WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, family found dead

[vurbano]

Wrestler Chris Benoit Double Murder-Suicide: Was It 'Roid Rage'?

Tuesday, June 26, 2007
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans

AP

Chris Benoit

Steroids were among the prescription medications found by investigators going through pro-wrestler Chris Benoit's house, where he strangled his wife and young son last weekend before hanging himself.

Key to their probe is determining whether drugs played a role in the double murder-suicide, and whether so-called "roid rage" was at the root of the tragedy.

Chronic use of anabolic steroids — the kind commonly taken in excessively high doses by athletes including wrestlers — has been linked to marked aggression and anger, or what is referred to as "roid rage."

"Anabolic steroids affect neurochemicals in the brain," said Dr. Linn
Goldberg, an expert in steroid use and the head of sports medicine at Oregon Health and Science University. It's those neurochemical changes that cause the extreme anger, he explained.

Goldberg said most people who succumb to steroid-induced rage are predisposed to aggression and anger problems, and the drugs exacerbate those tendencies.

"They're not in great control to start with and then they use steroids and it heightens that," he said. "They have problems with impulse control."
Sam Maniar, a sports psychologist at Ohio State University Medical Center, said it's rare for someone who wasn't at all aggressive before taking steroids to become filled with rage just by using the performance-enhancing drugs.

"It's really hard to say what comes first — it's like a chicken and the egg type of thing," Maniar said. "There's some evidence that mood changes can occur, but sometimes people have the rage or depression there before."

Fayetteville, Ga., sheriff's spokesman Lt. Tommy Pope declined to comment as to whether the steroids found in the Benoit family home contributed to the wrestler's state of mind when he killed his family and then himself. Police were awaiting toxicology test results to determine whether or not he was on steroids or any other drugs.

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) issued a strongly worded statement Tuesday night condemning media speculation that steroids had anything to do with the homicides and suicide.

In addition to uncontrollable fury, other possible behavioral side effects of regularly taking large quantities of steroids include paranoia, delusions, depression and mania.

"They lead to psychotic episodes of aggression," said FOXNews.com's managing health editor Dr. Manny Alvarez. "It's not inconceivable that this wrestler was indeed suffering from some of the psychological consequences of anabolic steroids, which might have led him to commit this heinous act."

When studies have been done on rats, according to Goldberg, the rodents have become aggressive after being given steroids and frequently remain aggressive even once the drugs are no longer administered.

But he and Maniar agreed that fury so intense it becomes lethal is uncommon, even in the worst cases of steroid abuse.

"It seems like it's rare for roid rage to become deadly," Maniar said.

Psychological side effects aside, anabolic steroids cause a host of physiological problems too, including high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke, blood clotting, kidney disease and changes in metabolism.

"In World Wrestling Entertainment, a lot of these athletes are dying at six times the rate of other human beings, most of them from cardiovascular disease," Goldberg said. "There's a bunch of them who died at young ages, in their 30s and early 40s."

Athletes of all kinds take anabolic steroids to increase muscle mass and improve performance. The problem has become so widespread in professional sports that the government has gotten involved in cracking down on steroid use.

Whether or not Benoit was abusing steroids and in the throes of roid rage when he smothered his wife and 7-year-old son and then took his own life, the tragedy has caused the problem to be revisited.

"If there's any take-away message, it's that anabolic steroids of any sort at any age have no place in any kind of professional sports," Alvarez said.

FOXNews.com - Wrestler Chris Benoit Double Murder-Suicide: Was It 'Roid Rage'? - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

It was not ROID RAGE.

This is the media grasping at straws to make a bigger story of an already tragic event.

 

[vurbano]

It was not ROID RAGE.

This is the media grasping at straws to make a bigger story of an already tragic event.

They didnt say it was.

"Whether or not Benoit was abusing steroids and in the throes of roid rage when he smothered his wife and 7-year-old son and then took his own life, the tragedy has caused the problem to be revisited."

