By Michael Lewis
 No one else heard from Benoit until 3:53 a.m. Sunday, when he sent out a blast of text messages to Chavo Guerrero. “My physical address is 130 Green Meadow Lane, Fayetteville, Georgia 30215,” the first message read. Two minutes later Guerrero got a second text from Benoit: “The dogs are in the enclosed pool area. Garage side door is open.”
Guerrero, who awoke to the beep, was confused. Was Benoit asking to be picked up? Didn’t he know Guerrero was in Houston? Guerrero figured it was an old message just getting through and went back to sleep. Three more text messages, all from Nancy Benoit’s cell phone, were sent to Guerrero in the next three minutes, simply repeating the Benoits’ home address. Then silence.
When Guerrero awoke on Sunday morning, he repeatedly tried to call Benoit. Employees at WWE headquarters also attempted to reach him; he was scheduled to perform at a pay-per-view event that night.
It wasn’t until Monday at 12:30 p.m. that Guerrero told WWE officials about the text messages. Shortly afterward the WWE asked the Fayette County sheriff’s office to check out the family house.
The police had some trouble getting in; two German shepherds barked at the officers. Finally, McFague, who knew the dogs well, led the officers inside to make the gruesome discovery.
They found Chris Benoit in his basement gym. After sending Guerrero the text messages, he’d removed the bar of a lat pull-down machine and placed a cloth around his neck. He then wrapped the steel cord around his throat, adjusted the machine’s weight, and hanged himself.
Nancy and Daniel Benoit were laid to rest on Saturday, July 14, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Seventy-five people attended the memorial service at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, where Father Phil Egitto told the mourners, “The tragedy that took the lives of Nancy and Daniel must not be allowed to take our souls.”
64 wrestlers under the age of 50 have died since 1987, including eight that made the world take notice.
Nancy’s sister, Sandra Toffoloni, also spoke. Some of Chris Benoit’s friends were in the audience, including Dean Malenko, a former wrestler who had taught Benoit the Crippler Crossface move. Wiping away tears throughout her 10-minute eulogy, Toffoloni remembered her sister and the little boy she adored.
“Daniel kissed sweetly, hugged tightly, and laughed happily,” Toffoloni said. “Daniel was her whole world, and they had a beautiful future.”
The service lasted 45 minutes. Christopher Michael Benoit’s name was not uttered once.
Three days after the discovery of the bodies, Chris Nowinski, a former college football player and pro wrestler who now devotes his life to researching the dangers of concussions, called Michael Benoit, Chris’ father. He asked if his organization, the Sports Legacy Institute (SLI), could examine his son’s brain. Michael Benoit agreed.
SLI doctors found that Benoit’s brain resembled that of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient, filled with brown, dead brain cells—killed off as a result of head trauma. Similar injuries have been known to cause changes in behavior, personality, and temperament.
According to Dr. Julian Bailes, the head of neurosurgery at West Virginia University, who works with SLI, no test or scan could have identified Benoit’s brain damage while he was alive. But one has only to watch a few of the “tribute clips” on the Internet to see what caused it. Most feature numerous shots of Benoit executing his flying head butt. It’s like watching a death by 1,000 cuts.
Toxicology reports later revealed that Benoit had 10 times the normal level of the steroid testosterone in his body—no surprise, given Astin’s prescription. He was also on painkillers and, of course, Xanax. According to the WWE, he had passed a steroids test under the Wellness Program two and a half months earlier. Apparently, the program hadn’t proved much of a deterrent.
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