In June 2007 Canadian professional wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and son and then took his own life. With allegations of domestic abuse in their marriage it could be that Chris finally killed his wife and son after years of abuse. However, some speculate that they many blows to his head he took during his wrestling career led to brain damage and could have caused Benoit to kill his wife and child. One thing is clear – the only person responsible for the murders of Nancy and Daniel Benoit is their husband and father Chris Benoit.
This is Part One of the story of The Benoit Family
In June 2007 Canadian professional wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and son and then took his own life. With allegations of domestic abuse in their marriage it could be that Chris finally killed his wife and son after years of abuse. However, some speculate that they many blows to his head he took during his wrestling career led to brain damage and could have caused Benoit to kill his wife and child. One thing is clear – the only person responsible for the murders of Nancy and Daniel Benoit is their husband and father Chris Benoit.
This is Part One of the story of The Benoit Family
Hi there and welcome to Killer in the Family podcast after a bit of a break over April, as I mentioned in the last episode with the brilliant Jess Phillips. During the break I handed in my last three assessments for my master's, so I just have one more assessment to go, and I also did a lot of research for my master's dissertation over the break. As I mentioned before, my focus for the dissertation is coercive control and intimate partner homicide, and the research I was doing was analysing 160 domestic homicide reviews to understand if coercive control was a factor in them. It was obviously a very challenging task, as I'm sure you can imagine, but it was also a really humbling one as I read tributes and memories from so many family and friends as they remembered their loved ones who were victims of homicide. It really helps power me on to keep doing what I'm doing. So also during the break there was the ceremony for the True Crime Awards, where Killer in the Family podcast was shortlisted for Rookie Podcast of the Year. Now I'm trying to get organised with my podcast episode, so I'm actually recording this a bit before the awards ceremony, which is on Thursday, the 25th of April. So please check my socials at killer in the family pod and next week's episode to find out what happened at the awards. No matter what the outcome, I just want to say again a huge thank you to all you amazing listeners for your support and encouragement for the podcast, and over the break after the last episode, the podcast actually reached 5,000 downloads, which is just amazing. Thank you so much. So let's get into this episode. It's a bit of a different one for the podcast and you'll find out why as we talk it through and it's another two-parter. It's also our first one involving a Canadian. I think I know we have lots of listeners in Canada, so this one is for all of you. Eh, it was also recommended to me by my husband, paul, so just a reminder that you can recommend any story for me to cover by contacting me on social media at Killer in the Family Pod. This is going to be a tough listen.
Speaker 1:
In June 2007, canadian professional wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and son and then took his own life With allegations of domestic abuse in their marriage. It could be that Chris finally killed his wife and son after years of abuse. However, some speculate that the many blows to his head he took during his wrestling career led to brain damage and could have caused Benoit to kill his wife and child. One thing is clear the only person responsible for the murders of Nancy and Daniel Benoit is their husband and father, chris Benoit. This is part one of the story of the Benoit family is one that has been told in many different places. Seeing it as it involves two professional wrestlers Nancy Benoit was in the wrestling game as well Obviously garnered a lot of media attention when it happened. For this episode and part two, I've read lots of news reports. I've also listened to the True Crime All the Time podcast episodes on the story, as well as watching the two-part documentary Dark Side of the Ring on the story. There's also a book I've read called Chris and Nancy the true story of the Benoit murder-suicide and pro-wrestling's cocktail of death by Irvin Mushnick. It seems like a bit of a sensational title if you ask me, but all the sources, as usual, are listed in the episode notes.
Speaker 1:
So let's start by talking about Nancy. She was born Nancy Toffoloni on the 17th of May 1964 in Boston, massachusetts. She was 43 years old when she was killed. Now, nancy graduated from DeLand High School in Florida and went on to get a job answering phones at an insurance firm. She was actually scouted there as a model and appeared on the front cover of the June 1984 edition of Wrestling All-Stars. So this started her wrestling career and from there she went on to be an on-air valet for Florida Championship Wrestling. Her ring name then was Fallen Angel.
