The Associated Press’s latest article on the Benoit family tragedy looks at the problems between Chris and Nancy Benoit in regards to dealing with their son Daniel, who suffered from Fragile X syndrome. World Wrestling Entertainment attorney Jerry McDevitt made a statement saying that Chris Benoit and his wife Nancy argued over caring for their “mentally retarded 7-year-old son.” Daniel was diagnosed with Fragile X Syndrome a few years ago. McDevitt said WWE has learned from friends that the Benoits were struggling to agree on where the boy should go to school. Nancy also wanted Chris to be home more often to help with the caring of their son, but stopped short of wanting him to quit wrestling.
Here is the AP article:
Wrestler and Wife Argued Over Child Care
Wednesday June 27, 5:45 pm ET
By Greg Bluestein, Associated Press Writer
Wrestler and Wife Argued Over Care of Retarded 7-Year-Old Son
ATLANTA (AP) — In the days before pro wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and child and hanged himself, the couple argued over whether he should stay home more to take care of their mentally retarded 7-year-old son, an attorney for the wrestling league said Wednesday.
“I think it’s fair to say that the subject of caring for that child was part of what made their relationship complicated and difficult, and it’s something they were both constantly struggling with,” said Jerry McDevitt, an attorney for World Wrestling Entertainment. “We do know it was a source of stress and consternation.”
McDevitt said the wrestling organization learned from the couple’s friends and relatives that the Benoits were struggling with where to send the boy to school since he had recently finished kindergarten.
He also said Benoit’s wife didn’t want him to quit wrestling, but she “wanted him to be at home more to care for the kid. She’d say she can’t take care of him by herself when he was on the road.”
The child suffered from a rare medical condition called Fragile X Syndrome, an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism, McDevitt said.
Over the past weekend, authorities said, Benoit strangled his wife, suffocated his son and placed a Bible next to their bodies before hanging himself with a weight-machine cable in the couple’s suburban home. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.
McDevitt said WWE has learned from friends that the Benoits were struggling to agree on where the boy should go to school. Nancy also wanted Chris to be home more often to help with the caring of their son, but stopped short of wanting him to quit wrestling.
For those who don’t know what Fragile X is, here is what Wikipedia says regarding it:
Fragile X Syndrome is a syndrome of X-linked mental retardation. Boys with the syndrome may have large testes (macroorchidism), prognathism, hypotonia and autism, and a characteristic but variable face with large ears, long face, high-arched palate, and malocclusion. Additional abnormalities may include lordosis, heart defect, pectus excavatum, flat feet, shortening of the tubular bones of the hands, and joint laxity. Females who have one fragile chromosome and one normal X chromosome may range from normal to mild manifestations of the fragile X syndrome. The fragile X syndrome has an estimated incidence of 1 in 3600 males and 1 in 4,000-6,000 females.