Below The Beltway

There’s been an interesting-enough-to-blog-about twist to the story of the double murder suicide of “professional wrestler” Chris Benoit.

Apparently, someone altered Benoit’s Wikipedia entry to refer to the murder before the police had discovered the bodies:

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) — Investigators are looking into who altered pro wrestler Chris Benoit’s Wikipedia entry to mention his wife’s death hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their 7-year-old son.

Benoit’s Wikipedia entry was altered early Monday to say that the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife’s death.

A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said Thursday that the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Connecticut, where World Wrestling Entertainment is based.

An IP address, a unique series of numbers carried by every machine connected to the Internet, does not necessarily have to be broadcast from where it is registered. The bodies were found in Benoit’s home in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, and it’s not known where the posting was sent from, Bass said.

Benoit strangled his wife and son during the weekend, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself on the cable of a weight-machine in his home, authorities said. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.

Theoretically, I guess, it could have been possible that Benoit himself, even from the Atlanta area, could have utilized an IP address assigned to an account provided by his Connecticut based employer to make the alteration, as insane as that might sound.

But, then again, killing your wife and son and then yourself is pretty insane to begin with.

Update: Apparently there’s been a confession by the person who altered the page:

ATLANTA — A user of the Web site Wikipedia confessed Friday to making edits to pro wrestler Chris Benoit’s profile mentioning the death of Benoit’s wife before authorities had found her body.

The anonymous user acknowledged in a lengthy post added to the Web site early Friday being “deeply sorry” and called the situation a “terrible coincidence.”The edits were originally reported by Wikinews, an online news source connected to Wikipedia. Friday’s post was added to a discussion page for the Wikinews story. Wikinews said the IP address of the individual is identical to that of the user who edited Benoit’s profile early Monday to include that Benoit’s wife was dead.The poster did not identify himself or herself.

Seems like one hell of a coincidence if you ask me.