But where is your proof that Benoit's Roid usage could not have made his violent tendencies more uncontrollable? There is a history of violence with him and his wife as documented by the police. He obviously had anger issues and ROIDS could not have helped. Infact they probably helped this along altering the chemical makeup in his brain and making him more susceptable to mood swings. As far as making it a bigger story there is no need too. Professional wrestling itself is the single biggest reason anyone became interested in cleaning up real professional sports to begin with. Wrestling has been filled with drugs and steriod deaths. If the press is pursuing this angle the WWE has no one to blame but themselves for their history. It is a perfectly legitimate theory.

 

[Ramy]

I say we drop the whole thing and quit talking about this monster.

 

[vurbano]

I say we drop the whole thing and quit talking about this monster.

I despise what he did, but I think we owe it to his memory to discover anything that may have influenced his actions.

 

[Ramy]

I despise what he did, but I think we owe it to his memory to discover anything that may have influenced his actions.

How are we going to discover anything?

 

[vurbano]

How are we going to discover anything?

An Autopsy would help

 

[vurbano]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspsctnhdln>Wrestler who strangled wife, smothered son said he'd be late to event because family was ill

</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER width="1" type="block" height="1"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><STYLE type=text/css> td.yspwidearticlebody { font-size: 13.5px; }</STYLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspwidearticlebody>By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer
June 27, 2007



FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (AP) -- Two days before he and his family were found dead in an apparent murder-suicide, pro wrestler Chris Benoit told co-workers his wife and son had food poisoning and were throwing up, according to World Wrestling Entertainment. 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.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Authorities offered no motive for the killings, which were spread out over the weekend and discovered Monday. No suicide note was found.

On Saturday, Benoit called a co-worker to say he had missed a flight and would be late for a wrestling event in Texas, WWE said in a timeline posted Tuesday on its Web site. The co-worker said Benoit sounded tired and groggy and said "I love you," which the co-worker found "out of context," WWE said.

When a co-worker who usually travels with Benoit called him later from the Houston airport, Benoit told the co-worker his wife, Nancy, was throwing up blood and that his son, Daniel, also was throwing up. Benoit said he thought it was food poisoning, according to WWE.

After Benoit talked to a WWE Talent Relations representative, the representative suggested Benoit try to make it to a pay-per-view event in Houston since he would not be able to make it to the live event in Beaumont, Texas.

But early Sunday, two co-workers received a series of text messages from the cell phones of Benoit and his wife. Most stated his home address in Fayetteville, about 20 miles south of Atlanta. One message from Benoit's phone said: "The dogs are in the enclosed pool area. Garage side door is open," according to WWE.

The text messages led WWE to ask authorities to check on Benoit and his family.

District Attorney Scott Ballard said the messages appeared to be an attempt by Benoit to get someone to the home to find the bodies after his suicide.

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

"In a community like this it's bizarre to have a murder-suicide, especially involving the death of a 7-year-old," Ballard said. "I don't think we'll ever be able to wrap our minds around this."

He said Benoit's 43-year-old wife was killed Friday in an upstairs family room, and her feet and wrists were bound and there was blood under her head, indicating a possible struggle. Daniel was probably killed late Saturday or early Sunday, and his body was found in his bed, the district attorney said.

Benoit, 40, apparently hanged himself hours later, Ballard said. His body was found in a downstairs weight room hanging from the pulley of a piece of exercise equipment.

The prosecutor said it appeared the wrestler remained in the house for up to a day with the bodies.

The boy had old needle marks in his arms, Ballard said. He said he had been told the parents considered him undersized and had given him growth hormones.

"The 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 the crime, he said: "We don't know yet. That's one of the things we'll be looking at."

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

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

The WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., issued a statement Tuesday saying steroids "were not and could not be related to the cause of death."

"The physical findings announced by authorities indicate deliberation, not rage," the company said, adding that Benoit tested negative April 10, the last time he was tested for drugs.

Steroids have been linked to the 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.

The father of Curt "Mr. Perfect" Hennig blamed steroids and painkillers for Hennig's drug overdose death in 2003. Davey Boy Smith, the "British Bulldog," died in 2002 from heart failure that a coroner said was probably caused by steroids.
Associated Press writers Debbie Newby and Jason Bronis contributed to this report.

