Tomorrow's News Today

June 28, 2007 12:49 PM

13 hours before the bodies of Chris Benoit and his wife and son were found, someone updated Chris Benoit's Wikipedia entry with information that his wife was dead.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste (18 comments total)

duh-duh-DUUUUUN!
posted by piratebowling at 12:52 PM on June 28, 2007

deus ex machina
posted by Falconetti at 12:53 PM on June 28, 2007

Might want to link to a static version of the page.
posted by delmoi at 12:54 PM on June 28, 2007

WIKIPEDIA KNOWS ALL
posted by quonsar at 12:54 PM on June 28, 2007

Probably this will get deleted with a note about posting in the open thread, but the link doesn't say if this is the ISP Benoit used.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:56 PM on June 28, 2007

Also

This is not the first time Benoit's article has been edited to show false or unsourced information, as the article's edit history indicates a long history of promotional spam and vandalism. Around the time of the edits, the article contained a hidden warning to editors of the section mentioned, warning against adding rumours and speculations .

Yawn.
posted by delmoi at 12:56 PM on June 28, 2007

Why do these pricks, Benoit, that guy in Chicago that drove down to St. Louis - always have to kill the kids, too?

Maybe we have to start pissing on graves or something, so these assholes know they'll be defiled even when they're dead. Small thing to think about, but...
posted by notsnot at 12:58 PM on June 28, 2007

More scary is the fact that the WWE headquarters are 30 minutes from my house.

And I never knew.
posted by Esoquo at 12:58 PM on June 28, 2007

but the link doesn't say if this is the ISP Benoit used.

Um..

Further investigation shows that the IP address used to make the first edit is located in Connecticut, but the IP address is not linked to any computers or servers used by the WWE, but according to Cary Bass, Volunteer Coordinator for the Wikimedia Foundation, the IP address matches a location in Stamford, Connecticut where the WWE headquarters is located. ... The second edit was made by a computer in Australia from a wireless network.

Early Sunday, Benoit sent repeated text messages that read "My physical address is 130 Green Meadow Lane, Fayetteville Georgia. 30215."

posted by delmoi at 12:59 PM on June 28, 2007

Obligatory.
posted by Dr-Baa at 1:01 PM on June 28, 2007

Weird, there's no denying that. I'm guessing that some fans of Benoit may cling to this as reason to believe he didn't commit the murders; someone I vaguely know (who, admittedly, is not the sharpest knife in the drawer) has already wondered out loud whether Benoit's wife didn't murder their son, only to killed by an enraged Benoit in turn, who then was so overcome with guilt and grief that he took his own life. Uh...sure. Still -- presuming this isn't just a hoax (I mean, it IS Wikipedia!) -- this IS kinda "rrrr?"
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:04 PM on June 28, 2007

More scary is the fact that the WWE headquarters are 30 minutes from my house.

And I never knew.

If you're coming into Connecticut from NYC on 95, look right along the interstate, there's a big office building usually flying a giant WWE flag. I almost dropped my Coke laughing the first time I saw it...

And you have to admit it's curious that the edit came from the same city, did someone connected to the WWE make the edit from home? Who knew what, and when? I think when all the details are finally released (and I fully support them NOT being released until an investigation is finished), it's going to be weirder than we think...
posted by pupdog at 1:08 PM on June 28, 2007

I'm gonna be pissed when we find out this is some amazing synchroncity due to bogus rumors because this would be fricking awesome if it was somehow probative to the case.
posted by dios at 1:08 PM on June 28, 2007

It was a 50-50 shot the editor was right.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:10 PM on June 28, 2007

Why do these pricks, Benoit, that guy in Chicago that drove down to St. Louis - always have to kill the kids, too?

posted by notsnot at 3:58 PM on June 28

Because in many many cases, they kill their kids because they think they are doing them a favor, protecting them for the cruel world. They kill them to ease their pain, which may be real or imaginary.

Often, they kill their kids because they think they are bad parents (though perversely, they are often typical, average parents who are depressed and thus perceive themselves to be horrible, when their kids don't) and to save the kids from a lifetime of horrible parenting and the effects therefrom, they kill their kids.

Of course, in some cases, they hate or resent their families and that's the reason. Basically, if someone kills their family it's because they are crazy, and the reason they did it is predicated on crazy person logic. Don;t expect it to make sense to your non-crazy person, non-homicidal brain.

However, in this case, there seems to be some ambiguity over whether he did it or the mom did it, and then he killed the mom and himself. The facts are not clear.
posted by Pastabagel at 1:10 PM on June 28, 2007

One thing to consider is that there apparemtly was some story floating around about this guy's wife being sick enough that he had to miss something. There could have been some rumor based on the telephone-game-effect that caused some fans to think his wife may have died.
posted by dios at 1:11 PM on June 28, 2007

Very soon, our MySpace pages will tell us when we are going to die. ::ding!:: "You have one new death notification" Oh no.... bye everyone.....
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:12 PM on June 28, 2007 [2 favorites]

It's good to know that I'm likely a non-crazy person. *whew*
posted by notsnot at 1:13 PM on June 28, 2007