nancy benoit chris benoit autopsy

I of WWE's about iconic wrestlers of the early 2000s, Chris Benoit died by suicide in 2007 after he strangled his wife to expiry and suffocated his young son at his home.

Before Chris Benoit's death, he seemed to have it all. The professional person wrestler known as the "Canadian Crippler" was globe-famous and dearest past his fans. But on June 24, 2007, the wrestler killed his family, then himself. Chris Benoit's murder of his wife and young son and suicide shocked pro-wrestling.

Benoit's death was a gruesome conclusion to an otherwise extraordinary life. The wrestler, built-in in Quebec, had steadily climbed the ranks of pro wrestling over 22 years. Later starting his career in Canada, he wrestled in Japan before joining Vince McMahon's Globe Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2000.

Chris Benoit Death

Kevin Mazur/WireImage Chris Benoit's death has profoundly impacted his legacy every bit a professional wrestler.

Benoit was one of WWE's stars, with 22 championships under his chugalug and a bevy of loyal fans. Only everything inverse over 3 days in June 2007 when, unbeknownst to the globe, Benoit murdered his wife Nancy, so his vii-yr-old son Daniel, before taking his ain life.

The murder-suicide shocked the wrestling world and across. It prompted questions about WWE's drug testing policy, Benoit's steroid utilise, and how his long wrestling career might have impacted his encephalon.

Though some answers emerged subsequently Chris Benoit'due south death, the world would never know what motivated the bloody cease of the wrestler who killed his family and then himself.

Chris Benoit's Rise In Professional person Wrestling

Born on May 21, 1967, in Quebec, Canada, Christopher Michael Benoit was drawn to wrestling at a young historic period. As his father later on told ABC News, Benoit wanted to wrestle even as a young boy.

"He was pretty much driven from the age of 12, xiii to go far the wrestling industry," his father, Mike Benoit, explained. "Chris lifted weights every 24-hour interval. He was 13 years former… he was breaking records in high school in our basement."

At 18, Benoit started his wrestling career in earnest. He apace ascended from the Stampede Wrestling excursion to the New Japan World Wrestling circuit, so to World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Wrestler Who Killed His Family

Kevin Mazur/WireImage Chris Benoit became a highly respected wrestler, especially for his technical skills in the ring.

Along the fashion, Benoit became a highly regarded wrestler. He won 22 championships and was oftentimes praised for his prowess in the ring, especially his technical skill. But his success came at a cost. Benoit took steroids and testosterone in defiance of WWE policy, and his opponents frequently struck him in the head with heavy objects.

"Cables, ladders, chairs… the props they were using when they were getting hit in the caput. It's a real chair, information technology's a steel chair," his male parent told ABC News.

Though Benoit seemed to be able to function normally outside the band, marrying twice and having iii children, he sometimes displayed trigger-happy behavior. His 2nd wife, Nancy, filed for divorce before long after they wed in 2000.

According to Sports Keeda, Nancy claimed that Chris Benoit could get unpredictable when he lost his temper, and she worried he'd hurt her or their son, Daniel. But Nancy later withdrew her divorce petition.

Every bit such, it was a shock when the world learned that Chris Benoit died by suicide at xl years onetime — and that he'd taken Nancy and Daniel with him.

Chris Benoit's Expiry And The Murder Of His Family

Chris Benoit And Nancy Benoit

George Napolitano/FilmMagic Chris Benoit and his wife Nancy Benoit, approximately 11 years before Chris killed her and their son, and then took his own life.

On June 24, 2007, Chris Benoit was scheduled to appear at a pay-per-view fight chosen Vengeance: Night of Champions, in Houston, Texas, where he was expected to win the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Title. But Benoit never showed up.

That aforementioned day, his friend Chavo Guerrero, the nephew of the late wrestler Eddie Guerrero, received a strange message from the wrestler. Benoit had written: "The dogs are in the enclosed pool expanse, and the back door is open," and texted Guerrero his address.

Sports Keeda reports that Benoit'south letters didn't crusade Guerrero any concern until he learned that Benoit hadn't shown upwardly at the pay-per-view fight. So, he alerted WWE regime, who called the law. They went to Benoit's house in Fayetteville, Georgia, which he shared with Nancy and seven-year-old Daniel, and plant a gruesome scene. All three were dead.

Co-ordinate to The New York Times, Nancy was found with her hands and anxiety tied and with claret under her head. Daniel was constitute in bed. And Chris Benoit was found hanging from a weight car cable in his home gym.

