By GREG BLUESTEIN - Associated Press Writer
DECATUR, Ga.(AP) Pro wrestler Chris Benoit had a steroid and other drugs in his system when he killed his wife and young son last month and hanged himself in the family's home, investigators said Tuesday.
Benoit's body contained 10 times the normal level of testosterone, as well as the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and the painkiller hydrocodone, authorities said.
The testosterone, a synthetic version of the primary male sex hormone, is considered an anabolic steroid. The state's top medical examiner said it appeared to have been injected shortly before Benoit died.
Dr. Kris Sperry said there was no evidence of any other steroids in the wrestler's body, and nothing to show that steroids played a role in the death of Nancy and Daniel Benoit. He also said the boy appeared to have been sedated when he was asphyxiated, and Benoit's wife had a "therapeutic" level of sedatives in her body.
Sperry said there is no consensus that the use of testosterone can contribute to paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."
"This a question that basically no one knows the answer to," Sperry said. "There is conflicting scientific data as to whether or not testosterone creates mental disorders or leads to outbursts of rage," he said. "There's data that suggests it and other data that refute it."
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Benoit tested negative for alcohol.
Benoit killed his wife and 7-year-old son, placed Bibles next to their bodies and then hanged himself on the cable of a weight machine. After the slayings, prescription anabolic steroids were found in the family's home, raising questions about whether the drugs played a role in the killings.
Xanax, Vicodin, and steroids played a large part in these murders. (The mixing of them) A testosterone level 10 times the normal is ridiculous. Let the investigation of the WWE begin ..