Speaker 1:
Now I don't know anything at all about wrestling and I'm sure lots of listeners do, so please do drop me messages if you do like. Tell me about wrestling, tell me about what it was like in the 90s and noughties. But apparently on-air valets are used to promote professional wrestlers in the ring. So the sportstercom website describes valets as quote. Valets are used primarily as eye candy to attract the audience while at the same time distracting a wrestler's opponent. Yet valets are not just the eye candy, they're also strong and calculating, making sure that not only does their wrestler have a backup plan in case something goes wrong, they have one for themselves as well. So well, it doesn't surprise me that professional wrestling in the 80s was pretty misogynistic. Here, which really feels like the valet role, is a pretty misogynistic one. But here was Nancy in the 80s starting her wrestling career as a valet, and at this point she was married to someone called Jim Dowse, who was also in the wrestling game, and she married him when she was 20 years old. After she made her honor debut for Florida Championship Wrestling, she became part of a wrestler named Kevin Sullivan's stable as Fallen Angel. Now again, I don't know anything about wrestling so I had to find out what a stable was, and apparently it's quote a team of three or more wrestlers who generally share common motives, allies and adversaries within a storyline and are often presented as having the same or similar gimmicks. So she became Kevin Valet when he was known as Sandman. She became Kevin's valet when he was known as Sandman. She would open apparently open his beers and light his cigarettes a bit more of wrestling misogyny there and she actually divorced Jim in 1985 and married Kevin Sullivan soon after and they continued to work together through their marriage.
Speaker 1:
Now, in 1989, nancy joined World Championship Wrestling and started using the ring name Woman. She then joined the stable again the stable like a group of wrestlers called the Four Horsemen, which would later include her third husband, chris Benoit. She moved into Extreme Championship Wrestling in the early 90s and there were so many different storylines in this sort of wrestling world and I'm sure those of you who are fans will know about it, but in the mid 90s, apparently, the Sandman, who was Kevin Sullivan, began feuding with a wrestler called Tommy Dreamer after he had apparently kissed a woman who was Nancy, and the feud completely culminated in an I quit match where the Sandman was seemingly blinded when Dreamer pushed a lit cigarette into his eye. Following the bout, a woman announced that she was leaving the Sandman as he was now useless. So obviously it's all make-believe, but I know that people really got into the storylines and characters and that's obviously what made it so entertaining for all you know, the millions of fans of wrestling.
Speaker 1:
One storyline that wasn't make-believe was when her ring character Woman started an affair with Chris Benoit when she was still with Kevin, and this storyline turned into reality as Nancy and Kevin divorced in 1997 and this coincided with her last appearance in the ring. Now her career went on to sort of manage Chris Benoit's career basically, so she was still very much involved in the wrestling community. Now the True Crime All the Time podcast talks about instances where Kevin Sullivan apparently assaulted Nancy and she would go to Chris and other friends for help, and it's not clear, but it's thought that this is probably one of the reasons why she divorced him and had an affair with Chris. Now Wrestling Great. A guy called Mike Foley has actually advocated for Nancy to be inducted into the World Wrestling Federation Hall of Fame, and on his podcast he talks about her legacy. Quote the three different runs she's had. She's really deserving of more recognition. The holy grail is the WWE Hall of Fame. I think eventually it's going to happen. I don't know if it's going to happen in the next few years, though. So clearly Nancy was a great wrestling talent in her own right in her ring name as Woman.
Speaker 1:
So, having got together with Chris Benoit in 1997, nancy gave birth to their son, daniel Christopher Benoit, on the 25th of February 2000 and later that year in November. Now their son, daniel, on an online obituary, was described as a smart, kind, affectionate little boy whose personality could light up a room. Apparently he loved watching animals on the TV and going to school and loved spending time with his mum, nancy. He was also a massive wrestling fan and had posters of his dad all over his room too. After he was killed, it was alleged that Daniel lived with something called Fragile X Syndrome, which can cause learning and cognitive difficulties. In his autopsy, this wasn't the case, so it's hard to know if this is true or not. Nevertheless, when he was killed, he was found with needle marks in his arms. True or not? Nevertheless, when he was killed he was found with needle marks in his arms, supposedly from growth hormone injections from his parents. I couldn't find out whether he actually needed these or not. Daniel was just seven years old when he was killed by his father.
