Chris Benoit is dead at the age of 40 in an apparent muder-suicide after police found his body along with that of his wife and his 7 year old son. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution. WAGA-TV reported investigators believe the 40-year-old Benoit killed his wife, Nancy, and son, Daniel, over the weekend, then himself on Monday.
Police have not said how the three died. The bodies were found in three rooms. Autopsies were planned for Tuesday.
"The details, when they come out," said Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard, "are going to prove a little bizarre."
WWE spokesman Richard Hering said on the company Website that "several curious text messages sent by Benoit early Sunday morning prompted concerned friends" to contact the wrestling company, which then asked Fayette County sheriff's on Monday to go to Benoit's Green Meadow Lane home and check on the family.
Authorities initially had trouble getting to the home because of two large German shepherds on the property, the WWE said. Sheriff's deputies were standing guard at the home on Tuesday morning, keeping back the media and the curious.
Benoit failed to appear at Saturday's live wrestling event in Beaumont, Texas., and at WWE's "Vengeance: Night of Champions" in Houston Sunday night. WWE said Benoit had a "family emergency."
As news of the death's spread, the wrestling blogosphere erupted in disbelief.
"Obviously, all sorts of speculation are running rampant but I have talked to so many people and nobody really knows," said Bryan Alvarez, who runs Figurefour Weekly, a wrestling newsletter and Web site, from Linwood, Wash.
Wrestler Chris Benoit Dead at 40