Nancy Daus
Encyclopedia
Nancy Elizabeth Benoit more commonly known by her in-ring names Woman and Fallen Angel, was a professional wrestling
valet and manager
. She worked in several promotions, including Jim Crockett Promotions
, Extreme Championship Wrestling
, and World Championship Wrestling
.
Over a three day period ending on June 24, 2007, Nancy Benoit and her son were victims of a double murder-suicide
perpetrated by her husband, WWE
wrestler Chris Benoit
.
, Nancy got a job answering phones at an insurance agency. When George Napolitano
needed a beautiful young girl for the cover of the June 1984 edition of the pro-wrestling magazine Wrestling All Stars, fellow photographer Bill Otten suggested the 20-year-old Nancy Toffoloni Daus for the role. Nancy, who had worked as a model, often sat alongside her then-husband Jim. She had also been selling programs at the Orlando shows and appeared as Para in the old "Apartment Wrestling" features. It was on this shoot where she met Kevin Sullivan
, who eventually wanted her to be a part of his wrestling entourage. After months of convincing, Nancy finally became an on-air valet, taking the name Fallen Angel. She made her in-ring debut on July 7, 1984 at the Lakeland Civic Center in Lakeland, Florida
for Florida Championship Wrestling.
She became a part of Kevin Sullivan's stable of kayfabe
"Satanists", which also included wrestlers The Lock
, Luna Vachon, The Purple Haze
, and Sir Oliver Humperdink
. Nancy and Kevin Sullivan traveled throughout the United States using the "Satanist" gimmick for promotions such as Angelo Savoldi's ICW and Southwest Championship Wrestling
. The two married in 1985.
named Robin Green, wearing a Steiner T-shirt and large glasses. She would sit in the audience and would interact with Steiner whenever he appeared. She eventually turned on him, aligning herself with Kevin Sullivan and adopting the name Woman and became the manager of Doom (Butch Reed
and Ron Simmons
). After leaving Doom, she aligned herself with Ric Flair
and the Four Horsemen
.
, where—once again called simply Woman—she managed Sullivan and The Tazmaniac
to the ECW Tag Team Championship
s. When Kevin re-sought the greener pastures of WCW, Nancy remained in ECW, going on to manage Sandman
and 2 Cold Scorpio
. Once again, she almost seamlessly re-invented herself to fit with The Sandman's gimmick—opening his beers, lighting his cigarettes, and destroying his opponents with her own Singapore cane
. She wrestled her first match in ECW when she teamed with The Sandman against Tommy Cairo
and Peaches
in a Singapore Cane Match.
, first appearing on the January 22, 1996 edition of WCW Monday Nitro
as one of many women who stood in the aisle and waved as Hulk Hogan
and Randy Savage
came to the ring. On the February 5, 1996 edition of Nitro she turned on Savage during his match with Chris Benoit
and rejoined Flair, Arn Anderson
, Brian Pillman
, and Benoit in the then-current incarnation of the Four Horsemen
. Miss Elizabeth
also managed the stable.
In 1996, Pillman had left the Horsemen, but they added Steve McMichael
and his wife Debra
in June, which didn't sit well with Woman. In her next angle, the two bickered, not getting along in general. The Four Horsemen were often given interview time on Nitro and when it came time for Debra to speak on the mic
, she'd often go into a soliloquy
regarding Woman's looks
and fashion sense
— usually when the two weren't within the vicinity of each other. Despite the heavy tension, the two managers never had a physical altercation.
At the same time, she started an on-screen relationship with Benoit, who at the time was involved in a feud with her real-life husband, Kevin Sullivan. On December 7, on WCW Saturday Night
, during a post-match interview with Sullivan, a home movie
of the couple canoodling in a kitchen
was played in front of him. Woman taunted Sullivan by saying, "You can't find me" and "I'm my own woman," while Benoit added: "You consider yourself the master of human chess
. Well, my bishop
just took your queen
". After the video, Sullivan stood there speechless, and his manager Jimmy Hart
led him off stage. This feud between Benoit and Sullivan saw Woman clashing with Sullivan's then-valet Jacquelyn
at ringside. In one match, the two ladies were strapped together, took shots at each other, and used the strap connecting them as a weapon against the men.
Eventually, the Benoit-Nancy on-screen relationship developed into a real-life affair
off-screen. Because of this it is often joked that 'Kevin Sullivan booked his own divorce.' The two were indeed divorced in 1997. What's more, Sullivan lost a retirement match to Benoit. His intent had been to retire from in-ring action and focus on booking.
