File photo of Chris Benoit, one of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstars performing for the Coalition troops at Camp Victory, Baghdad International Airport (BIAP), Iraq (IRQ) during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. Photo Credit: Department of Defense29 June 2007 (Sawf News) - A person who claims to have updated Chris Benoit's Wikipedia page early Monday to say his wife was dead, hours before authorities discovered the bodies of Chris, Nancy and their 7-year-old-son Daniel, says the entry was just a coincidence.
The user, who wants to remain anonymous, explains his entry was nothing more than vandalism.
In a post Friday, from the same IP address used to make the edit, he writes:
"Last weekend, I had heard about Chris Benoit no showing Vengeance because of a family emergency, and I had heard rumors about why that was. I was reading rumors and speculation about this matter online, and one of them included that his wife may have passed away, and I did the wrong thing by posting it on Wikipedia to spite [sic] there being no evidence," he says in a written statement to Wikipedia officials.
He insists the chilling entry was a "terrible coincidence" fueled by rumors and gossip.
"I just can't believe what I wrote was actually the case, I've remained stunned and saddened over it," he says.
Investigators, will now have to determine if there were indeed rumors and speculation online about the death of Nancy as claimed by the self confessed Wiki vandal and if so how those rumors originated.
Benoit's Wiki page was updated at 12:01 a.m. Monday, about 14 hours before authorities say the bodies were found, to state that Benoit missed a match Saturday night "stemming from the death of his wife Nancy."
According to Sandra Ordonez, Communications Manager for Wikimedia Foundation, the parent organization for Wikipedia, the IP address used to make the original edit and the subsequent explanatory post has a history of editing wrestling-related articles on Wikipedia.
"The IP address had a very consistent history," Ordonez said.
Ordonez also said the organization had verified the authenticity of the time stamps on the posts.
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