WWE

[MsDiva2007]

Originally Posted by Veruka

I think there is a vast divide between not judging, and allowing murderers to be free to do as they will. When a story like this happens, its human nature to draw conclusions about the people involved, assume things about a person's character and personality, and mentally fill in the blanks that exist in the story. I believe that is the kind of judgement that Nilesgirl is talking about -- judging a person's heart if you will. To me, that is quite separate from the legal system running its due course to investigate a crime and ensure that justice is served. As I see it, that is a difference between judging a person (which we should try to avoid) and judging an action, which the justice system must do.

MY human nature causes me to give him the benefit of being not guilty until it is proven exactly what occurred. Until it is proven that Chris did this with some concrete evidence. I am ignoring the pondering of people of Nancy Grace, Dan Abrams, Glen Beck and others who are only covering this because there is a race to garner ratings.

The networks are sickening with their uneducated discussions on Wrestlers and Roid Rage. The talking heads on the news channels all rushing to judgement over things they don't even understand or care to understand.

[Google]

 

[Krom]

Originally Posted by MsDiva2007

MY human nature causes me to give him the benefit of being not guilty until it is proven exactly what occurred. Until it is proven that Chris did this with some concrete evidence. I am ignoring the pondering of people of Nancy Grace, Dan Abrams, Glen Beck and others who are only covering this because there is a race to garner ratings.

The networks are sickening with their uneducated discussions on Wrestlers and Roid Rage. The talking heads on the news channels all rushing to judgement over things they don't even understand or care to understand.

Generally they don't hold trials for suspected murderers who themselves are dead. The best you can hope for is usually a Coroner's inquest.

I do think there has to be a good amount of forensic evidence with this case though. If Benoit strangled his wife, there will be particles of his skin on her neck, and maybe even usable fingerprints (they can sometimes take fingerprints off skin these days). Time passed, but if he was in a daze and didn't clean himself after killing her, all kinds of stuff from her body ought to be on his.

And his calls to his co-workers, as compared to the times of death for his family, is pretty damning. You'd have to contrive something extraordinary, like someone murdering his family then holding him at gunpoint and forcing him to make those calls, to come up with any other explanation.

[Veruka]

Originally Posted by Krom

Not sure I buy that logic. Media outlets have those things in the can because they understand that people can have a ghoulish fascination about dead celebs. But the mere fact that people will watch doesn't make it right. I mean the majority of people probably want free music and movies, but is it right to download that stuff without paying?

Arguments here HAVE convinced me that indeed media outlets DO tend to hold insta-tributes and that what the WWE did was not that unusual. But does that make it right? I still don't think so.

I certainly respect that, but I disagree. When someone I care about dies, I tend to reflect on that person's life immediately. Doing so helps me in the mourning process. I've found it really helps me in a meaningful way to go through pictures and other momentos, reflecting on the good, and even the bad, in that person's life almost immediately. To me, those insta-tributes serve that same role with regards to a well-known person. That said, I appreciate that different people mourn differently, and fully respect the decision of others to avoid those kinds of tributes because it doesn't work for them.

[MissThing]

ESPN - Police raid offfice of Chris Benoit's personal doctor - Gen

Feds take part in raid on personal doctor's office
Associated Press

Updated: June 28, 2007, 1:35 PM ET
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ATLANTA -- Federal drug agents and sheriff's officials raided the office of pro wrestler Chris Benoit's personal physician in search of records and other items, an official said Thursday.


The raid at Dr. Phil Astin's office in Carrollton, Ga. began Wednesday night and concluded early Thursday, said agent Chuvalo Truesdell, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in Atlanta.


Over the weekend, Benoit killed his wife and son and then killed himself at their home in Fayetteville.


A search warrant obtained by the Fayette County Sheriff's Department in connection with the Benoit investigation was executed there, he said.


No arrests were made and Truesdell was unable to say what was seized. He said records were among the items being sought, but he could not be more specific.


Astin did not return repeated calls to his cell phone from The Associated Press on Thursday.


Benoit had been under the care of Astin, a longtime friend, for treatment of low testosterone levels. Astin said Wednesday the condition likely originated from previous steroid use.


Astin prescribed testosterone for Benoit in the past but would not say what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office Friday.


Steroids were found in Benoit's home, leading officials to wonder whether the drugs played a role in the slayings. Some experts believe steroids cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."