Nancy's final WCW appearance (and professional wrestling appearance as Woman) took place on May 26, 1997 on Monday Nitro as she accompanied Benoit to the ring for a confrontation with Jimmy Hart regarding the whereabouts of Sullivan, who wasn't in the arena. On the following week's show, Benoit came alone to ringside without her by his side. After managing him for a little over half a year, no reason was given for Woman's sudden disappearance, and she was never mentioned on WCW programming again.
in 1985, Nancy had previously been married to and divorced from Jim Daus.
Nancy and Chris Benoit became engaged in 1997 after her divorce from Sullivan that same year, although Benoit only referred to Nancy as his fiancée even after they were married. She managed her husband's career from their home in Atlanta
.
She gave birth to her son Daniel Christopher Benoit on February 23, 2000. Nancy married Chris Benoit on November 23, 2000. However, in 2003, she filed for divorce, citing the marriage as "irrevocably broken" and alleging "cruel treatment." She later dropped the suit, as well as a restraining order filed on her husband.
In December 2005, Nancy had back and neck fusion surgery with Lloyd Youngblood
.
After Nancy's death in 2007, Hustler
published nude photographs of Nancy from a shoot taken when Nancy was 20 years old. The length of time between the events caused controversy, causing critics to claim that Hustler owner Larry Flynt
was attempting to capitalize on the event. The family of Nancy Benoit took legal action against Hustler. The appellate court ruled that, “The photographs published by [Flynt] neither relate to the incident of public concern conceptually [the murders] nor correspond with the time period during which Benoit was rendered”.
Lieutenant Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department reported to ABC News
that it was being investigated as a double murder-suicide
, and the police were not searching for any suspects outside of the house, as the instruments of death were located at the scene of the crime. The same day, Detective Bo Turner of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department told television station WAGA-TV
that the case was being treated as a murder-suicide.
During a press conference on June 26, Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard reported that Chris Benoit had killed his wife and son. A Bible
was left by Nancy Benoit's body, and she died of asphyxia
tion. She had bruises on her back and stomach consistent with an attacker pressing a knee into the back while pulling on a cord around the neck. While there were no signs of restraint on his son, he also died of asphyxiation. He had internal injuries to the throat area, but showed no bruises, indicating he may have been locked in the crook of his attackers's arm. It is reported that his wife died on Friday, his son died on Saturday, and Benoit later hanged himself with the cord of a weight machine in his basement on early Sunday morning; he also died by asphyxiation.
A memorial for Nancy and her son took place in Daytona Beach, Florida
, on July 14, 2007. Both Nancy and her son Daniel were cremated
with their ashes placed in starfish-shaped urns, and are currently in possession of Nancy's family. Benoit himself was also cremated, but what was done with his ashes is not public knowledge.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
valet and manager
Manager (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
. She worked in several promotions, including Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...
, Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
, and World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
.
Over a three day period ending on June 24, 2007, Nancy Benoit and her son were victims of a double murder-suicide
Chris Benoit double murder and suicide
The Chris Benoit double murder suicide occurred over a three-day period ending on June 24, 2007. World Wrestling Entertainment professional wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife, Nancy Benoit, strangled his seven-year-old son, Daniel, and subsequently committed suicide by hanging. Autopsy results...
perpetrated by her husband, WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
wrestler Chris Benoit
Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael "Chris" Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler whose career and life ended in a murder–suicide...
.
Early days
After graduating DeLand High SchoolDeLand High School
DeLand High School is a public high school in DeLand, Florida established in 1922, with an enrollment of 3,616 students, a student/teacher ratio of 16.5, and a graduation rate above 90%.-Controversies:...
, Nancy got a job answering phones at an insurance agency. When George Napolitano
George Napolitano
George Napolitano is a photographer who specializes in professional wrestling photography.-References:...
needed a beautiful young girl for the cover of the June 1984 edition of the pro-wrestling magazine Wrestling All Stars, fellow photographer Bill Otten suggested the 20-year-old Nancy Toffoloni Daus for the role. Nancy, who had worked as a model, often sat alongside her then-husband Jim. She had also been selling programs at the Orlando shows and appeared as Para in the old "Apartment Wrestling" features. It was on this shoot where she met Kevin Sullivan
Kevin Sullivan (wrestler)
Kevin Francis Sullivan is an American professional wrestler and booker, perhaps best known for his role in WCW as "The Taskmaster" and his leading of the "Dungeon of Doom".-Early career:...
