DA Scott Ballard comments more on the facts of the Benoit tragedy.

Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard joined Bob Frantz this morning on WTAM-1100 in Cleveland . Frantz’s topic on his show this morning was the Benoit story.


Frantz asked about reports that Nancy Benoit had bruises on her back from him having his knee in her back and bruises on her front from being pressed into the floor and the cable around her neck. He asked if this sounded like an incident of rage or something that was plotted out? Ballard said, in looking at the times of death – if it was rage, it was an extended period of rage. He says it doesn’t look like a temporary loss of self control, but rather separate incidents spread apart over hours. Ballard also said that there were steroids in the home, but couldn’t say what quantity.

Frantz asked about needle marks in Benoit’s son’s arm, and Ballard confirmed that there were “older” needle marks in the boys arm and he may have been injected with the steroids. Ballard also said he believes Benoit had a prescription for the steroids and thus had them legally.

Frantz asked if Ballard had ever seen anything like this where a situation of this type was stretched over a period of days and Ballard said he had not. They discussed Benoit staying in the house over those days with the bodies and Ballard indicated they are investigating Benoit’s comings and goings from the house over that time period.

Frantz questioned if the text messages Benoit apparently sent including one that suggested Nancy and Daniel had food poisoning were a way to set up an alibi. Ballard disagreed – saying he was likely simply explaining why they might not be out for people to see. Ballard believes the later test messages were designed by Benoit to have someone find his body after the suicide. Frantz clarified his question – in that he was wondering if Benoit initially wasn’t planning to kill himself and was setting up that as an explanation for his wife and son’s deaths. Ballard said there are plenty of possibilities – but investigators believe the texts about food poisoning were sent after Nancy and Daniel were already dead.

Frantz asked about the toxicology reports and Ballard said they will show what substances were in their bodies so they can get a better idea if steroids or other drugs played a role here. Ballard also said he was not aware of any other abuse in the home.

Ballard was asked in general how the D.A.’s office handles a situation where there will be no prosecution. He says they are still investigating to make sure there is no other involved party at large. They don’t believe there is but need to make sure.

Frantz asked how the community is handling it and Ballard said pretty well. He noted that fans are crushed and in state of disbelief. He also said he wasn’t sure many people in the area knew who he was and said he had never heard of Benoit.

Frantz then questioned Ballard about the timeline of events and when WWE would have known about it as a murder-suicide, because Frantz has been critical of WWE for running a tribute show Monday night while their own website posted that investigators were checking this as a double-murder-suicide during the show.

Ballard indicated that the bodies were found Monday around 2:30pm and it wasn’t until Tuesday around 2pm that it was officially announced that it was a double-murder-suicide, so WWE may not have known Monday night that it was a double-murder-suicide with Benoit as the murderer. He noted that investigators were being very guarded about what info they let out until they had all the facts straight. He said there may have been significant details that WWE didn’t know about Monday night.

Frantz pressed and clarified what he saw on WWE .com during the RAW show about a double-murder-suicide – but noted that no one was saying at that point who the murderer was – and it could have been Nancy . Ballard noted that some info may have gotten out earlier – but there was a lot of confusion early and then misinformation as well. He said it is harsh to judge WWE for running a tribute in their grief for an incident they didn’t have all the details about.


The interview was in hour one of the Bob Frantz show which can be podcast by going to this link. Bob talked about the Benoit story with callers throughout the show.

http://www.wtam.com/cc-common/podcas...=BobFrantz.xml


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Added extra:

Women who knew the Benoits has child with same illness.

Delta News 1130 has posted an article revealing that Daniel Benoit suffered from Fragile X syndrome. The article quotes a woman, who has a son who also has the syndrome, noting her family had been in contact with Chris Benoit several years ago regarding the condition. The article also notes the stress that families coping with the syndrome deal with. Fragile X syndrome is an inherited mental impairment that is the most common known cause of autism. While it is an inherited genetic condition, other family members may show no signs of the condition. It can manifest itself in many ways, from slight learning disabilities to severe behavioral issues. You can read the Delta News article by clicking here.