Chris Benoit Death: Testosterone Clue
Pro Wrestler Chris Benoit Was Using Testosterone Prior to Death, Toxicology Tests Show
July 17, 2007 -- Pro wrestler Chris Benoit apparently was taking testosterone before his death last month, Georgia Bureau of Investigation officials announced today.
Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and their son, Daniel, were found dead in their home in Fayetteville, Ga., in late June. The deaths are suspected to be a murder-suicide that began when Benoit allegedly killed his wife and son and ended when Benoit killed himself.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) today released results of toxicology tests on Chris, Nancy, and Daniel Benoit.
The toxicology tests show that Chris Benoit had the antianxiety drug Xanax and the pain-killing drug hydrocodone in his blood and elevated levels of testosterone in his urine.
Benoit's Xanax and hydrocodone levels were in line with typical therapeutic doses of those drugs, but the testosterone levels indicated that Benoit had been taking testosterone for some unknown time prior to his death, according to GBI officials.
No other anabolic steroids were found in Benoit's urine.
The toxicology tests also show that Daniel Benoit, Chris and Nancy Benoit's son, had been sedated with Xanax prior to his death.
Nancy Benoit's blood tests show traces of Xanax, hydrocodone, and the painkiller hydromorphone -- all in therapeutic (not toxic) doses. The hydromorphone in her blood might come from the breakdown of hydrocodone, officials said.
GBI officials stressed that they don't know what role, if any, Benoit's testosterone use may have played in the Benoit family's deaths. It's also not clear how much testosterone Benoit took, how often, or for how long.