, who eventually wanted her to be a part of his wrestling entourage. After months of convincing, Nancy finally became an on-air valet, taking the name Fallen Angel. She made her in-ring debut on July 7, 1984 at the Lakeland Civic Center in Lakeland, Florida
Lakeland, Florida
Lakeland is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States, located approximately midway between Tampa and Orlando along Interstate 4. According to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate, the city had a population of 94,406...
for Florida Championship Wrestling.
She became a part of Kevin Sullivan's stable of kayfabe
Kayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature...
"Satanists", which also included wrestlers The Lock
Winona Littleheart
Winona Barkley is a retired professional wrestler better known by the ring names Winona Littleheart and The Lock.-Career:...
, Luna Vachon, The Purple Haze
Mark Lewin
-Career:Mark Lewin broke into wrestling in the early '50s and had great early success in a matinee-idol babyface tag team with Don Curtis, headlining in major territories like New York and Chicago. The team's brief heel turn was a shock to its many fans...
, and Sir Oliver Humperdink
Oliver Humperdink
John Sutton , better known by his ring name Oliver Humperdink, was a professional wrestling manager who worked for Jim Crockett Promotions, Florida Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation.-Career:...
. Nancy and Kevin Sullivan traveled throughout the United States using the "Satanist" gimmick for promotions such as Angelo Savoldi's ICW and Southwest Championship Wrestling
Southwest Championship Wrestling
Southwest Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was owned by Joseph Blanchard and based in San Antonio, Texas, from 1978 to 1985, when it was purchased by Texas All-Star Wrestling and absorbed into that company.-Venues:...
. The two married in 1985.
World Championship Wrestling
She first appeared in WCW as a "fan" of Rick SteinerRick Steiner
Robert Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler, better known under his ring name Rick Steiner.Steiner is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling, where he was an eight time World Tag Team Champion...
named Robin Green, wearing a Steiner T-shirt and large glasses. She would sit in the audience and would interact with Steiner whenever he appeared. She eventually turned on him, aligning herself with Kevin Sullivan and adopting the name Woman and became the manager of Doom (Butch Reed
Butch Reed
Butch Reed is an American professional wrestler best known for his stints in the World Wrestling Federation and the National Wrestling Alliance/World Championship Wrestling.-Career:...
and Ron Simmons
Ron Simmons
Ronald "Ron" Simmons is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and retired American football player. He is recognised as being the first Black world heavyweight champion in professional wrestling and the first of only two African Americans to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship,...
). After leaving Doom, she aligned herself with Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
and the Four Horsemen
Four Horsemen (professional wrestling)
The Four Horsemen were a professional wrestling stable in the National Wrestling Alliance and later World Championship Wrestling that was disbanded in 1999. The original group featured Ric Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard...
.
Extreme Championship Wrestling
In 1993, Kevin and Nancy surfaced in the fledgling ECWExtreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
, where—once again called simply Woman—she managed Sullivan and The Tazmaniac
Tazz
Peter Senerchia is a retired American professional wrestler and current color commentator best known by his ring name Tazz, originally Tazmaniac and later shortened to simply Taz...
to the ECW Tag Team Championship
ECW Tag Team Championship
The Extreme Championship Wrestling World Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in Extreme Championship Wrestling...
s. When Kevin re-sought the greener pastures of WCW, Nancy remained in ECW, going on to manage Sandman
Jim Fullington
James "Jim" Fullington better known by his ring name Sandman, is an American professional wrestler, best known for his career with Extreme Championship Wrestling , where he developed into a "Hardcore Icon"...
and 2 Cold Scorpio
2 Cold Scorpio
Charles Scaggs is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name 2 Cold Scorpio . Scaggs has competed in Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment and Pro Wrestling Noah...
. Once again, she almost seamlessly re-invented herself to fit with The Sandman's gimmick—opening his beers, lighting his cigarettes, and destroying his opponents with her own Singapore cane
Shinai
is a weapon used for practice and competition in kendo representing a Japanese sword. Shinai are also used in other martial arts, but may be styled differently from kendo shinai, and represented with different characters....
. She wrestled her first match in ECW when she teamed with The Sandman against Tommy Cairo
Tommy Cairo
Thomas "Tommy" Cairo is an American retired professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his 1994 feud with The Sandman in Extreme Championship Wrestling. He is the former co-owner of the New Jersey-based Force One Pro Wrestling promotion and school.-Career:Cairo was a bodybuilder before...
and Peaches
Lori Fullington
Lori Fullington is an American retired professional wrestling manager. She is perhaps best known for her appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling under her real name and as Peaches.-Career:...
in a Singapore Cane Match.
