More details emerge in Levens case

There are a series of eerie similarities in what police are investigating as a murder-suicide involving former UFC and IFL fighter Justin Levens and the heavily publicized case involving pro wrestler Chris Benoit in 2007.

Autopsy results that came in on Thursday showed that Levens, 28, and his wife, Sara McLean-Levens, 25, died of gunshot wounds, which the autopsy suggests took place on or around Dec. 11.

The couple was found together in their bed in their condominium in Laguna Niguel, Calif. A gun was found next to Justin Levens, who died from a gunshot wound in the head. His wife died of a gunshot wound to the chest which went through the heart. No suicide note was found.

"If it's a murder-suicide, he's the shooter," said Jim Amormino, a spokesperson for the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

The couple was scheduled to appear on Wednesday in a court case in which they faced charges of assault with a deadly weapon, in a case that allegedly involved an acquaintance of the two who owed the couple money.

According to the Orange County Register, quoting Farrah Emami of the Orange Country District Attorne'ys office, the charge came from an alleged Dec. 13, 2007 incident where the couple was accused of assault with a deadly weapon in an incident that allegedly occurred after the three were riding in McLean-Levens' car. The complaint stated McLean-Levens asked the man for $200 that he owed her. He gave her $80. When she asked for the rest of the money, he said he didn't have it and she pulled over the car and gave her husband a nod.

The complaint alleged that Justin Levens pulled the alleged victim, whose name was not revealed, out of the car, threw him on the ground, and punched and kicked him until his wife told him it was enough, and the couple drove off. The man was treated for cuts and bruises on his face and filed a police report.

The couple pleaded not guilty on July 27 in Orange County Superior Court on the assault with a deadly weapon charge, which was then lowered to misdemeanor aggravated assault. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for January 21.

The story quoted the couple's attorney, Gary Pohlson, as saying Levens was not in town on that date, saying he was in Big Bear at the time training for a fight. If that story is correct, the fight must have fallen through because Levens' last fight of his career was on Oct. 18, 2007, a first-round submission loss to Kenny Ento in Lemoore, Calif., for the Palace Fighting Championships. While he had another fight scheduled in July that ended up not taking place, he would not have been in Big Bear in December training for a July fight.

McLean-Levens' mother found the couple dead, going to the condo after she had not heard from her daughter in several days.

Benoit suffocated his wife and son in their home near Atlanta before hanging himself on a lat pull-down machine in his home gym.

Besides ominous nicknames – Levens was known as "The Executioner," and Benoit as "The Crippler" – similarities included both men having documented domestic abuse issues. Levens plead guilty in 2003 to a misdemeanor charge in a domestic violence case in Orange County. Benoit had a restraining order from his wife in 2003. In both cases, the couples were soon back together.

Levens was said to have severe depression after the 2007 suicide of Jeremy Williams, who was both one of his best friends and his teammate on the IFL's Southern California Condors, who also lived in Laguna Niguel. Williams died in a similar manner as Levens, from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Benoit was battling depression over the deaths of three of his closest friends, all wrestlers, over the prior 20 months, Eddy Guerrero, his best friend, who died from a heart attack caused by long-term use of steroids and narcotics; Victor Mar, who died of a heart attack two months later; and Mike Durham (aka Johnny Grunge), who died of a heart attack after consuming massive amounts of muscle relaxers, a few weeks after.

Police found pain killers and antidepressants at the Levens home, but no steroids. Benoit was known to be using significant amounts of steroids, painkillers, antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs at the time of his death.

Levens' career as a fighter was fading, as he had lost five straight matches, three of them ending in the first round.

While Benoit's career was not fading, close friends indicated he was under the impression it was and at 40, his career was likely in its twilight.

Benoit was believed to have suffered a number of concussions throughout his career, and had damage to the brain consistent with what would have exacerbated depression. Levens had also suffered concussions, with four knockout losses during his career.

Levens had a match scheduled with Ray Lazama on the debut show of the Affliction promotion on July 19 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. It ended up canceled due to time constraints on the long show. However, in his drug test taken before the show, he tested positive for massive amounts of the painkiller Oxymorphone. His test showed levels of 10,141 ng/mL. The cutoff for a positive result is 120 ng/mL.

He was suspended for six months after the test results came back by the California State Athletic Commission.

"The level would indicate a serious problem," said Bill Douglas, the Assistant Executive Officer of the California State Athletic Commission.

Friends within the MMA community also noted he was also undergoing financial issues.

Amormino confirmed reports that police had been called to the Levens condominium twice over the past month. He said the first time was for a drug overdose, but couldn't confirm who had overdosed. The second time was because smoke was seen coming out of the condo, but the fire department couldn't find a source for the smoke.

Levens, who grew up in Philadelphia, had moved to Newport Beach, Calif. to train under Marco Ruas, who later picked both Levens and Williams to fight on his Southern California Condors team for the 2007 season.

While his overall record was 9-8, Levens' career started off strong, winning his first seven matches in 2004 and 2005 on smaller shows in California and in Tijuana, Mexico.

While he was knocked out in his first major fight, a loss to Scott Smith on Jan. 13, 2006, the fight was so exciting that it led to both Smith and Levens being signed by UFC. He debuted with the group on the April 15, 2006, pay-per-view show from Anaheim, Calif. on the first UFC event in the state of California, lost via triangle submission to the late Evan Tanner. He was cut by UFC after a second loss, via knockout, to Jorge Santiago two months later.