In a story broken by Alex Marvez, a syndicated sports columnist who has been posting Benoit updates over at WrestlingObserver.com, it has been confirmed by WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt that WWE has information confirming earlier reports that Daniel Benoit was indeed suffering from Fragile X syndrome, an inherited mental impairment/form of mental retardation that often is combined with autism. According to Marvez, “Chris Benoit’s personal physician [Dr. Phil Astin] met with him the day of the murder” and “Nancy Benoit spoke with Astin the day before her murder to try and gain information about treating her son Daniel.”
The latest versions of the Benoit story by the Associated Press, which can be found at Yahoo! News (most recent) and AccessNorthGA.com, include new details on the tragedy:
In other related news:
– WWE.com has posted a story on Daniel and Fragile X syndrome here, which includes an interesting quote from “a co-worker and long-time friend of the Benoits” who “speculates that perhaps the pressures of home and Daniel’s illness had gotten to him, causing him to snap and take the lives of his wife and son before taking his own.”
– Albert Ching of the Arizona Daily Star has a Chris Benoit blog up.
– A local Georgia blogger writes about why he’ll “miss” Chris Benoit.
– The Washington Post site has a story up entitled “WWE and USA Wrestle With Fallout From Chris Benoit Case.”
– FoxNews.com has posted an in-depth story on Nancy Benoit’s wrestling career. On the O’Reilly Factor today on Fox News, Bill O’Reilly took the stance that Nancy should have left Chris after the “tell-tale signs” were there that this wouldn’t end well (citing the domestic abuse charges and the reports that Daniel was possibly injected with human growth hormone as reasons). A video of O’Reilly’s “Talking Points Memo” on the subject can be seen here.
– Also Fox News related, the Debra Williams story from earlier today was on the main FoxNews.com page. The Benoit story, covered pretty much everywhere, was also the lead story on CNN.com (thanks to Dr. Keith Lipinski for that).
– Forbes.com has a story on the tragedy and how WWE has handled itself so far.
– District Attorney Scott Ballard was on Good Morning America today (story) as well as on WTAM-1100 in Cleveland (story), discussing details of the tragedy. He’s also been on Nancy Grace and Glenn Beck (CNN/HN) as well as other news outlets answering questions. On Beck’s show, the host – like O’Reilly – suggested that Nancy Benoit was at fault for sticking with Chris Benoit and that her son’s welfare should come first. Ballard noted that there were posters and action figures of his father in Daniel’s bedroom, and that while they are still looking to confirm that there wasn’t “a third party” involved, he is pretty sure this is indeed a double-murder/suicide as originally stated. Jack Singer, PHD, a sports psychologist, was also on the Beck show, saying that steroids combined with painkillers can lead to an “organic psychosis” which can last for weeks. “This was a psychotic rage, not a normal person who decided he was mad at his family,” he said.
– On the Nancy Grace show, Bret Hart (who Grace put over huge as one of the best ever) was interviewed, saying that everyone that knew Chris didn’t know him like this; “he was a real good loving man that was respected by everyone who knew him.” Bret said that “I never saw him lose his temper, he was always someone that was very caring, he was a good guy … any wrestler that I can think of anywhere loved this guy. If there was any sort of cry for help to any of these wrestlers they would have been there for him, including Vince McMahon I think.” When asked about steroids, Bret said that when all the facts come out, this will be more about domestic issues than steroids, which Bret stated WWE clamped down on after Eddie Guerrero, and that the company has what he believes is a “legitimate and honest program” in place. He says that this is about “someone who had something eating at him inside that maybe nobody knew anything about” and went on to talk about how he knew Chris since he was 10, knew he would be a wrestler when he was 15, that Chris “worshipped wrestling” but put “too much pride in his (wrestling) character” and “one of the pitfalls of being a wrestler is you live the character 24 hours a day and it’s hard to differentiate between” the wrestling character and real person.
– On the Fox News Channel, in another interview, Greta Van Susteren interviewed Bret Hart, who covered a lot of the ground already discussed. One new thing was Bret saying he spoke with Chris Benoit’s other children, from a previous relationship. He said: “Well, they’re hanging in there. They’re a tough family and a strong family. I don’t think anyone saw this coming. They’re as confused by this as everyone else. [Benoit’s oldest son is] trying to stay strong. I already spoke to Chris’s sister. They are devastated by it, but they’ll get through it.”
– On MSNBC, Dan Abrams spoke with Road Warrior Animal (Joe Laurinaitis, brother of WWE head of talent relations John Laurinaitis). Joe tried to steer the discussion to talk about the issues inherent in the wrestling business other than steroids that could have led to behavior like Benoit’s (and others who have died too young), such as workers not getting any time off, etc., but most of the interview was about steroids. According to a report of the appearance on PWTorch.com, when asked about “‘roid rage,” Joe said: “I’ve seen roid rage, and to me I think it’s a crock what O’Reilly is doing to try to get these ratings and calling it roid rage. I’ve never seen a 48 hour roid rage. Most roid rages i’ve seen have been five minutes and then you apologize for blowing up. You’re blood pressure is up and you’re blowing a cork. I just think there are so many contributing factors… I’ve seen Chris with his son Daniel. Chris loved that little boy. There was something else psychological happening to have him flip out and blow his cork like that and do what he did.”
– A Pulse Wrestling reader sent in these notes from an interview that took place last night (Tuesday) on sports radio 810 WHB, Kansas City, of former Byte This producer and RAW writer Chris “Big Country” Gough on with Dave Borchardt:
*Chris said that 80 percent of the guys in the lockerroom could’ve done this and it wouldn’t have been too surprising, this however he said was stunning and would’ve never expected it from Benoit.
*Great guy, great family man. Always seemed to take pride in his family and that they were always exceptionally nice.
*Talked to some friends at the WWE and to say that everyone in the company was shaken up when they first heard about, would be an understatement. Apparently, as soon as everyone found out, the writers obviously didn’t have the heart to write anything and were pushing for the CW to air a movie on Friday instead of having to write a Smackdown show.
*Thinks WWE has handled it very well and RAW was damned if you, damned if you don’t. Clearly nobody thought that Benoit would’ve been a murderer, so they felt they were pretty safe airing a tribute just a couple hours after they found out.
*Said that while Benoit might not have tested positive on April 10th, you really have to fail a drug test pretty badly because Vince sets the bar pretty high for a positive test. (Which surprised me, because I thought Vince washed his hands of that and had the 3rd party do everything, including setting the rules.)
*Said all they test for is steriods, and HGH is not a part of the testing.
*Agrees with the WWE that it doesn’t sound like ‘roid rage, but with the media it’s not going to matter to them. Believes the media will see it as If steriods, even legally, were there, it was ‘roid rage. If steriods are present in the tox reports, no matter how small amount, the media will still believe its ‘roid rage. No way to change their mind because it’s the easiest excuse and answer for them.
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