Official Word Comes from Fayette County Georgia About Chris Benoit and His Family

The official statement now coming from authorities in Georgia according to Fox News is that Chris Benoit did indeed strangle his wife, smother their son, and then hung himself.

Fox News is reporting that police have officially ruled the case a murder-suicide, however their investigation is continuing. Fayette County Sheriff Office spokesperson Lt. Tommy Pope is quoted as saying "There was a lot of prescription medication that he had received from doctors with what we believed to be at this time legal prescriptions." Some of the associated side effects of steroids are aggressive behavior, outbursts of anger, depression, and paranoia.

The reports coming in from Fox News and Fayette County are that Chris Benoit's wife Nancy died of asphyxiation some time Friday and that her body was found in an upstairs family room in the home. Nancy Benoit's hands and feet had been bound. Like Nancy the couples son Daniel died of asphyxiation also and was found in an upstairs bedroom. It is believed that Daniel was killed sometime during the morning of Saturday June 23^rd. Both Nancy and Daniel were found with Bibles by their side said officials according to Fox News.

Officials are also telling Fox News that Chris Benoit was found downstairs in a weight room and was hanging from a pulley that was attached to a weight machine in that room.

The couple went through a separation in May 2003 and Nancy had asked for court protection from Chris Benoit. According to documents acquired by Fox News, Nancy said the marriage to Chris was "irrevocably broken". The documents also said that there was "cruel treatment." The separation and divorce papers were later dropped by Nancy Benoit.

Fox News has spoken with many friends of the Benoit family and are quoting Bill Apter who is also a writer as well as a friend as saying "He was like the dad you always wanted to have. Chris Benoit was not the type of guy that you would profile to do anything of what is being alleged to have happened." A neighbor of the Benoit's named Alaina Jones told Fox that "We would see Chris walking in his yard from time to time. He wasn't rude, but he wasn't really outwardly warm."

It has been reported on other sites that Chris Benoit had sent some disturbing text messages on Saturday that may have led to the police going to the home to investigate what was going on. Saeed Ahmed of the Journal-Constitution told FOX News that all that they could confirm from authorities was "The sheriff's department will only confirm that he sent one text message sometime around 4:30 a.m. Saturday, and I know that the WWE is saying that he sent several others, which is what prompted them to contact the sheriff's office to go do a welfare check at the house."

When asked about this the WWE posted information on their webpage stating that they "asked authorities to check on Benoit and his family after being alerted by friends who received several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning."

The WWE and law enforcement officials are not releasing anymore information at this time according to Fox News.

The preliminary reports from medical examiners along with toxicology reports will take several days to a few weeks to complete and release.

RESOURCES:

Fox News Via FoxNews.com ~ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,286737,00.html