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Benoit had high steroid level

Benoit had high steroid level

ATLANTA — Former professional wrestler Chris Benoit had highly elevated levels of testosterone and his son was heavily sedated when they died last month, a GBI toxicology report released Tuesday shows.

The report showed that 7-year-old Daniel Benoit had four times the normal dose of Xanax, a common tranquilizer, and more than the combined amount in the bodies of his parents, said Dr. Kris Sperry, Georgia's top medical examiner.

Despite Chris Benoit's high testosterone levels, medical experts warned against automatically assuming that steroids alone were responsible for Benoit's alleged murder of his wife and son late last month before taking his own life in their Fayetteville, Ga. home.

"You can't tell if that's it, but it's probably the No. 1 suspect," said Dr. John Xerogeanes, the chief of sports medicine at Emory University and the team orthopedic doctor at Georgia Tech. "I can see no valid reason why anybody would be taking that much testosterone. He abused controlled substances. And then you put that with the probable mental issues he had."

Benoit and his wife, Nancy, also showed traces of hydrocodone, a pain medication, although they were at a therapeutic and nontoxic level, Sperry said.

Nancy Benoit also had a blood alcohol level of 0.184, but decomposition of her body may have contributed to that figure, Sperry said. Fayette County deputies reported finding empty alcohol containers at the Benoit home.

Using a common test to determine whether someone has used synthetic testosterone, GBI investigators found that Benoit had a 59:1 ratio when comparing two forms of the hormone. Most people have a 1:1 ratio and a 4:1 ratio is considered the allowable threshold in some sports.

"This level of testosterone indicates that he had been using testosterone at least within some reasonably short period of time prior to the time that he died, depending on how it was injected, the form that it was used," said Sperry, who released the report. "The level was elevated."

Dr. Chuck Yesalis, a Penn State University professor regarded as one of the nation's foremost authorities on steroids, was inclined to rule out "'roid rage" as the reason for the Benoit deaths.

He cited Benoit's careful planning, specifically his decision to drug his son.

"None of that rings true with steroids," he said. "I think he was just a very troubled soul."

Fayette District Attorney Scott Ballard said he is satisfied Benoit is responsible for the deaths.

"Everything still leads us to believe it was a murder-suicide," Ballard said.

Citing the ongoing federal investigation, Ballard declined to say if the drugs in Benoit's body and those of his wife and their son matched drugs found in his home. Nor would he comment on whether the drugs found in their bodies were prescribed by Benoit's personal physician, Phil Astin III.

Astin told the Associated Press he prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past. He would not say what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office June 22, the day authorities believe Benoit killed his wife.

Astin has been indicted on seven counts of overprescribing medications to at least two unidentified patients. Officials have said Benoit is not one of those patients but the investigation into Astin continues. Astin is under house arrest in Carrollton, Ga. after being released on $150,000 bond.

Astin declined comment Tuesday afternoon. His attorney, Manny Arora, said he couldn't speak about specifics.

"I can't get into what he did and did not prescribe," Arora said late Tuesday.

Investigators have seized all of Astin's medical records, Arora said.

Nancy and Daniel Benoit were cremated during weekend services in her hometown of Daytona, Fla. Funeral services for Chris Benoit have not been announced but are to be held in Canada, his parents said.

John Hollis writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Journal-Constitution writers Kathy Jefcoats and Beth Warren contributed to this article.