Speaker 1:
So, as we know, moving on to Chris Benoit, he was a fellow professional wrestler. He was born on the 21st of May 1967 in Montreal, quebec, and was 40 years old when he took his own life. Now, benoit spent much of his younger life in Edmonton, alberta, and that's where he's usually billed from in his professional career. And Benoit really wanted to be a wrestler from a young age. He trained really hard and when he was 18 years old he began his career in stampede wrestling under the name Dynamite Chris Benoit. He continued his career in Japan and went on to world championship wrestling, extreme championship wrestling, and then returned to the world Championship Wrestling as part of the four horsemen stable that we talked about in 1995. Now Benoit held the nicknames the Canadian Crippler, which he got because he accidentally broke an opponent's neck through a miscommunication. This again shows the vibe of wrestling in the 90s. I think Such a horrific nickname to have and action. His other nickname was the Rabid Wolverine. I mean, both of them are pretty gross, to be honest. And he had a really successful wrestling career. He actually held 30 wrestling championships, including being a two-time world champion, one-time WCW world heavyweight champion and one-time world champion, one-time WCW world heavyweight champion and one-time world heavyweight champion in WWE. Apparently, he was booked to fight for the third world championship at WWE on the night of his death.
Speaker 1:
Before marrying Nancy, benoit had married a woman called Martina and had two children with her before they got divorced. He was also particularly close to two other wrestlers called Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko, and they had the nickname the Three Amigos. So according to Muchnick's book, chris was said to be quite an enigma. Personality wise, he was pretty quiet. He seemed to zone out in social situations. He had a really single-minded focus on wrestling and there's a story when he once made himself do a hundred squats after a wrestling match because he made a mistake in the match, so he seemed to be punishing himself. Now journalist Metzler said in Muchnick's book that Benoit always seemed to be thinking and was a very private person who wasn't very social and seemed to internalise a lot. Once a hugely successful wrestler, benoit, is now infamous for the actions he took in June 2007 in killing his wife and son.
Speaker 1:
When they were first together, nancy and Benoit lived in Peachtree City in central Atlanta. Apparently, it was where a lot of the wrestlers based in the South lived and there was a real community there. However, as we've already talked about, Benoit wasn't always one for the social chats that come with living in a real community there. However, as we've already talked about, benoit wasn't always one for the social chats that come with living in a close community and apparently him and Nancy would have quite big public fights. So by the time of their death, they were pretty isolated in that community, and Peachtree City was in Fayette County near Atlanta and apparently it's a pretty laid-back place and that there wasn't too much crime there. Now, nancy and Benoit's relationship was not a happy one.
Speaker 1:
In so much of the source material I've read and listened to and watched about this story the documentary, the book, the podcast people have talked about their volatile relationship and this really frustrates me. The term is so often used about relationships where there's actually abuse and control. It's not a volatile relationship, it's an abusive one, and there are loads of examples of this for Nancy and Benoit. And in June 2003, nancy actually filed for a restraining order against Benoit and started divorce proceedings. In the book by Mushnick it talks about the court papers that Nancy filed and said that Benoit quote lost his temper, threatened to strike the petitioner, nancy, and caused extensive damage to the home and personal belongings of the parties, including furniture.
Speaker 1:
Now, after this incident and after getting that restraining order and filing for divorce, nancy took Daniel and went to stay with her sister, sandra. Benoit pleaded with Nancy to come home and eventually, in August that year, she did. Now, on the Dark Side of the Ring documentary, sandra talks about whether she could have done more there, but the truth is, supporting someone out of a violent, abusive and controlling relationship is really difficult. Now, lots of the sources I've used again seem to treat this as though it's just an isolated incident. Yeah, nancy filed for divorce once, but that was just a single thing, it was just like a one-off. Well, knowing what I know about domestic abuse victims and perpetrators, I think it is very likely that this is definitely not a single incident. Victims often don't even report to the police until they've experienced over 30 incidents of domestic abuse, so it's so unlikely that Nancy would have called the police, filed for restraining order and divorce if this was the first incidence of abuse. Indeed, as time has passed, other incidents that people were told about have emerged One where Benoit smashed the windscreen of Nancy's car as she was sitting in it, which must have been terrifying, and another incident in 2006, where Nancy told her neighbour Holly that Benoit had pushed her up against the wall and she was starting to turn to alcohol and prescription medication to deal with the abuse.
