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Over a two-day period between June 22 and June 24, 2007, Chris Benoit, a 40-year-old Canadian professional wrestler employed by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), murdered his wife Nancy and their seven-year-old son, Daniel, before hanging himself at their residence in Fayetteville, Georgia, United States. Autopsy results showed that Benoit's wife was murdered first, having died of asphyxiation on the night of June 22. Daniel, who also died of asphyxia, was killed as he was lying sedated in his bed on the morning of June 23. Then, on the evening of June 24, Benoit killed himself in his weight room, when he used his lat pulldown machine to hang himself. He placed Bibles near the bodies of his wife and son. Since the tragedy, numerous explanations for Benoit's actions have been proposed, including severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and steroid and alcohol abuse, leading to a failing marriage and other personal problems. This led to numerous media accounts, and a federal investigation into steroid abuse in professional wrestling. Events Murder of Nancy Benoit On Friday, June 22, 2007, Chris Benoit killed his wife Nancy in the bonus room of their house in Fayetteville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. According to the police report, Nancy's limbs were bound prior to her death, with her arms being restrained with coaxial cables, and her feet being duct-taped together. A balled-up combination of a tube sock and tape was also found in the kitchen trash and appeared to be soaked in dried blood, which led police to believe that it was being used as a makeshift gag prior to Nancy's death. Her body was found wrapped in a blanket alongside a Bible. Injuries indicated that Benoit had pressed a knee into her back while pulling on a cord around her neck, causing strangulation. Officials said that there were no signs of immediate struggle. Toxicologists found alcohol in Nancy's body but were unable to determine whether it had been present before death or was a product of decomposition. Decomposition also made it difficult to estimate pre-death levels of hydrocodone and alprazolam, which were found in "therapeutic levels" in her body. In any case, the medical examiner saw no evidence that Nancy was as sedated as her son had been when he was killed. Murder of Daniel Benoit Daniel Christopher Benoit (February 25, 2000 – June 23, 2007) was Chris' third child and second son, having older paternal half-siblings named David (born 1993) and Megan (born 1997) via Chris's first wife, Martina, who were all living in Canada at the time the murder-suicide took place. He was Nancy's only child, as she had no children with her ex-husbands Jim Daus or Kevin Sullivan. Daniel was suffocated and killed in his bedroom, and another Bible was left by his body. He had internal injuries to the throat area, showing no bruises. Daniel's exact time of death is unknown. The reports determined Daniel was sedated with Xanax and likely unconscious when he was killed. His body had also just started to show signs of decomposition but was not as far along as his mother's body. It was later alleged that Daniel had the genetic disorder fragile X syndrome and that this was the cause of domestic problems in the Benoit family. It was also suggested that track marks on Daniel's arms were the result of human growth hormone (HGH) injections because Benoit and his family considered him undersized due to his condition. Benoit's coworker and close friend, wrestler Chris Jericho, stated that from his own research on the condition, the symptoms "fit Daniel to a tee, all across the board". Concerning those who had publicly stated that they had no knowledge of Daniel having the condition, Jericho said, "If Chris had decided that he wanted to keep it to himself, you wouldn't have been able to pry that out of him with anything." Despite Jericho's initial statements regarding Daniel, he later stated in his 2011 book Undisputed, "It turned out that Daniel didn't have fragile X, but at the time it made sense because I was grasping at straws." District Attorney Scott Ballard later released a statement saying that a source with access to Daniel's medical files found no mention of any pre-existing mental or physical ailments. Likewise, Daniel's teachers reported that he was on par with other students and not about to be held back as previously thought. Speaking publicly for the first time in a major public interview on a Talk is Jericho podcast in 2016, Nancy's sister, Sandra Toffoloni, unequivocally denied any claims that Daniel had ever had fragile X or any similar condition. She also stated that claims of needle track marks on Daniel's arms were "preposterous". After the murders At about 3:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, June 23, 2007, fellow wrestler and close friend Chavo Guerrero received a voicemail message from Benoit's phone stating that both Nancy and Daniel had food poisoning and he would be late for that night's house show in Beaumont, Texas. Guerrero called Benoit back and found that Benoit sounded tired and groggy as he confirmed everything that he had said in his voice message. Guerrero, who grew "concerned about Benoit's tone and demeanor", called him back twelve minutes later. Benoit did not answer, and Guererro left a voicemail message asking Benoit to call him back. At 3:44 p.m. EDT, Benoit called Guerrero back, stating that he had not answered the call because he was on the phone with Delta Air Lines changing his flight. He stated that he had a stressful day due to Nancy and Daniel's purported food poisoning. Guerrero then replied with, "All right man, if you need to talk, I'm here for you". Benoit ended the conversation by saying, "Chavo, I love you". During a 2014 appearance on the Talk is Jericho podcast, Guerrero said Benoit sounded "off" when he talked to him, especially when he said "I love you" with emphasis. Another co-worker who often traveled with Benoit called him from outside the Houston airport; Benoit answered and told the co-worker that Nancy was vomiting blood and that Daniel was also vomiting. Benoit failed to show up for the house show in Beaumont and left a voicemail on Guerrero's cellphone that he would be on a flight that would arrive in Houston at 8:00 a.m. CDT on the following Sunday morning. During this time, Benoit also called and left a voicemail for an unknown friend. On Sunday, June 24, 2007, five text messages were sent to co-workers between 3:51 a.m. and 3:58 a.m. using both Chris and Nancy's cellphones. Four of them were the Benoit's home address; the fifth said that the family's dogs were in the enclosed pool area and that a garage side door had been left open. Guerrero and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) referee Scott Armstrong were two of the recipients of these texts. Guerrero was woken up by the texts, and went back to sleep, reasoning that he would ask Benoit about the texts when he picked him up at the Houston airport in a few hours. Benoit failed to show at the H.... Discover the Chris Cooker popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Chris Cooker books.