Elevated testosterone found in Benoit's body
CTV News
Canadian wrestler Chris Benoit had elevated testosterone in his body, but there is no evidence of recent artificial steroid use at the time of his death, officials say.
"This level of testosterone indicates that he had been using testosterone some time prior to the day that he died," Dr. Kris Sperry, chief medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said Tuesday. "There were no other steroids, or artificial steroid-like drugs that were found in his urine."
Benoit also had the sedative Xanax in his system and the painkiller Hydrocodone as did his murdered wife Nancy, Sperry said at the news conference held in Decatur, Ga.
Their son Daniel also had Xanax in his body.
"It is our opinion that Daniel Benoit was sedated at the time that he was murdered," Sperry said.
The Xanax level in Daniel's body was "relatively elevated, and also, Xanax is not a drug that would normally be given to a child for routine purposes," Sperry said.
In Nancy's case, all the drugs were at a therapeutic level, he said, but noted that her body was decomposing and that would affect the ability to interpret results reliably.
Nancy also had a blood-alcohol level of .184. "All of this alcohol could be due to the decompositional process," Sperry said.
Police say Benoit killed his wife and seven-year-old son in their home near Atlanta last month and then hanged himself on the cable of a weight machine.
Authorities found anabolic steroids inside the gated home, leading officials to wonder if the drugs played a role in the killings.
Some experts believe steroids can cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts.
Toxicology tests were conducted to determine if steroids or other drugs were present in Benoit's body.
Blood-alcohol tests were also conducted, as were chemical tests on the bodies of his wife and son.
Physician charged
Following the slayings, federal authorities arrested Benoit's personal physician, Dr. Phil Astin, with improperly prescribing painkillers and other drugs to patients other than Benoit. He has pleaded not guilty.
Investigators have raided Astin's office several times since the deaths, seizing prescription records and other medical documents.
Before he was charged, Astin told The Associated Press he prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past.
Astin would not say what medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office June 22, the day police believe Benoit killed his wife.
On Saturday, three weeks after Nancy and Daniel Benoit were murdered, friends and family paid their last respects at a private funeral service in Florida. Nancy Benoit's family lives in the state.
Benoit was a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstar with a wholesome, family-man image. Despite that appearance, however, his wife filed for divorce in 2003, alleging "cruel treatment.''
She later dropped the complaint, as well as a request for a restraining order in which she alleged Benoit threatened her and smashed furniture.
Nancy was a wrestling stage manager who married Benoit in 2000.
Benoit's father has said private services for him were to be held in Canada. It's not known whether those services have taken place.
WWE owner Vince McMahon, who did not show up to the funeral of Nancy Daniel, has urged the public not to assume steroids were behind the double murder-suicide.
A WWE statement said Benoit passed a random drug test in April.
With files from The Associated Press