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Chris Benoit's Final Days

Originally posted Thursday July 05, 2007 12:35 PM EDT

Chris Benoit earned his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship in 2004. Photo by: JOHN BARRETT / GLOBE

Friends searching for clues have also focused on Benoit's relationship with his wife, who, before the birth of their child, performed under the name Woman. Years before their 2000 marriage, Nancy was charged with aggravated battery after, according to her then husband, wrestler Kevin Sullivan, she came after him with a knife. She admitted holding the knife, but the charge from the 1997 episode was eventually dropped. Although she filed for divorce from Benoit in 2003, saying he had threatened her, the couple then reconciled.

Nancy Benoit, like many wrestling wives, complained to friends that her husband's constant touring had turned her into a single mother for much of the year. She assembled and sold gift baskets to earn pin money. "They had a big house, and an entire room was devoted to crafts and making things," says Richard Decker, an Atlanta attorney who represents Nancy's parents, Paul and Maureen Toffoloni. "That was the kind of thing that she and Daniel liked to do together." Former neighbor Melissa Coppage recalls asking Nancy recently if she had any vacation plans. "She said, 'No, it's all wrestling, all the time. The schedule doesn't stop for summer or vacations or holidays.' "

But several of Benoit's friends describe him as a devoted father and husband. Apparently at Nancy's request, Benoit took a four-month leave from work last year to be with his wife while she recovered from surgery. "He wasn't a monster," says friend and former wrestler Dean Malenko. "We're talking about a guy who, a month ago, was in Jacksonville and rather than drive down to Orlando, where he needed to be the next day, he took a flight to be home with Daniel."