The mighty stool that
"barricaded" Cobain
inside the greenhouse.


Cover-up and Disinformation

The official police report, as well as police statements following the discovery of Kurt's body, contain a number of questionable discrepancies. As soon as Kurt's body was found, police apparently concluded that his death resulted from a suicide. As Richard Lee wrote, "nowhere in the police handling of the scene will you find any indication that the detectives were there to do anything but write up a report on the death and get out of there."

You can hardly blame them for drawing an initial conclusion along those lines. Here's this punk rocker lying dead on the floor of a greenhouse with his heroin works displayed neatly in a box near his body, a shotgun lying across him, a note on a pile of sand nearby. At first glance, it certainly must have looked like a suicide.

But as officers of the law, the Seattle police had a duty to scratch through the surface for a deeper understanding of the event at hand. The media dutifully reported police descriptions of finding Kurt's body "blockaded" in the greenhouse. In fact, the only thing blockading any part of the greenhouse was a small wooden stool placed in front of a doorway leading to a balcony, not the greenhouse entrance. The police report states that this tiny wooden stool impeded entrance to the greenhouse, a ludicrous assertion.

The police report also states that "there were marks on Cobain's hands consistent with the firing of this weapon." This, according to Grant, is another highly unlikely claim; shotguns rarely leave visible residue on the hands of the shooter.

Kurt's wallet was found closed near his body, but the media reported that it had been found lying open with the license facing out, supposedly for the purposes of identifying his body upon discovery. In fact, one of the first officers on the scene, not Kurt, opened the wallet, putting the license on display for photographs.

The media also planted horrific images of suicide in the minds of Cobain's fans, reporting that his head was "blown off" by the shotgun blast and that his fingerprints were required for positive identification. According to Grant, Cobain's features were more or less intact. Unlike most shotgun wounds, which leave a gaping exit wound, the barrel of Kurt's shotgun was placed against the hard palette of his mouth, which absorbed a great deal of the blast. The shot remained inside Cobain's skull.

But is this all the result of some gigantic conspiracy? Not likely. The questionable police findings and bad news reporting are probably rooted in rather mundane causes. In the days and weeks following Kurt's supposed suicide, fans from Seattle to Australia began killing themselves in empathy and tribute to the fallen grunge king. In light of the rash of teenage suicides, if police later reversed their original findings and opened a murder investigation, the backlash would be devastating. As far as the media's motives for participating in a cover-up: hey, whatever makes good copy!

The real world is a dirty place, and people get hurt, good and bad alike. Some die because of the choices they make. That's reality. We live in a country where people are shot dead in the streets for the change in their pockets, where presidents are assassinated with impunity. Anything can happen in America.

Did Courtney waste her husband? Only Courtney really knows the answer to that question. Kurt's death is surrounded by suspicion, but until the case is re-opened by police, it will officially remain nothing more than suspicion. But the independent investigations of Tom Grant and Richard Lee are ongoing, and will no doubt turn up further allegations and fishy circumstances in the future.

(c) Copyright 1996 ParaScope, Inc.

Back to Article Index
What do you think? Tell us in the message boards!