Edmonton Sun: Benoit's Son's Illness Questioned
AP's Latest story, published in today's Edmonton Sun:
ATLANTA -- A prosecutor investigating pro wrestler Chris Benoit, who killed his wife and son and committed suicide, is questioning World Wrestling Entertainment's early assertion that the boy had a form of mental retardation called Fragile X syndrome.
A spokesman for WWE also backed away yesterday from its statements about the boy's diagnosis.
Fayette County prosecutor Scott Ballard said in a news release that some of the boy's medical records have been reviewed and "they do not mention any pre-existing mental or physical impairment."
Fragile X syndrome, a disorder affecting the X chromosome, is the most common inherited cause of mental retardation and associated developmental disabilities. Family members deny Daniel had the condition, and the child's teachers also deny reports that he was physically undersized, Ballard said.
Two days after the bodies of Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and son, Daniel, were found last month, WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt said the child had Fragile X.
WWE spokesman Gary Davis said yesterday that McDevitt had first heard Fragile X syndrome linked to the boy in a Canadian news report.
McDevitt was "confident" that the information was accurate after speaking with other WWE employees who knew Benoit, Davis said. But none of those employees specifically mentioned Fragile X, he said.
"A lot of people got caught up in the idea that Daniel had Fragile X syndrome," Davis said from the company's headquarters in Stamford, Conn. "We were just as caught up as everyone else."
ATLANTA -- A prosecutor investigating pro wrestler Chris Benoit, who killed his wife and son and committed suicide, is questioning World Wrestling Entertainment's early assertion that the boy had a form of mental retardation called Fragile X syndrome.
A spokesman for WWE also backed away yesterday from its statements about the boy's diagnosis.
Fayette County prosecutor Scott Ballard said in a news release that some of the boy's medical records have been reviewed and "they do not mention any pre-existing mental or physical impairment."
Fragile X syndrome, a disorder affecting the X chromosome, is the most common inherited cause of mental retardation and associated developmental disabilities. Family members deny Daniel had the condition, and the child's teachers also deny reports that he was physically undersized, Ballard said.
Two days after the bodies of Benoit, his wife, Nancy, and son, Daniel, were found last month, WWE lawyer Jerry McDevitt said the child had Fragile X.
WWE spokesman Gary Davis said yesterday that McDevitt had first heard Fragile X syndrome linked to the boy in a Canadian news report.
McDevitt was "confident" that the information was accurate after speaking with other WWE employees who knew Benoit, Davis said. But none of those employees specifically mentioned Fragile X, he said.
"A lot of people got caught up in the idea that Daniel had Fragile X syndrome," Davis said from the company's headquarters in Stamford, Conn. "We were just as caught up as everyone else."