Wrestler who strangled wife, smothered son said he'd be late to event because family was ill - Yahoo! Sports

 

[beast37799]

if you read the 5 text messages that he sent co-workers you can tell he wasnt sane at all weather roids or somethingelse drug wise its possible if druge were the problem that he didnt realize what he had done till later and thats when he took his life

 

[vurbano]

if you read the 5 text messages that he sent co-workers you can tell he wasnt sane at all weather roids or somethingelse drug wise its possible if druge were the problem that he didnt realize what he had done till later and thats when he took his life

Some of those messages with the address look like a plea for help.

 

[Weezknight]

The boy had old needle marks in his arms, Ballard said. He said he had been told the parents considered him undersized and had given him growth hormones.

"The boy was very small, even dwarfed," Ballard said.

If this turns out to be true, than this story gets more and more disturbing my the minute.

You are supposed to love your kids unconditionally for who they are, not what YOU WANT them to become.

Obviously this man had become unhinged a long time ago.

 

[Peter Parker]

If they got the HGH on their own and administered it I agree. I do know of one case where a family went that route after extensive discussions with doctors. I am not sure at all what went on here.

 

[jmd102354]

I say we drop the whole thing and quit talking about this monster.

I agree !

 

[Kevinw]

I am having difficulty explaining to my son- Who likes wrestling, knows it is sports theater and really liked Benoit( or at least the character Benoit played), why he killed his wife, son and himself.
There are many instances of mental illness that caused the same results , with and with out the suicide. Unfortunately Benoit is /was a public figure.

 

[sidekick]

It was implied ... otherwise it wouldn't have been mentioned ...

They didnt say it was.

"Whether or not Benoit was abusing steroids and in the throes of roid rage when he smothered his wife and 7-year-old son and then took his own life, the tragedy has caused the problem to be revisited."

But where is your proof that Benoit's Roid usage could not have made his violent tendencies more uncontrollable? There is a history of violence with him and his wife as documented by the police. He obviously had anger issues and ROIDS could not have helped. Infact they probably helped this along altering the chemical makeup in his brain and making him more susceptable to mood swings. As far as making it a bigger story there is no need too. Professional wrestling itself is the single biggest reason anyone became interested in cleaning up real professional sports to begin with. Wrestling has been filled with drugs and steriod deaths. If the press is pursuing this angle the WWE has no one to blame but themselves for their history. It is a perfectly legitimate theory.

 

[Peter Parker]

I am having difficulty explaining to my son- Who likes wrestling, knows it is sports theater and really liked Benoit( or at least the character Benoit played), why he killed his wife, son and himself.
There are many instances of mental illness that caused the same results , with and with out the suicide. Unfortunately Benoit is /was a public figure.

i think that you are pretty much limited to discussing it in terms of a mental illness. Not an easy concept for your son to grasp but I see no alternative.

 

[vurbano]

It was implied ... otherwise it wouldn't have been mentioned ...

Because it is a possibility.

 

[vurbano]

If this turns out to be true, than this story gets more and more disturbing my the minute.

You are supposed to love your kids unconditionally for who they are, not what YOU WANT them to become.

Obviously this man had become unhinged a long time ago.

I hope the child was under a doctors care.

 

[Van]

It was not ROID RAGE.

This is the media grasping at straws to make a bigger story of an already tragic event.

None of us are experts Scott, not a single one and we dont know if or what he was on. Legitimate excuses for killing any person are limited to self defense, war and police actions, outside of that there is no excuse. What some here are doing though as is some of the media is exploring what could have been contributing factors to this incident.

Foriegn substances effect people diferently, the same goes for naturaul substances but its the degrea's of both within the body that can percipitate the reaction both in depth and length, couple that with a personality that is prone to anger issues and has higher levels of testosterone than the average person and you could have an explosive combination.

 

[sidekick]

Like Scott said, it's "the media grasping at straws" to make it more sensationalistic.

Because it is a possibility.