World Championship Wrestling
After being dumped by Sandman and Scorpio in ECW, she once again resurfaced in WCWWorld Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
, first appearing on the January 22, 1996 edition of WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
as one of many women who stood in the aisle and waved as Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
and Randy Savage
Randy Savage
Randall Mario Poffo , better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler, best known for his time with the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling .Savage held twenty championships during his professional wrestling career and was a...
came to the ring. On the February 5, 1996 edition of Nitro she turned on Savage during his match with Chris Benoit
Chris Benoit
Christopher Michael "Chris" Benoit was a Canadian professional wrestler whose career and life ended in a murder–suicide...
and rejoined Flair, Arn Anderson
Arn Anderson
Martin Anthony Lunde better known by his ring name Arn Anderson, is a former American professional wrestler and author. His career has been highlighted by his alliances with Ric Flair and various members of the wrestling stable, The Four Horsemen, in the NWA/WCW...
, Brian Pillman
Brian Pillman
Brian William Pillman was an American football player and professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling....
, and Benoit in the then-current incarnation of the Four Horsemen
Four Horsemen (professional wrestling)
The Four Horsemen were a professional wrestling stable in the National Wrestling Alliance and later World Championship Wrestling that was disbanded in 1999. The original group featured Ric Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard...
. Miss Elizabeth
Miss Elizabeth
Elizabeth Ann Hulette , best known as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation, and the mid-1990s in World Championship Wrestling in her role as the manager to the late...
also managed the stable.
In 1996, Pillman had left the Horsemen, but they added Steve McMichael
Steve McMichael
-World Wrestling Federation :After the end of his NFL career, he appeared at ringside in the WWF for Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania XI on April 2, 1995 in Hartford, Connecticut. Taylor was wrestling Bam Bam Bigelow and there were several football players at ringside to keep wrestlers from...
and his wife Debra
Debra Marshall
Debra Gale Marshall is an American actress and former professional wrestling manager and WWE Diva. Arguably best known by her ring name, Debra, she gained recognition for her appearances with the World Wrestling Federation between 1998 and 2002.She began her career in professional wrestling in...
in June, which didn't sit well with Woman. In her next angle, the two bickered, not getting along in general. The Four Horsemen were often given interview time on Nitro and when it came time for Debra to speak on the mic
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
, she'd often go into a soliloquy
Monologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
regarding Woman's looks
Human physical appearance
Human physical appearance refers to the outward phenotype or look of human beings. There are infinite variations in human phenotypes, though society reduces the variability to distinct categories...
and fashion sense
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
— usually when the two weren't within the vicinity of each other. Despite the heavy tension, the two managers never had a physical altercation.
At the same time, she started an on-screen relationship with Benoit, who at the time was involved in a feud with her real-life husband, Kevin Sullivan. On December 7, on WCW Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night was a weekly Saturday night TV show on TBS produced by World Championship Wrestling. The program existed through various incarnations under different names before becoming WCW Saturday Night in 1992...
, during a post-match interview with Sullivan, a home movie
Home movies
A home movie is part of the motion picture filmmaking process made by amateurs, often for viewing by family and friends. When the hobby began, home movies were produced on photographic film, but accessibility of video production with video cameras and low cost data storage devices has made the...
of the couple canoodling in a kitchen
Kitchen
A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation.In the West, a modern residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a refrigerator and kitchen cabinets arranged according to a modular design. Many households have a...
was played in front of him. Woman taunted Sullivan by saying, "You can't find me" and "I'm my own woman," while Benoit added: "You consider yourself the master of human chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
. Well, my bishop
Bishop (chess)
A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...
just took your queen
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...
". After the video, Sullivan stood there speechless, and his manager Jimmy Hart
Jimmy Hart
James "Jimmy" Ray Hart is a professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician currently signed with WWE. He is best known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling under his nickname "The Mouth of the South." He has managed many professional...
led him off stage. This feud between Benoit and Sullivan saw Woman clashing with Sullivan's then-valet Jacquelyn
Jacqueline Moore
Jacqueline DeLois Moore is an inactive American professional wrestler, who was most recently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
at ringside. In one match, the two ladies were strapped together, took shots at each other, and used the strap connecting them as a weapon against the men.
