Benoit's father, doctor speculate wrestler had brain damage

Julian Bailes of the Sports Legacy Institute showed an image from a healthy brain versus Chris Benoit's brain, which showed brown spots indicating signs of cell death, similar to what an Alzheimer patient's brain might look like.  (ABC News)

Autopsy showed effect of multiple concussions

By MIKE MORRIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 09/05/07

The father of Chris Benoit and a doctor who examined brain matter from the former pro wrestler said Wednesday that brain damage caused by multiple concussions might have contributed to the deaths of Benoit, his wife and his son.

Authorities say Benoit killed his wife, Nancy, on June 22 and then killed their son, Daniel, the next day before taking his own life at their Fayetteville home.

Dr. Julian Bailes, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at West Virginia University and a founding member of the Sports Legacy Institute, told ABC's Good Morning America Wednesday that damage to the wrestler's brain was "striking and maybe shocking."

Bailes showed images of Benoit's brain matter, and said the images showed "dead brain cells" and damage that mimicked that found in Alzheimer's patients.

He said his study had found brain damage that was "very abnormal and something you shouldn't see in a 40-year-old."

Asked whether previous concussions could have led to the damage, Bailes said, "We think we have great anatomical damage here from previous trauma," Bailes said. "Whether it had a psychiatric or behavioral expression, we certainly think that's most likely."

Benoit's father, Michael Benoit, said his son suffered "quite a number" of concussions during his wrestling career.

"Our research has shown that three major concussions may be the threshhold that serious later consequences may occur," Bailes said.

The Sports Legacy Institute, a research group founded to study degenerative brain conditions caused by repetitive brain injuries, planned a late-morning press conference in New York to release the findings of the study on Benoit's brain.

In July, a GBI toxicology report showed Benoit had highly elevated levels of testosterone. But medical experts warned against automatically assuming that steroids were responsible for Benoit's alleged murder of his wife and son.