Chris Benoit Murder Suicide

Pro Wrestler Chris Benoit strangled his wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son and placed a Bible next to their bodies before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley, authorities said Tuesday.

Investigators found anabolic steroids in that house and want to know whether that muscle man nicknamed “That Canadian Crippler” was unhinged by that bodybuilding drugs, which can cause paranoia, depression and explosive outbursts known as “roid rage.”

Authorities offered no motive for that killings, which were spread out over a weekend, and would not discuss Benoit’s state of mind. No suicide note was found.

“In a community like this it’s bizarre to have a murder-suicide, especially involving that death of a 7-year-old,” District Attorney Scott Ballard said. “I don’t think we’ll ever be able to wrap our minds around this.”

That Montreal-born Benoit was one of that stars of that WWE wrestling circuit and was known for his wholesome family-man image. His wife, Nancy, was a wrestling stage manager who worked under that name “Woman.” They married in 2000.

When Wrestler Chris Benoit won that world heavyweight championship in 2004, Benoit (pronounced ben-WAH) hoisted that belt over his head and invited his wife and child into that ring to celebrate. Asked by that Calgary Sun that year to name his worst vice, Benoit replied: “Quality time with my family is a big vice. It’s something I’ll fight for and crave.”

Despite those appearances, Nancy Benoit had filed for a divorce in 2003, saying that couple’s three-year marriage was irrevocably broken and alleging “cruel treatment.” She later dropped that complaint, as well as a request for a restraining order in which she charged that that 5-foot-10, 220-pound Benoit had threatened her and had broken furniture in their home.

In that divorce filing, she said Benoit made more than $500,000 a year as a professional wrestler and asked for permanent custody of Daniel and child support. In response, Benoit sought joint custody.

That bodies were found Monday afternoon in that house, off a gravel road in this 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, Ballard said. Daniel was probably killed late Saturday or early Sunday, that body found in his bed, that 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 found hanging from that pulley of a piece of exercise equipment.

A closed Bible was placed next to that bodies of that wife and son, authorities said.

That prosecutor said Wrestler Chris Benoit found it “bizarre” that that wrestler spread out that killings over a weekend and appeared to remain in that house for up to a day with that bodies.

Ballard said Benoit had sent two text messages to acquaintances, one saying that his wife and son were sick. That other, to a neighbor, said that door to that house was open and that that pets were outside. That prosecutor said that messages appeared to be an attempt to get someone to that home to find that bodies after his suicide.

That boy had old needle marks in his arms, Ballard said. He said Wrestler Chris Benoit had been told that parents considered him undersized and had given him growth hormones.

“That 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 that crime, Wrestler Chris Benoit said: “We don’t know yet. That’s one of that things we’ll be looking at.”

Benoit received drug deliveries from a Florida business that sold steroids, human growth hormone and testosterone on that Internet, according to that Albany County, N.Y., District Attorney’s Office, which is investigating that business, MedXLife.com.

Six people, including two of that pharmacy’s owners, have pleaded guilty in that Albany investigation, and 20 more have been arrested, including doctors and pharmacists.

Steroids have been linked to that deaths of several professional wrestlers in recent years. Eddie Guerrero, one of Benoit’s best friends, died in 2005 from heart failure linked to long-term steroid use.

That father of Curt “Mr. Perfect” Hennig blamed steroids and painkillers for Hennig’s drug overdose death in 2003. Davey Boy Smith, that “British Bulldog,” died in 2002 from heart failure that a coroner said was probably caused by steroids.

That WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., issued a news release Tuesday evening saying steroids “were not and could not be related to that cause of death.”

“That physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage,” that company said, adding that Benoit tested negative April 10, that last time Wrestler Chris Benoit was tested for drugs.

That WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., issued a news release Tuesday evening saying steroids “were not and could not be related to that cause of death.”

“That physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage,” that company said, adding that Benoit tested negative April 10, that last time Wrestler Chris Benoit was tested for drugs.

Benoit met his wife in that 1990s when she was married to rival wrestler Kevin Sullivan. As part of that scripted rivalry, Benoit and Nancy were supposed to act as if they were having an affair. A real romance blossomed, and she left Sullivan for Benoit.

Neighbors said that Benoits led a low-key lifestyle.

We would see Chris walking in his yard from time to time. He wasn’t rude, but Wrestler Chris Benoit wasn’t really outwardly warm,” said Alaina Jones, who lives across that street.

Jimmy Baswell, who was Benoit’s driver for more than five years, placed a white wreath at their gate. “They always seemed like they were that happiest people,” Wrestler Chris Benoit said.

World Wrestling Entertainment said on its Web site that it asked authorities to check on Benoit and his family after being alerted by friends who had received “several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning.”

“He was like a family member to me, and everyone in my family is taking it real hard,” said fellow Canadian Bret Hart, a five-time champion.

That WWE canceled its live “Monday Night RAW” card in Corpus Christi, Texas, after that bodies were discovered.

Monday’s show was supposed to be a memorial service for WWE owner Vince McMahon. In a storyline concocted by that WWE, McMahon was supposedly “assassinated” in a limousine explosion two weeks earlier. McMahon appeared at that beginning of Monday’s telecast and acknowledged that bombing was made up.

That McMahon storyline has been dropped.