Fayette County district attorney Scott Ballard said in a statement Thursday that he could not immediately comment on the raid.


Also Thursday, Ballard told the AP that 10 empty beer cans were found in a trash can in the Benoit home. An empty wine bottle was found a few feet from where Benoit hanged himself, Ballard said.


It could take several weeks for toxicology tests to be completed on Benoit to see what medications, if any, were in his system.

Earlier Thursday, World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon urged people not to assume that steroids played a role in the murder-suicide of Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and 7-year-old son, Daniel.


McMahon, speaking on NBC's "Today" show, said toxicology results were needed to answer questions surrounding the death of Benoit, who hanged himself on the cable of a weight machine in his home. Authorities said he strangled his wife and smothered son during the weekend and placed Bibles next to their bodies.



"There's no way, quite frankly, that we, or the media -- it's all speculation until the toxicology reports come back," McMahon said. "It's all speculation."


Toxicology test results may not be available for weeks or even months, Ballard has said.


The WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., was quick to dismiss the idea, issuing a news release Tuesday saying steroids "were not and could not be related to the cause of death" and that the findings indicate "deliberation, not rage." Benoit tested negative April 10, the last time he was tested for drugs, the WWE said.


No motive has been offered for the killings.


The couple argued in the days before the slayings over whether he should stay home more to take care of their mentally retarded son, said Jerry McDevitt, an attorney for the league.


McDevitt said the wrestling organization learned from the couple's friends and relatives that the Benoits were struggling with where to send the boy to school since he had recently finished kindergarten.


He also said Benoit's wife didn't want him to quit wrestling, but she "wanted him to be at home more to care for the kid. She'd say she can't take care of him by herself when he was on the road."


The child suffered from a rare medical condition called Fragile X Syndrome, an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism, McDevitt said.


Meanwhile, authorities in Georgia were investigating a link between Benoit and a Florida business that may have supplied him with steroids.


Prosecutors in upstate New York who have been investigating the company's drug sales said Benoit received deliveries from Signature Pharmacy and MedXLife.com, which sold steroids, human growth hormone and testosterone on the Internet.


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.


Terence Kindlon, lawyer for MedXLife co-owner Dr. Gary Brandwein, denied the allegations that his client's company sold steroids to Benoit. Brandwein has pleaded not guilty to six counts in New York state court related to the criminal sale of a controlled substance. He was accused of signing and sending prescriptions without ever seeing patients.


McDevitt said the drugs found in Benoit's house were legitimately prescribed.


"There's no question, none of these drugs are out there, none of these drugs came from Internet pharmacies," he said.


In addition to causing paranoia and explosive outbursts, steroids can also contribute to deep depression, according to experts.


"Just as you have the extreme high of when you're on steroids, you can get the opposite," said Dr. Todd Schlifstein, a clinical assistant professor at the New York University School of Medicine. "You can have a dramatic difference in mood swings. You can feel there's no hope, there's no future."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

[MsDiva2007]

As far as the so called phone calls, they happen to have been text messages. Anyone can send a text message. The thing with the bibles placed near them seems not so Chris Benoit like for my liking. Since this whole thing took place without any witnesses who really knows what happened.Who's to say that his wife didn't kill the son and Chris snapped and killed her. For all I know some less than brillant fan could have done this.

It irks me to no end when the police are so quick to rush to judgement without any hard forensic evidence supporting their theory. What I wonder is what are the police going to do if the toxicology report finds no steriods in his system? There goes the "Roid Rage" theory everyone is touting as fact.

[MissThing]

Originally Posted by MsDiva2007

As far as the so called phone calls, they happen to have been text messages. Anyone can send a text message. The thing with the bibles placed near them seems not so Chris Benoit like for my liking. Since this whole thing took place without any witnesses who really knows what happened.Who's to say that his wife didn't kill the son and Chris snapped and killed her. For all I know some less than brillant fan could have done this.

It irks me to no end when the police are so quick to rush to judgement without any hard forensic evidence supporting their theory. What I wonder is what are the police going to do if the toxicology report finds no steriods in his system? There goes the "Roid Rage" theory everyone is touting as fact.

I think they knew, very early on, the order of death. I have heard zero, and I mean zero that would indicate she didn't die first. As for an external party, that really seems like a stretch. Do you mean someone held him against his will, sent text messages to his personal friends on both of their phones, waited in the house over the weekend, and then killed him last of all? Seems dangerous, no? Why not kill the strongest person first? (In this case, him.)

