Police Probe Benoit Wikipedia Entry

ATLANTA (AP) -- Investigators are looking into who altered pro wrestler Chris Benoit's Wikipedia entry to mention his wife's death hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their 7-year-old son.

Benoit's Wikipedia entry was altered early Monday to say that the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife's death.

A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said Thursday that the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Connecticut, where World Wrestling Entertainment is based.

An IP address, a unique series of numbers carried by every machine connected to the Internet, does not necessarily have to be broadcast from where it is registered. The bodies were found in Benoit's home in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, and it's not known where the posting was sent from, Bass said.

Benoit strangled his wife and son during the weekend, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself on the cable of a weight-machine in his home, authorities said. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.

Office of Wrestler's Doctor Raided

Federal drug agents raided the office of a doctor who prescribed testosterone to the pro wrestler who killed his wife and son and hanged himself, authorities said Thursday.

The raid at Dr. Phil Astin's office in Carrollton began Wednesday night and concluded early Thursday, said agent Chuvalo Truesdell, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration. The search warrant had been obtained in connection with the Benoit investigation, he said.

Hours before the raid, Astin told The Associated Press he had treated Benoit for low testosterone levels, which he said likely originated from previous steroid use.

No arrests were made and Truesdell was unable to say what was seized. He said records were among the items being sought, but he could not be more specific.

Astin did not return repeated calls to his cell phone from The Associated Press on Thursday.

Astin prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past but would not say what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office Friday.

Benoit strangled his wife and smothered son during the weekend, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself on the cable of a weight-machine in his home. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.

Anabolic steroids were found in Benoit's home, leading officials to wonder whether the drugs played a role in the slayings. Some experts believe steroids cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."

Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard said in a statement Thursday that he could not immediately comment on the raid.

Also Thursday, Ballard told the AP that 10 empty beer cans were found in a trash can in the Benoit home. An empty wine bottle was found a few feet from where Benoit hanged himself, Ballard said.

It could take several weeks for toxicology tests to be completed on Benoit to see what medications, if any, were in his system.

Benoit took four months off from work in 2006 for undisclosed personal reasons, WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said.

"He was feeling depressed, that kind of thing," McDevitt said.

In the days before the killings, Benoit and his wife argued over whether he should stay home more to take care of their mentally retarded 7-year-old son, according to an attorney for the WWE wrestling league.

The child suffered from a rare medical condition called Fragile X Syndrome, an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism.

In addition, on Thursday, another bizarre twist to the case involving a posting to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia emerged. At 12:01 a.m. Monday, about 14 hours before authorities say the bodies were found, someone updated Benoit's page on the Wikipedia site stating that the reason he missed a match Saturday night was "stemming from the death of his wife Nancy."