A BIZARRE Australian link has emerged in the murder-suicide of US wrestling star Chris Benoit - with evidence news of his wife’s death was posted on the web from Sydney 14 hours before police made it public.
Records show that the death of World Wrestling Entertainment star Benoit’s wife was revealed in a Wikipedia article 14 hours before police discovered the bodies of the family.
While police did not find the bodies of Benoit, his wife and son until 6.30pm local time, the Wikipedia entry on the death of Benoit’s wife updated much earlier - first at 4am local time from a computer apparently in Connecticut, and then an hour later from a computer connected to the internet via Australian provider Unwired.com.au.
The computer has been reported as being in Sydney.
Wikipedia is now reporting the bizarre events on Benoit’s entry as follows:
"…one hour later after the first edit reversion, another anonymous edit by 125.63.148.173 using unwiredAustralia.com.au, a wireless Internet service provider, was made adding about the aforementioned personal issues: “Which according to several pro wrestling websites is attributed to the passing of Benoit’s wife, Nancy.” That edit was reverted just under 20 minutes later, with the comment: “Saying ‘several pro wrestling websites’ is still not reliable information.”
“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.”
Bass also informed the local authorities in Atlanta about the unusual edits, but it is not known if the edits were investigated by the police. The second edit was made by a computer in Australia from a wireless network.
“It didn’t become apparent until someone put the pieces together and realized that the comment was made by someone who apparently knew about the murders,” Bass said.
The Wikinews investigation is unable to conclude whether the anonymous editors had inside information about the death of Nancy Benoit.
“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,” it said.
"Around the time of the edits, the article contained a hidden warning to editors of the section mentioned, warning against adding rumours and speculations . For the time being, Benoit’s article has been protected in an attempt to stop the addition of fraudulent information. "
Benoit, 40, strangled his wife, smothered his seven-year-old son and then hanged himself from his gym equipment, police have said. Their bodies were found inside their mansion in Fayetteville, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb.
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