And, bottom line is, we have no idea, except the toxicology reports, what hard forensic evidence the police might have. They may very well have a whole encyclopedia of forensic evidence - just because we don't know it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[AJane]

Benoit's wife was found hog-tied in the living room. It would have been exceedingly difficult for her to kill anyone in that position. And murder-suicides don't usually leave any witnesses.

[MsDiva2007]

I am not saying she didn't die first. I am just also not seeing it as cut and dried that Chris Benoit killed his wife and child. I have a house with 3 dead bodies and no witnesses. I dislike tidy little scenarios that neatly tie something up so untidy as murder.

I am just throwing out theories. I understand one of Chris's friends was recently murdered for all I know that could also be tied to this somehow. The media has quickly made this into some sort of fanfic that each day they add their own little scenario's onto to make them seem in the know.

I may once all of the evidence comes out be wrong and he did actually do this. I will at that time admit I am wrong. I just find a few things not adding up for me. I definitely think there is more to the story.

[anemone]

Wikipedia posting is eerie twist in Benoit case - Pro wrestler's death - MSNBC.com

Wikipedia posting is eerie twist in Benoit case
Web site posting referred to wife's death 14 hours before cops found her
The Associated Press
Updated: 6:39 p.m. MT June 27, 2007
ATLANTA - Investigators are looking into who altered pro wrestler Chris Benoit’s Wikipedia entry to mention his wife’s death hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their 7-year-old son.

Benoit’s Wikipedia entry was altered early Monday to say that the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife’s death.

A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said Thursday that the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Conn., where World Wrestling Entertainment is based.

An IP address, a unique series of numbers carried by every machine connected to the Internet, does not necessarily have to be broadcast from where it is registered. The bodies were found in Benoit’s home in suburban Atlanta, and it’s not known where the posting was sent from, Bass said.

Benoit strangled his wife and son during the weekend, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself on the cable of a weight-machine in his home, authorities said. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.

/snip/
Benoit’s page on Wikipedia, a reference site that allows users to add and edit information, was updated at 12:01 a.m. Monday, about 14 hours before authorities say the bodies were found. The reason he missed a match Saturday night was “stemming from the death of his wife Nancy,” it said.


Reporters informed the Fayette County district attorney’s office of the posting Thursday, and the agency forwarded the information to sheriff’s investigators, who are looking into it, a legal assistant said in an e-mail to the AP.

WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said that to his knowledge, no one at the WWE knew Nancy Benoit was dead before her body was found Monday afternoon. Text messages released by officials show that messages from Chris Benoit’s cell phone were being sent to co-workers a few hours after the Wikipedia posting.

WWE employees are given WWE e-mail addresses, McDevitt said, though he did not know whether Chris Benoit had one.

“I have no idea who posted this,” McDevitt said. “It’s at least possible Chris may have sent some other text message to someone that we’re unaware of. We don’t know if he did. The phone is in the possession of authorities.”

On Thursday afternoon, the Wikipedia page about Benoit carried a note stating that editing by unregistered or newly registered users was disabled until July 8 because of vandalism.

In other developments Thursday, Ballard told the AP that 10 empty beer cans were found in a trash can in the Benoit home. An empty wine bottle was found a few feet from where Benoit hanged himself, Ballard said.

It could take several weeks for toxicology tests to be completed on Benoit to see what substances, if any, were in his system.
/snip/

---
???
The whole article is quite a bit longer and covers some already reported info.

[Krom]

I have the crazy scenario in my mind now that someone from the WWE went to check on Benoit when he didn't show up and found this whole mess before the police did.

I do NOT think this changes the likelihood that he was indeed the murderer. I mean cobbling together some huge conspiracy theory ignores motive. The only intelligent motive I could think of is if Benoit had some crazed psycho fan, but still... the level of difficulty of not only overpowering Benoit himself, after murdering his family in front of him, but also wiping out forensic evidence well enough that the cops don't even SUSPECT anything is pretty high, and the chances pretty low.

But I could see some WWE stooge showing up at the house, seeing the array of bodies there, going back to the office and reporting this all to good ol' Vince, and then some idiot at the WWE editing the Wiki page early.

Or... perhaps the server time on the supposed edit is being miscalculated. A timestamp of 12:01 a.m sounds a heck of a lot like it could be some kind of default timestamp.