Police in Seattle have responded to a new report about the death of Kurt Cobain, which claims that he may have been murdered.
The Nirvana legend died in his home back in 1994, at age 27. A King County Medical Examiner ruled at the time that he died by suicide, and the cause of death was listed as a self-inflicted gunshot wound from a shotgun.
For decades now, there have been some who have disputed the ruling, putting forward various conspiracy theories claiming that the grunge icon did not take his own life.
Some of the latest claims come from an unofficial private sector team of forensic scientists, who worked with independent researcher Michelle Wilkins and specialist Brian Burnett to look into the evidence.
According to the Daily Mail and LADBible, the team spent three days looking at the crime scene materials, and found that there was some evidence that allegedly contradicted the verdict from the autopsy.
The team claim to have “exhaustively” reviewed the documents from the autopsy and have made a peer-reviewed paper containing their findings. That paper has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Forensic Science.
Burnett, who is a specialist at examining deaths where a drug overdose is followed by gunshot trauma, told the Daily Mail: “This is a homicide. We’ve got to do something about this.”
The team also claims that there may have been one or more people involved in Cobain’s death, and they may have allegedly forced the singer to take a heroin overdose before they pulled the trigger.
It also cites what they describe as various inconsistencies with the official autopsy report, claiming that there was organ damage that “doesn’t happen in a shotgun death”, questions around where the shotgun shell landed in the room, and unanswered debate about why the singer’s hands were “so clean” after the death.
They also allege that the note he left behind contained two different styles of handwriting.
Following their claims coming to light, a spokesperson for the Medical Examiner’s Office stood by its initial autopsy ruling.
“King County Medical Examiner’s Office worked with the local law enforcement agency, conducted a full autopsy, and followed all of its procedures in coming to the determination of the manner of death as a suicide,” they said.
They also added that they would be willing to revisit the case “if new evidence comes to light”, but so far think that “we’ve seen nothing to date that would warrant re-opening of this case and our previous determination of death.”
The police in Seattle also shared a statement that read (via Loudwire): “Our detective concluded that he died by suicide and this continues to be the position held by this department.”
Wilkins has pushed for the case to be revisited, and claimed that the authorities said that they were “not even looking at your evidence”.
“If we’re wrong, just prove it to us. That’s all we asked them to do,” Wilkins added.
For help and advice on mental health:
CALM – The Campaign Against Living Miserably
Help Musicians UK – Around the clock mental health support and advice for musicians (CALL MUSIC MINDS MATTER ON: 0808 802 8008)
Music Support Org – Help and support for musicians struggling with alcoholism, addiction, or mental health issues (CALL: 0800 030 6789)
YOUNG MINDS – The voice for young people’s health and wellbeing
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The Samaritans – Confidential support 24 hours a day
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