way of trying to cope but he missed him terribly and the deaths of his dear friends were making things even more devastating, it was grief on top of grief with no end in sight.
Things between Chris and Nancy continued to get worse and Nancy confided in her neighbour and close friend Holly that things were not right between them.
(The Benoit family home. Picture credit: gigwise)
On that horrible day of Monday June the 25th 2007 the next door neighbour and close friend (Holly Schrepfer) was very concerned with Nancy's lack of response to her messages so she contacted the police who met with her outside of the Benoit home. Nancy and Chris had two dogs which Holly often looked after and they were roaming about. The police were trying to get access to the property but nobody was responding to calls so Holly climbed over the gate and managed to calm the dogs down before going into the property. Holly was nervous as one can imagine, she knew that things had been quite tense between Nancy and Chris in recent times plus she had seen Nancy upset before when they'd had one of there explosive arguments.
As Holly walked up the stairs she noticed the terrible smell, the air conditioning in the Benoit home was off for whatever reason but as she approached Daniel's room she was met with the shocking sight of the little seven year old boy on the bed, it was clear from the dried foam on his mouth, nose and the discoloration of his skin that he was sadly deceased. She noticed that there had been a child's bible placed beside him. The room was full of posters and memorabilia of his father, it's unclear if he wanted all of that stuff in there or it was his father being narcissistic wanting his own son to idolize him but whatever the reason, now Holly was devastated to find Daniel dead and realised pretty quickly that chances were, the possibility that Nancy was also deceased. It was very brave of her to have gone into the property because if it had been some sort of break-in or gang related, the perpetrators could still have been in the house but I suppose she may have felt some sort of safety knowing that the police were outside.
As Holly made her way to Nancy's office as she knew that was one of Nancy's favourite room's in the house, she saw Nancy lying lifeless on the floor it was clear that she was deceased and decomposition had set in, her face was a blueish black and her body had become bloated. There was also a bible that had been placed next to her body. Shockingly Nancy had been tied up, she'd had her hands tied behind her back and her feet were tied together. A cord had also been placed around her neck. It was a horrifying discovery as was the situation in which she found Daniel. She wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible and who could blame her, she didn't bother to look for Chris but had a feeling he would be in the basement but she was scared to look.
Holly ran out of the house shouting to the police officers that she had found Nancy and Daniel deceased but wasn't sure where Chris was. The police then went into the property and sure enough, they found Chris Benoit in his home gym, he had hung himself. According to the police who first discovered him, he had used one of his weight machines by replacing the bar with a cable and looped it around his neck whilst putting as much weight as he could on the machine before letting it go. According to investigators this would have been a very painful way to die. The manner in which Chris took his own life is disputed and Nancy's sister gives a different version of how Chris had died to the one that was made to the public by the police and what was found in Chris's autopsy. She said he had been researching that weekend on how to break someone's neck but no evidence on the Benoit computers reflected this piece of information. She also claimed that there was a suicide note which was also reported not to be accurate.
(Daniel and Nancy Benoit. Picture credit: wrestlingfigs)
It was clear that Chris had carefully planned how he would take his own life and in his autopsy his neck was determined not to have been broken. The only damage to his neck had been the ligature marks from the pressure of the cable. In Daniel's autopsy they had found that he had been sedated with Xanax and the death was a result of suffocation. Due to the signs of decomposition only just starting to appear when Daniel was found compared to Nancy it was determined that Chris murdered his son after he killed his wife. Another shocking and upsetting fact in this case is that Nancy was not sedated and the manner in which she had been tied up with evidence that he had forced his knee into her back as he pulled on the cable from behind is utterly disturbing. There was no way Nancy could even attempt to protect herself as her hands and feet had been tied.
Investigators claim that it was highly likely that Nancy was murdered on the Friday night with Daniel's death occurring on the Saturday. Chris took his own life on the Sunday which throws the theory of 'Roid Rage' (a term typically associated with a person who goes insane as a result of taking steroids over a long period of time). On the Benoit family computer, records showed that Chris had been searching online after the murders for a Bible story in which the prophet Elijah raises the son of a widow from the dead. Some people speculate that Chris was trying to find a way to being Daniel back but none of us will ever know what exactly was going through his tortured mind.
For 3 days Chris Benoit remained in that house with his deceased wife and child and yet more disturbing actions were his messages and phone calls to people. He told people that Nancy and Daniel had food poisoning and that he would arrive later to the shows he was scheduled to perform in. He had missed two shows (a pay-per-view show and a championship match) which was completely out of character for him especially as he was billed to win on the Sunday night, it would have been another big moment in his wrestling career. Chris was a workaholic when it came to wrestling, he'd even wrestled before in the past with a broken neck for months on end before being forced to get proper treatment, he just never wanted to miss a show. He was devoted to wrestling to the point of obsession. He sent people text messages with excuses with the food poisoning story and at one point claiming that he and Nancy were in the hospital with Daniel. On the Sunday he sent two messages to two close friends (Chavo Guerrero and WWE referee Scott Armstrong)) telling them that he left the garage doors doors open and the dogs were secure, it was obvious something was not right but nobody bothered to check.