Investigators before long determined that as early as June 22, 2007, Chris Benoit murdered Nancy and Daniel before killing himself. Nancy was strangled offset, possibly in a rage. Side by side, information technology appears that Benoit gave his son Xanax, and so smothered him.

Then, before Chris Benoit died by suicide, he did some online searches. ABC News reports that he looked for stories about the prophet Elijah, who once raised a boy from the dead. Then, Benoit searched for the easiest way a person could break their neck.

Later on placing Bibles adjacent to Nancy and Daniel'due south bodies, Chris Benoit went into the family's home gym. Co-ordinate to Talk Sports, he tied a cable effectually his neck, fastened it to the highest weight on a weight auto, and let get.

However, the investigation into why the wrestler's life had come to such a grisly cease was but beginning.

What Led A Pro Wrestler To Kill His Family?

Chris Benoit Killed His Family

Barry Williams/Getty Images A makeshift memorial at the Benoit firm in Fayetteville, Georgia, shortly subsequently Chris Benoit died subsequently killing his family.

Questions swirled in the aftermath of Chris Benoit's death and the murder of his wife and son. What had driven the wrestler to such a violent act?

Benoit's autopsy offered some answers. According to Esquire, the wrestler had a severely damaged brain and x times the amount of normal testosterone. Benoit too had a heart and then enlarged it probably would have eventually killed him, a common occurrence amid athletes who corruption steroids and growth hormones.

But though Benoit's toxicology report caused a "media frenzy," with many pointing to "roid rage" as a potential reason why the wrestler had killed his family and himself, experts had their doubts.

"This was a murder-suicide spree that lasted over, I believe, a three-day weekend," Dr. Julian Bailes, who works for West Virginia University's Wellness and Science Middle, told ABC News. "I don't call up that 'roid rage,' which is believed to be a snap judgment… in emotions or actions, I don't recollect this is what explains Chris'due south beliefs."

Instead, some experts believed that Benoit'southward brain injuries led the wrestler to impale his family and take his own life. According to West Virginia University, his encephalon was "then severely damaged it resembled the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient."

Bailes additionally told ABC News that Benoit'south brain showed show of repeated blows to the head, a perhaps obvious conclusion given the violence he'd suffered in the ring.

"Chris's damage was extensive," Bailes said. "It was replete beyond multiple areas of the brain. It remains one the worst we have seen."

Indeed, some of Benoit's friends remarked that he'd seemed dissimilar before he died. He'd been depressed since his friend, boyfriend wrestler Eddie Guerrero, died of a sudden in 2005. And Benoit had likewise begun to exhibit odd behavior. Nancy's sis and pro wrestler Chris Jericho recalled that he would disappear for weeks on end and that he seemed paranoid.

WWE, even so, refused to acknowledge that Chris Benoit'southward wrestling career had straight led to his death.

In a statement to ABC News, the wrestling arrangement insisted that "Someone with the encephalon of an 85-yr-old with dementia would be unable to keep a traveling work schedule, drive himself to arenas, and perform intricate maneuvers in the ring much less commit a methodical murder-suicide over a 48 hour period."

The organization promptly erased Benoit from its website, DVDs, and historical references. WWE did, however, change some of its policies. According to Pro Wrestling Stories and Sports Keeda, they implemented a "no chair shots to the caput" rule, brought in doctors to supervise matches, and started conducting more thorough drug testing.

Every bit such, though Chris Benoit's death might have changed pro wrestling for the better, he'southward seen equally persona non grata in the sport. Deadspin even chosen him "basically wrestling's equivalent of Lord Voldemort," and flatly refuted the idea that he should be honored as a wrestling great down the line. If anyone should exist honored, the publication suggests, it's his murdered married woman Nancy, who had a wrestling career of her ain for 13 years.

Merely at least one person continues to defend the wrestler who killed his family. Chris Benoit's begetter, Mike, told ABC News that the arraign for Chris Benoit's decease lies at the feet of the pro-wrestling industry itself.

"I think if Chris Benoit had been anything other than a professional wrestler… he would still be live," Mike Benoit said. "I would like people to take an understanding that the tragedy that took place in 2007 happened because of his career choice."

Subsequently reading about the death of Chris Benoit and his murders, go inside the untimely death of comedian John Candy. Or, discover the disturbing story of Juana Barraza, the pro-wrestler who made a addiction out of murdering old ladies.

If yous or someone y'all know is contemplating suicide, phone call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or use their 24/7 Lifeline Crisis Chat.