The death of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain on April 5, 1994 is again under scrutiny. The then 27-year-old musician died at his home in Seattle from a gunshot wound with a 20-caliber Remington Model 11 shotgun. The King County Coroner’s Office ruled at the time that it was a suicide. Now an unofficial team of forensic experts from the private sector examined the autopsy and file material. According to Michelle Wilkins, after three days of investigation, Specialist Brian Burnett declared: “This is murder. We have to do something about it.”
In the peer-reviewed study, the authors list 10 points that they say indicate that Cobain may have been confronted by one or more assailants, violently overdosed on heroin, and then shot. “There are things in the autopsy report that make you say, wait, this person didn’t die very quickly from a shotgun blast. Brain and liver necrosis occurs in an overdose. It doesn’t occur in a shotgun death,” Wilkins said.
In the autopsy report, the pathologist described fluid in the lungs, bleeding in the eyes, and damage to the brain and liver. According to a new report, these findings are common in heroin overdoses, not in quick death by a gunshot to the head. The team also questioned the position of the hands, the cleanliness of the left hand and the location of the fired cartridge case.
A coroner’s spokesman said: “The King County Coroner’s Office worked with local police, performed a full autopsy and followed all procedures in determining the manner of death as a suicide.” He added that the office is open to reconsideration if new evidence comes to light, but he hasn’t seen anything like that yet.
Seattle police do not plan to reopen the case: “Our detective has concluded that he died by suicide, and that remains the department’s position.” “We’re not saying: arrest somebody tomorrow. We’re saying: you have this other evidence that we don’t have. If we’re wrong, just prove it to us. That’s all we wanted from them,” added Wilkins.
