ATLANTA - The personal doctor of Chris Benoit, the pro wrestler who killed his wife and son and then himself in June, prescribed pain killers and muscle relaxers to another pro wrestler -- Michael Durham -- who died last year.
According to pharmacy records Durham's widow gave to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dr. Phil Astin, who faces federal charges of overprescribing medication to two patients other than Benoit, wrote four prescriptions for painkillers within a 25-day period in March 2005 for Durham.
Durham wrestled under the stage name ``Johnny Grunge.''
Durham's prescriptions included two for 60 350-milligram Soma pills, a powerful muscle relaxer, over a four-day period.
The pharmacy records show that, overall, Astin's signature was on 32 of the final 36 prescriptions Durham received over the last year of his life, including the final one given to him the day before his death on Feb. 16th, 2006 at age 40.
Tyrone police officials have said that all 120 of those 350-milligram Soma pills were missing the next day when authorities discovered Durham's body.
Authorities began investigating Astin after the deaths of Benoit and his family. Prosecutors have said Benoit strangled his wife with a cord, used a choke hold to strangle his 7-year-old son, placed Bibles next to the bodies and hanged himself on a piece of exercise equipment in their home the weekend of June 22nd.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Wednesday
May 21st, 2025
12:57AM
