In the days leading up to the Chris Benoit tragedy, those close to him say they were dealing with a completely different Chris — one fueled by extreme paranoia and unexplained behavior.

Benoit began obsessing over child kidnappings and violent fans, bizarre infatuations his loved ones discussed with VICE during its premier episode of Dark Side of the Ring, Season 2. Their stories paint a disturbing portrait of Benoit and his life before June 22, 2007— the day he killed his wife and 7-year-old son.

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Towards the end of his life, the so-called Rabid Wolverine began acting stranger and stranger around his family and friends, not just looking into ways wrestlers had their children kidnapped and troubling fan incidents, but also becoming more erratic in his daily activities. According to the docu-series, Benoit would take different routes to get to the gym, despite going to the same location for years. He even went as far as taking different cars.

Benoit also decided he was going to stay out of the public eye after losing his best friend and fellow wrestler Eddie Guerrero to an enlarged heart in 2004. Visibly shaken up over the loss, Benoit became increasingly depressed filled, and fell further victim to a metastasizing dark side. While traveling with WWE, he made sure to steer clear of people and public places, his paranoia growing before finally coming to a tragic boiling point at home.

Benoit's friends and family told VICE that Nancy Benoit had been confiding in them about her husband's well-being and deteriorating mental state. She allegedly told Vicki Guerrero, Eddie's wife, that her husband's death was "really affecting him in so many ways." Benoit had been acting sad all the time, depressed, impatient and was "always picking fights" for no reason whatsoever.

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Nancy’s sister said there were a few months where Benoit wouldn’t even talk to his own family. He began logging his feelings in a journal as a way to try to curb his depression over losing Guerrero, but it was too late. Benoit was "too far gone."

Sometime between June 22 and June 24, 2007, Benoit murdered his wife and son Daniel inside their home in Georgia and then took his own life. Chavo Guerrero, Benoit's friend and Eddie Guerrero's nephew, gave a heartbreaking account to VICE of what Benoit said to him the night before their bodies were discovered. It was a Saturday, and there was a PPV event scheduled for the next day.

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First, Chavo got a call from Benoit saying he was not going to make it to the PPV because "Daniel and Nancy have food poisoning." Chavo remembered being unsettled by the call and said he quickly asked Benoit if he was okay. The Canadian Crippler told him, “Yea...I’m just really tired.”

Hours later, at about 5:30AM, Benoit sent Chavo another text. According to him, the message read, "The dogs are in the closed pool area and the back door’s open.” Thirty seconds later, Guerrero got another text — this time from Nancy Benoit. It said the exact same thing. Another text then came in with the Benoit's home address. Guerrero went to bed, not thinking anything of it. Hours later, Benoit was found dead, along with his wife and son.

Fans have speculated for years about what could have caused the former World Champion and WWE/WCW workhorse to snap. Some believe it was steroid abuse and severe chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Others have blamed alcohol addiction and depression. Posthumous tests showed that his brain was "severely damaged," according to doctors, and resembled that of  “an 85-year-old with Alzheimer's.”

Throughout Dark Side of the Ring, Chavo, Vicki and the others close to Benoit describe him as a man weighed down by a sense of regret and confusion after Eddie Guerrero's untimely passing. But, ultimately, figuring out exactly what caused Chris Benoit's spiral into paranoia isn't as important as remembering its effects on the family members whose lives he took, and the other family and friends he left behind to wonder why.

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