No sooner did I post the previous item challenging the wrestling journalism community to pick up more on this blog’s work on the Benoit investigation, when the May 26 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter landed in my mailbox. It carries an item, buried on page 17 but somewhat useful in helping move the ball down the field.
I should point out, first, that when Dave Meltzer opens by saying, “A log of more phone calls to Chris Benoit’s cell phone was released …,” the implication that it was some new public release is incorrect. This log is, in fact, my own additional reporting on the calls to Benoit’s cell, which are in the printout provided by Verizon Wireless to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, but which the sheriff’s report mysteriously cut off in its own interpretive call log. All of which underscores the point I’ve been making here about the critically important role of the voicemail audio itself, which has not been produced, and the explanation for which is completely unsatisfactory.
Meltzer writes:
“The calls don’t give any answers, but do show constant phone calls from WWE personnel, including three calls from John Laurinaitis on the day of the PPV before the show started, another during the show and another after the show. Benoit killed himself before the show. Calls were coming regularly every minute or two from different people in WWE until 11:23 a.m. on Monday. [Here Meltzer is combining this new cell phone information with the already known log of calls to the home answering machine.] At that point, there was never another call from WWE officials, so either they gave up, or by 11:30 a.m., the key people had an awareness of his being dead.”
This is all basically accurate. However, Meltzer either is wrong or knows more than me when he goes on to state, “There were also no calls from … Scott James.” There is indeed a call from the phone of James, a.k.a. Scott Armstrong, at 4:40 p.m. Sunday.
I’ve posted an edited version of my own log of calls to Benoit’s cell, after the sheriff’s report dropped the list, at http://muchnick.net/MoreCalls.pdf.
Irv Muchnick