Speaker 1:
Now Mushnick's book also published some texts between Nancy and Benoit in the early months of 2007, when she was calling him out for his drug use. Now it was alleged that Benoit was not only using steroids but also testosterone as part of his professional wrestling career. She also called him out for not being there for their son, daniel. Quote Daniel has called twice today. What you can't be bothered with him either. Another text read quote get off the crap you're on. It's making you passive, aggressive and I don't need the abuse. So clearly there was something really going on there in that relationship. Nancy also told her mum that she thought Benoit was sleeping with other women when he was on the road with wrestling and there are clear signs now that he was very controlling, again in Muchnick's book. Apparently Benoit once hid Nancy's car, which was a Hummer, and her neighbour Holly had to drive Nancy around to the airport car park to find it. When he was away travelling with his wrestling career, benoit would also call Nancy and tell her exactly what to cook. So this is classic coercive control and controlling patterns of behaviour that Benoit was exhibiting over Nancy.
Speaker 1:
Now Muchnick's book also has text between Benoit and one of his wrestling friends that shows that he was also a massive misogynist, which is often very much at the heart of control and abuse. One of the texts read, quote oh, I don't want to say this, but it's not my words. One of the texts read, quote how many men does it take to open a bottle of beer? None, it should already be open when the brings it. And there are a couple of other ones, um that are in the book that actually I can't read out because they are just just so horrific. Um, and some people might be thinking, oh, it's just banter, but it's completely indicative of his personality and the value that he places on women.
Speaker 1:
Now, looking back at the culture of wrestling in the 90s and noughties, it's probably easy to understand how benoit thought like that. Women were obviously treated as commodities of wrestling in the 90s and noughties. It's probably easy to understand how Benoit thought like that. Women were obviously treated as commodities and objects in the storyline of wrestlers, and misogyny and sexism was very much the name of the game. That is absolutely no excuse. You have to remember as well that in Nancy and Benoit's relationship he would have been on the road a lot with his wrestling career and Nancy also told friends that when he was at home he was emotionally detached, so I can imagine it was a pretty unhappy life that she was leading. So no, nancy and Chris Benoit's relationship wasn't volatile. It was abusive, controlling and dangerous. Benoit was a misogynistic, controlling man and on the weekend in June 2007 benoit and his son daniel enjoyed barbecuing in the garden of the house they lived in with Nancy in Atlanta.
Speaker 1:
Benoit was due to appear at a WWE wrestling event that weekend so presumably was enjoying some family time before he had to travel. The next day, the Saturday, he saw his neighbour Holly and mentioned that both Nancy and Daniel had really bad food poisoning so were really ill. He was also in contact with some of his fellow wrestlers and the bookers at WWE, saying he wouldn't be able to make the show on Saturday night because he was looking after Nancy and Daniel. He said he would try and make the Sunday show if he could. Said he would try and make the Sunday show if he could. Little did anyone know that when he was chatting with their neighbour and texting colleagues and friends, his wife, nancy, was already dead. He was about to kill his son, daniel. It seems prophetic when earlier that year, nancy told a friend quote if anything happens to me, make sure people know that Chris did it.
Speaker 1:
Next week, in part two, we are going to talk a bit more about what happened that fateful weekend in June 2007, and also talk through some of the theories that people have about why Chris did what he did. Now my theory is that he is a misogynistic, controlling, abusive man who didn't want to lose control of his family. But there are some other theories out there that I think will be interesting to talk through, and we haven't actually had them on the podcast before, so I think that will be really interesting. In the meantime, this episode is dedicated to Nancy and Daniel Benoit, thinking about the memories of who they were and what they brought to their friends and family.
Speaker 1:
This has been Killer in the Family podcast, written and produced by me, claire La, with music from the brilliant Tom Blocks and Pixabay. I'll be back next week with another episode, so please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget to send me any comments or questions on a voice note or DM to my Instagram profile at KillerInTheFamilyPod, and do let me know any stories you'd like me to cover as well. Until then, I've been Claire Laxton. This is Killer in the Family podcast. Until next time, take care, thank you.