by Ian Halperin c1995. From the June issue of Canadian Disk: Canada's Only [Compact] Review.
Two days after the body of Kurt Cobain was found at his Madrona,
Washington home, Courtney Love showed up at a vigil for her dead
husband at a Seattle park and declared his death a tragic suicide.
On a tape, she read excerpts from the note reportedly found beside
his body to the 7,000 fans gathered to mourn the death of their
hero. Media and police reports were already describing his "self-inflicted"
gunshot wounds.Case closed.But, in a joint investigation with
Ottawa's alternative radio station CKCU-FM, Canadian Disk has
discovered many doubts about the suicide theory by those close
to the case, a number harges that Cobain was actually murdered.
The mystery begins on April 1, 1994 - a week before Cobain's body
was found. On that day, he disappeared from a Los Angeles drug
detoxication centre after telling the staff he was going outside
for a cigarette.
When Courtney Love was informed of her husband's disappearance,
she immediately cancelled his credit cards and hired the well-known
Los Angeles private investigator Tom Grant to track down Cobain.
Meanwhile, Cobain flew to Seattle and returned briefly to his
Madrona home before disappearing again for the last time before
his body was found in a room above the garage by an electrician
on April 8. Beside the body was a shotgun and what was assumed
to be a suicide note.Within hours, the world was told that the
angst-ridden voice of a generation had taken a shotgun, placed
it to his head and pulled the trigger. Copycat suicides by mournful
fans were reported all over the world. Psychologists were trotted
out by the media to explain the underlying motives for such an
act.
Despite the open-and-shut case portrayed by the media, however,
Seattle Police department investigators called to the scene were
apparently not so convinced it was a suicide. The investigation
was assigned to the Homicide Squad, who were reluctant to close
then book on the case.For the next five weeks, an intensive investigation
took place by homicide detectives who interviewed everybody remotely
connected to Cobain, including friends, family and even his heroin
dealer. Only in May did the Department officially close the case
and declare the death a suicide.Homicide Squad Sergeant Don Cameron,
the investigating detective, told Canadian Disk the department
wanted to be extra cautious because of the high profile of the
case."We looked at everything," he said, "and there
was no doubt it was suicide".According to a source in the
department, there was a fierce debate within the department about
the possibility of murder. It's likely the lack of consensus was
caused by a number of still unexplained events surrounding the
death.
The most puzzling of these concerns Cobain's credit card transactions.
After Love cancelled her husband's credit card on April 1, his
bank reports a number of attempts to use the card during the following
week. Several rejected charges ranging from $86.60 to $5,000 are
reported on April 3 and 4, during the period when Cobain was missing
but still alive. The Medical Examiner report states Cobain died
on April 6. However, there are at least two attempted charges
on the credit card after this date. Why? Cameron said police still
don't know who was trying to use Cobain's credit card for days
after he died.
A good part of the investigation is said to have focused on Courtney
Love, although Cameron insists she wasn't a suspect. A heroin
addict and former stripper known to be highly unstable, Love's
relationship with Cobain was extremely stormy and had attracted
the attention of police in the past.
On March 18, for example, Love called the police to report that
her husband was armed and suicidal after he locked himself in
a room with a gun at their home. But when police arrived, Cobain
claimed he was hiding from Love nd had locked himself in to protect
himself. A number of witnesses have also reported heated public
quarrels between Cobain and Love in the weeks before his death.The
most public break from the official version, however, comes from
Tom Grant, the Beverly Hills private investigator Love hired to
track the missing Cobain.Grant says after his investigation, he
became convinced Cobain's death wasn't a suicide.He says he analysed
the note found besides Cobain's body and concluded that it is
not a suicide note at all but rather a message to fans that he
was withdrawing from the music industry - not from life. Grant
says when he enlared the note, he discovered a line at the bottom
was written by someone else.
The last paragraph of Cobain's note reads, "I'm too much
of an erratic, moody person that I don't have the passion any
more. So remember, it's better to burn out than to fade away.
Peace, love and empathy, Kurt Cobain."Grant, who worked for
seven years as an LA County Sheriff's deputy before becoming a
private detective 20 years ago, believes someone stuck a gun in
Cobain's mouth and pulled the trigger while he was so full of
heroin that he didn't know what was happening to him. The medical
examiner's report found massive doses of opiates in Cobain's body.
L.A. private investigator Tom Grant says police claim Cobain had
propped a stool up against a door so it would have been impossible
for anyone else to be in the same room when the gun went off.
Grant's investigation, however, found that the stool was in front
of two other unloccked doors that led to a balcony.
Immediately after Grant espoused his stheory, he was fired by
Love. The investigator claims the Seattle Police haven't conducted
a proper investigation and ther's been a lot of important facts
overlooked. He strongly believes more than one person was involved
in the murder.Sergeant Cameron, however, says the Police brought
in their own hadwriting expert who concluded the not was genuine."If
he brought us some evidence to back up his thoery, we would be
glad to reopen the case," said Cameron. "But so far
he's given us nothing.
"Kevin Campbell, spokesperson for Courtney Love's LA-based
PR company, PMK, said "Grant's claims all fizzled out as
quickly as they came. He said a lot of things to create a brouhaha
but as far as we're concerned, the case is closed."Love's
lawyer, Barry Tarlow, refused to comment on Grant's allegations.
In early March, Cobain overdosed on pills and champagne while
in rome and lapsed into a near-fatal coma. Love claimed it was
a suicide attempt, although Cobain insisted it was an accident.
A number of people close to Cobain, however, still have nagging
doubts about whether he would commit suicide and leave behing
the baby daughter that he cherished.
Anna Woolverston is a Seattle music journalist who covered Cobain
for years in several music publications including the Rocket and
Alternative Press and now works at Sub Pop Records. "I certainly
wouldn't rule out murder," says Woolverston. "He was
cremated so ther's not much of the body to investigate but I find
it very strange that he would take his own life because he loved
his daughter so much. He lived for her."The buzz around Los
Angeles and Seattle is that Tom Grant is waiting to reveal his
best evidence for a lucrative book or magazine deal this summer".
Stay tuned.
With additional reporting by Max Wallace