Eventually, the Benoit-Nancy on-screen relationship developed into a real-life affair
Affair
Affair may refer to professional, personal, or public business matters or to a particular business or private activity of a temporary duration, as in family affair, a private affair, or a romantic affair.-Political affair:...
off-screen. Because of this it is often joked that 'Kevin Sullivan booked his own divorce.' The two were indeed divorced in 1997. What's more, Sullivan lost a retirement match to Benoit. His intent had been to retire from in-ring action and focus on booking.
Nancy's final WCW appearance (and professional wrestling appearance as Woman) took place on May 26, 1997 on Monday Nitro as she accompanied Benoit to the ring for a confrontation with Jimmy Hart regarding the whereabouts of Sullivan, who wasn't in the arena. On the following week's show, Benoit came alone to ringside without her by his side. After managing him for a little over half a year, no reason was given for Woman's sudden disappearance, and she was never mentioned on WCW programming again.
Personal life
Before her marriage to Kevin SullivanKevin Sullivan (wrestler)
Kevin Francis Sullivan is an American professional wrestler and booker, perhaps best known for his role in WCW as "The Taskmaster" and his leading of the "Dungeon of Doom".-Early career:...
in 1985, Nancy had previously been married to and divorced from Jim Daus.
Nancy and Chris Benoit became engaged in 1997 after her divorce from Sullivan that same year, although Benoit only referred to Nancy as his fiancée even after they were married. She managed her husband's career from their home in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
She gave birth to her son Daniel Christopher Benoit on February 23, 2000. Nancy married Chris Benoit on November 23, 2000. However, in 2003, she filed for divorce, citing the marriage as "irrevocably broken" and alleging "cruel treatment." She later dropped the suit, as well as a restraining order filed on her husband.
In December 2005, Nancy had back and neck fusion surgery with Lloyd Youngblood
Lloyd Youngblood
Lloyd Youngblood, M.D., is a leading board-certified neurosurgeon. He was the chief of the Department of Neurosurgery at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, Texas until December of 2002...
.
After Nancy's death in 2007, Hustler
Hustler
Hustler is a monthly pornographic magazine aimed at men and published in the United States. It was first published in 1974 by Larry Flynt. It was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter which was cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time. The magazine grew from a shaky start to...
published nude photographs of Nancy from a shoot taken when Nancy was 20 years old. The length of time between the events caused controversy, causing critics to claim that Hustler owner Larry Flynt
Larry Flynt
Larry Claxton Flynt, Jr. is an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications . In 2003, Arena magazine listed him as the number one on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list....
was attempting to capitalize on the event. The family of Nancy Benoit took legal action against Hustler. The appellate court ruled that, “The photographs published by [Flynt] neither relate to the incident of public concern conceptually [the murders] nor correspond with the time period during which Benoit was rendered”.
Death
On June 25, 2007 Benoit, her husband Chris, and their son Daniel were found dead in their home in suburban Atlanta at around 2:30 p.m. It first was reported by their WWE Mobile Alerts service and posted to their official Web site soon after.Lieutenant Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department reported to ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
that it was being investigated as a double murder-suicide
Murder-suicide
A murder–suicide is an act in which an individual kills one or more other persons before or at the same time as killing himself or herself. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms, including:...
, and the police were not searching for any suspects outside of the house, as the instruments of death were located at the scene of the crime. The same day, Detective Bo Turner of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department told television station WAGA-TV
WAGA (TV)
WAGA-TV, virtual channel 5.1 is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Television Network and based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
that the case was being treated as a murder-suicide.
During a press conference on June 26, Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard reported that Chris Benoit had killed his wife and son. A Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
was left by Nancy Benoit's body, and she died of asphyxia
Asphyxia
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body that arises from being unable to breathe normally. An example of asphyxia is choking. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which primarily affects the tissues and organs...
tion. She had bruises on her back and stomach consistent with an attacker pressing a knee into the back while pulling on a cord around the neck. While there were no signs of restraint on his son, he also died of asphyxiation. He had internal injuries to the throat area, but showed no bruises, indicating he may have been locked in the crook of his attackers's arm. It is reported that his wife died on Friday, his son died on Saturday, and Benoit later hanged himself with the cord of a weight machine in his basement on early Sunday morning; he also died by asphyxiation.
A memorial for Nancy and her son took place in Daytona Beach, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, on July 14, 2007. Both Nancy and her son Daniel were cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
with their ashes placed in starfish-shaped urns, and are currently in possession of Nancy's family. Benoit himself was also cremated, but what was done with his ashes is not public knowledge.