Wrestler and wife argued over child care

By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press WriterWed Jun 27, 7:47 PM ET

In the days before pro wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and child and hanged himself, the couple argued over whether he should stay home more to take care of their mentally retarded 7-year-old son, an attorney for the wrestling league said Wednesday.

"I think it's fair to say that the subject of caring for that child was part of what made their relationship complicated and difficult, and it's something they were both constantly struggling with," said Jerry McDevitt, an attorney for World Wrestling Entertainment. "We do know it was a source of stress and consternation."

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.

Over the past weekend, authorities said, Benoit strangled his wife, suffocated his son and placed a Bible next to their bodies before hanging himself with a weight-machine cable in the couple's suburban home. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.

Anabolic 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."

The WWE, based in Stamford, Conn., issued 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." It also added that Benoit tested negative April 10, the last time he was tested for drugs.

Also Wednesday, Benoit's personal physician said the wrestler did not give any indication he was troubled when he met with the doctor hours before the start of the weekend.

Benoit had been under the care of Dr. Phil Astin, a longtime friend, for treatment of low testosterone levels. Astin said 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 the day of their meeting.

"He was in my office on Friday to stop by just to see my staff," Astin said. "He certainly didn't show any signs of any distress or rage or anything."

"I'm still very surprised and shocked, especially with his child Daniel involved," Astin said. "He worshipped his child."

District Attorney Scott Ballard said the autopsy indicated that there were no bruise marks on the child's neck, so authorities are now assuming he could have been killed using a choke hold. "It's a process of elimination," he said.

The Benoits' argument over their son was not the only friction in their marriage. Nancy Benoit had filed for a divorce in 2003, saying the couple's three-year marriage was irrevocably broken and alleging "cruel treatment." She later dropped the complaint.

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.

"That's something that sounds like we ought to be investigating," Ballard told the AP on Wednesday.

A lawyer for MedXLife co-owner Dr. Gary Brandwein scoffed at allegations that his client's company sold steroids to Benoit.

"I've only read that in the paper. I have no direct information about that whatsoever," Terence Kindlon said Wednesday, adding that prosecutors in Albany County, N.Y., were trying to "distract everyone's attention from the fact that their case is disintegrating."

Brandwein, a 44-year-old osteopath from Boca Raton, Fla., 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.

Telephone messages left for attorneys for Brian Schafler and Greg Trotta — two other co-owners of MedXLife — were not immediately returned Wednesday. The two men have pleaded guilty to felony third-degree diversion of prescription medications and prescriptions, admitting they helped get drugs in 2006 for customers in upstate New York who had no medical need for them.

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."

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When i heard about this the first thing i thought was he was probably on steroids.

Does anyone else think that they are pretty callous when talking about the son in this article. Mentally retarded, for that child, the kid......They just don't seem to be very....i don't know. I guess i think the author could have been softer when referring to the boy. Use his name.

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Jodie....Wife to Andrew (1995)
Mommy to Riley (2000) and Wyatt (2003)

Wow, that is the first i have heard about the boy having disabilities. I heard last night on Inside Edition that Benoit was supposedly injecting his son with growth hormones to increase his size. I don't know if these are nasty rumors or truths? Now i guess Vince McMann from WWE is apologizing for his 3 hour tribute to Chris Benoit on his show the other night,because it was the next day he found out Chris killed them all and himself.
They say the steriods can cause paranoia and depression too. They did find steriods in his home, i'm sure they are waiting on the lab tests now.

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"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

Its just soo sad....

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Tara, wife to Jason, mama to Jayden 12/23/06 PG with #2 EDD 8/3/08 ~ non vaxing, co sleeping, cding, bfing,AP family.

I think he was injecting him with the growth steriods because he
had dwarfism hope that's how it's said, I heard it on the radio in
the car this morning. But what the big question was why he was
the one injecting instead of a physician. That's the last I heard.
This is such a horrible story and it's everywhere.

I had a nephew who received growth hormone when small, and my brother and his wife were taught to inject it because it was a daily shot. I did hear that the boy had injection marks where he'd been injected with "something", but I'm not sure if they know it was growth hormone or they were guessing. I also hadn't heard that the son had any disabilities before. I kept wondering why he killed the child, so maybe in his confused mental state he thought it was better for the child. Who knows....but very sad.

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Thanks for the info Aliadam I thought that if something was wrong
like this that they would have taught the parents to give the injections
but they were making such a big deal on the radio I thought hmm I
must be wrong. Or maybe it was because they were thinking it's not
growth hormones. You think?

I'm not really sure WHY they're making such a big deal out of it. When I first heard they were giving him growth hormone, I thought maybe it was because the dad wanted him to be big & brawny and wasn't satisfied with his size. But now that I'm reading that he had other disabilities I'm wondering if it was for that. I don't really want to give my opinion on whether or not it was appropriate until I hear more about the medical reasons he was receiving it. My nephew who got it was prescribed by a pediatric endocrinologist because he was very very tiny and is "normal" size now but certainly not large (maybe 5'8", 160 # something like that).

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I hope it was for a medical condition he had and not some other
reason. Because of what he did to his wife and son you don't know
what he was thinking or his reasoning for anything. But thanks for
the info because I just thought I was wrong in assuming the parents
would have been taught to give these shots as you would for diabetes
or anything else such as this.

I had the same thought when I heard that the child had Fragile X Syndrome.