Thirteen hours before the bodies of WWE pro wrestl...

Thirteen hours before the bodies of WWE pro wrestler Chris Benoit, his wife, and their son was found by the police (and later ruled a murder/suicide), an anonymous user from Stamford, CT edited Benoit’s Wikipedia entry announcing the death of his wife. Stamford, incidentally, is the home of the WWE headquarters. Benoit must have been in communication with others before his suicide, possibly sending the news through the wrestling rumor mill. The most dramatic result of this is probably an obstruction of justice charge, but still, this is the first time I’ve heard about Wikipedia timestamps opening up a new angle in a homicide case. (thx, flea) Update: The person who made the edit has spoken out, claiming that they had no inside information and that they made the edit based on some online rumors.

Submitted by crazymonk on Thu, 06/28/2007 - 5:00am.

Comments (6)

HOLY SHIT!

jbg. | Thu, 06/28/2007 - 3:02pm

Who hears about the murder-suicide of a colleague and thinks "Hey! I should totally put this on Wikipedia!" ?

Lorelei | Thu, 06/28/2007 - 4:49pm

Well, as I said, I think it went through the rumor mill, and somebody put it up. It could've been an hourly worker at the WWE for all we know -- hardly Benoit's colleague. It could be the very same kind of person that leaks new CD's and movies to the internet, or posts anonymous tips to gossip blogs. The question is: how widespread was the rumor, how did it get started, and why didn't anyone call the cops earlier? (In which case, Benoit could've been imprisoned, rather than taking the "easy" way out.)

crazymonk | Thu, 06/28/2007 - 4:56pm

"Who hears about the murder-suicide of a colleague and thinks "Hey! I should totally put this on Wikipedia!'"

From the article, it seems that the only thing that was written is that his wife died. Not that she was murdered. Perhaps he was in contact with someone at WWE and told him that his wife died. Now, why they would then put it on wiki, who knows. But crazy odd. Also crazy is how big this wrestler was and I have never heard of him. Not that I watch the WWE, but during its heydays everyone knew Hulk Hogan and others.

New York Anthony | Thu, 06/28/2007 - 7:43pm

It hardly matters whether it was written that she died or was murdered. Either way, Wikipedia wouldn't be foremost in my thoughts.

Lorelei | Thu, 06/28/2007 - 10:19pm

Couldn't it have been Benoit himself?

Ingen Angiven | Fri, 06/29/2007 - 6:30am