An investigation into the mishandling of WWE's response to Chris's strange behaviour as well as mixed information was brought to light. The world of wrestling was put under the microscope and Vince McMahon was questioned about steroids. The company looked bad and it looked like they had ignored red flags, turned a blind eye to steroid abuse and had tried to cover their tracks. Were they responsible for what Chris Benoit did? No, but there is some negligence on their part and lack of care. The death of Eddie Guerrero shook the world of wrestling to it's core and the fact that Eddie, Chris and others who were considered 'smaller' by WWE promoters (and often overlooked in the beginning of their career) felt the pressure to be bigger and resorted to achieve what WWE deemed to be an acceptable weight, strength and look and the only way that could be done was with steroids. It's sad that both men saw their careers flourish more when they were abusing drugs and once you're on this type of road it's hard to come off it, their careers (which they worked so hard for) meant everything to them.
When Eddie Guerrero died it was officially explained away as a heart attack from past steroid abuse when he was involved with another wrestling company. WWE were quick to throw off the blame and tried to declare that Eddie had been steroid-free whilst he was on contract with them. It turned out that he was still using them, not to the extreme but he was still using steroids. When he died one of the first things that was done by his nephew, together with close friend Chris Benoit was to flush the various substances that Eddie was taking, down the toilet. This was a regular thing, why? to protect WWE or whichever wrestling brad they were apart of and maybe to protect the legacy of the wrestler?, but this has happened time and again with the public being given a different story.
I will say that in recent years I have loved the fact that WWE have taken on wrestlers with a more realistic body shape, both with the male and female wrestlers and they've been proven to be popular. Did WWE learn from the deaths of the legends who's lives have ended far too soon or the shocking and horrific actions of Chris Benoit, one of their once golden superstars? I see a lot of positive changes with the company but what do you think? I would love to hear other fans perspectives on this.
As Chris had a reputation for never missing shows, when it was announced that he wouldn't be making an appearance (this was before the shocking details were revealed to the public) the wrestling fan forums ran riot with speculation as to why he wasn't going to be there. On Wikipedia an anonymous entry appeared declaring that Chris Benoit was not going to appear at the shows because he had murdered his wife. It was a horrible thing to have said with no information or facts at that time. This chilling occurrence right before the horrible details were made public sent chills down everyone's spine and to this day some people still talk about this and have conspiracy theories about it. I looked into this and it turned out that this person turned out to be a troll who had history of going on to wrestlers Wikipedia pages and leaving the most horrible and sometimes explicit things. One one wrestler's Wikipedia he had written that the guy was a child abuser and on a female wrestler's Wikipedia he had written that lots of men wanted to have anal sex with her. The fact that this loser had written such a statement about Chris being a murderer just before the news was released to the public, as crazy as it sounds, was just simply a horrible coincidence nothing more. This guy lived online and would sit and make up lies on people's Wikipedia pages, it's pathetic and this time it came back to bite him in the ass big time! He was tracked down and wrote a huge statement online terrified that people would harass him and his family, saying his apologies over and over and begging forgiveness saying he would never do these things again.
After the horrific deaths of the Benoit family, theories ran riot about what drove Chris to carry out these horrendous actions on his beautiful wife and child. Steroids were constantly brought up as an explanation but according to investigators and the toxicology report, this was not a contributing factor. Chris's Dad Mike along with retired professional wrestler turned neuroscientist, Christopher Nowinski got together and discussed Christopher's theory that Chris may have suffered from severe brain trauma caused by repeated blows to the head during his wrestling days. An examination of Chris's Brain was conducted and it was revealed that his brain was so severely damaged that, in their words ''it resembled the brain of an 85 year old Alzheimer's patient''
Chris Benoit's WWE record was deleted and all mention of him was wiped from the WWE website and any upcoming publications. If you were a new fan just discovering WWE for the first time you'd be forgiven for not knowing that Chris Benoit ever existed, WWE have done their best to completely distance the brand from him. Nancy is still celebrated for her contribution to wrestling history.
Chris Benoit was cremated and his remains given to his family. His father Mike, had tried for many years to explain that his son's actions were due to CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) but like all of us he struggles to understand because there is no way to understand why someone could do what he did. We know he was ill and the studies on his brain proved that but it's a difficult subject to talk about because where do you start? I really believe that his decline began when Eddie passed away and there was a combination of everything all at once. He was in a really bad place and I think Nancy did all she could to help him. What he did to her and his adorable son is unforgivable and I'll never understand that. None of it made any sense and if Eddie had been alive at the time all of that took place he would have been just had horrified as the rest of us.
Nancy and Daniel were cremated and their ashes were placed in matching starfish urns and given to family to take care of.
RIP Nancy and Daniel. RIP also to all of the wrestlers we have lost and all involved in the world of wrestling entertainment who have given their all over the years and have died before their time. You all will never be forgotten x
Further Reading & Sources:
This was an incredibly long post to get through so if you have made it to the end, I really appreciate it. As you can probably understand why it took me some time to write about this devastating part of wrestling history but I'm glad I have finally been able to get through it. I will be continuing on with my third instalment in my 'Dark History From the World of Wrestling' series so I hope you will continue to join me for that. Thank you also, for all of the positive feedback and messages about my first post on Miss Elizabeth, it's lovely to see how she is still held in such high regard by a lot of wrestling fans.
Until next instalment.....please stay safe x
