The following pages contain documented evidence to establish that today's Seattle authorities are duty bound to change Kurt Cobain's official cause of death.
The first step in reaching our goal here is to have the findings in Kurt cobain's death changed from...
"SUICIDE" to "UNDETERMINED"
(These pages are best viewed on a computer screen rather than a cell phone).
To keep this simple, we're going to concentrate on a list of the official public statements and written reports that have been released by the Seattle Police Department and the King County Medical Examiner's office.
An honest evaluation of this material makes it virtually impossible for skeptics to effectively refute facts that have been provided to the general public.
Other than a brief mention of Courtney Love's filing of the missing persons report, her name is irrelevant for the purpose of listing these major issues of negligence, cover-up, destruction of evidence, and outright corruption by the 1994 and 2014 Seattle authorities.
Copies of all paper documents, such as police reports, death certificate, etc. can be enlarged for easier reading on a computer by simply placing your mouse over the illustrated document. If you must use a cell phone, just tap on the document to enlarge it for reading.
I'm avoiding the use of You Tube embedded videos with the voice recordings I've used on these pages. My You Tube channel is scrutinized more than most. I won't risk having the You Tube videos I could have embedded here, shown as "Not Available" if You Tube censors were to take down my channel. Long time followers of our work have already seen many of these video files. Most are still available on my channel, for now, as well as on the channels of other owners of You Tube videos.
I think that you'll find the audio files sufficiently represent the materiel presented here, without the accompanying videos that I maintain in my computer files.
SPD - Missing Persons Report
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This was the police report that the media claimed was filed by Kurt's mother, Wendy O'Conner. But Courtney Love has admitted that she was the actual person who called this report into the Seattle Police Department on April 4, 1994.
ISSUE #2 The presumptuous police statement that started it all
Approaching the Media
The photo showing Seattle Police Department's Spokesperson, Vinette Tishi, leaving the crime scene, (greenhouse), soon after Cobain's body was found. She accompanied Medical Examiner Dr. Donald Reay as they walked down the driveway together to where the press had congregated at the entrance to the driveway.
The Press Conference
This clip proves that on the morning of Apri 8, 1994, shortly after Cobain was found, SPD's Vinette Tishi, told the press, "It was obvious this man is dead from a shotgun wound to the head..." then she added, unequivocally,"Now there was a suicide note left inside the, the house."
"Suicide note left in the house."
As the spokesperson for the Seatlle Police Department, Vinette Tishi should not have mentioned anything about a note at all. She had to know what finding "a note" would imply. The fact is, the so-called "suicide note," as Ms. Vinette called it, was nothing more than "a note" - period. It said nothing about suicide or about Kurt's desire to kill himself.
This hurried, inaccurate statement from the SPD spokesperson created a national and international press frenzy.
"Kurt Cobain committed suicide!" the media immediately reported.
She let the cat out of the bag before any real investigation could possibly have been completed.
This is the report filed by the first SPD officer to arrive at the scene of Kurt Cobain's death. He was in uniform and working in a black and white patrol unit that morning.
Three additional police supervisor's arrived at the scene taking pictures of a very famous dead person, before the homicide detectives even got there. The blue circles represent each person who entered the room with Cobain's body. There will be several more before the Hommicide unit arrives as you'll see in the next report.
Murders staged to look like suicides occur around this country and around the world every year
Patrol officers aren't trained in homicide or dead body investigations. In most cases, neither are their supervisors. Large cities, like Seattle, normally train their officers to simply contain the scene until a trained and experienced homicide unit arrives. This is not what happened here.
*Also arriving on the scene - prior to the homicide detectives - was Charles Pelly, referred to in the redacted, (blacked out) portion of this report near the bottom. Mr. Pelly was the owner of the Alarm Company who I had spoken with prior to my entry into the Cobain residence late Wednesday night, the 6th of April.
I also met and interviewed Mr. Pelly when I returned to Seattle the following week. The information he provided soon became valuable to my investigation.
First SPD Report Pg 2
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This continuation page, once again, illustrates the immediate conclusion of suicide reached by the first officer on the scene. He writes, "The note was apparently written by Cobain to his wife and daughter explaining why he had killed himself."
This officer's observations should only have included that he observed "a note," period. It was not his job to decipher its meaning or purpose.
ISSUE #4 Homicide Detectives Concluded "Suicide" On Day #1
After being advised by dispatch that the first arriving officers were, "on the scene of a suicide," Seattle police Homicide Detectives arrived to take over.
As you can see by their own report, they concluded Cobain's death was a "suicide" that same day.
In addition, we now see that at least 12 people were or had been walking around a newly discovered dead body, disturbing what might be vital evidence within that 19' by 22' room above Cobain's garage.
SDP Homicide Report
Same Date Conclusion
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Finally, as if they didn't already have enough instant proof of suicide, they refer to what they label as a "suicide note" directed to his wife.
Same Dates - SPD Report (cont)
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This is a copy of the original note I made with the use of an old fax machine, the type that used a long thin roll of paper. The dark lines show where the thin paper creased and cut off some of the lettering on both sides while feeding the paper through the fax machine.
My first question when I read the note was, "Did Kurt write this?"
It took some time to be sure, but within the first two months after his death, I concluded that he did. I believe Cobain wrote this entire letter, with possible exception of the last few lines after he signed the note.
To be clear, I have very little confidence in the accuracy of what any document examiner might conclude when determining the person or personality of the writer of any document.
Handwriting analysis in not an exact science. Different handwriting experts often have different opinions on who wrote specific documents or letters.
Transcript
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I believe we could prove in a court of law that the lines beginning with, "which will be so much happier without me, I love you , I love you," were written at a different time, possibly by a different hand, but definitely with less pressure pushing down on the pen.
That is not to say I can prove Kurt Cobain did not write this letter. But no matter what anyone believes regarding the writer, it is as very clear that the main body of this letter was written to Kurt Cabain's fans, not to his wife.
The idea of anyone automatically referring to this note as a "Suicide" note is ludicrous.
This is a cut from a televised interview with a Seattle Police Department spokesperson regarding the death of Kurt Cobain. It first aired on a major network 1997.
This was the first coverage of the Cobain case televised by the mainstream media. It has been replayed hundreds of times for more than 25 years on the original network and later on various cable channels.
The Cobain case segment tied with one other segment for their highest Nielsen rated show during the entire 8 year run of this popular television program.
CBS Television's
"Unsolved Mysteries" - 1997 "Our detectives actually went into this investigation on the premise that this was a homicide."
"Investigated as homicide!
Really? Then why wasn't the shotgun immediately checked for prints!
In this SPD report we see that the shotgun used in the death of Kurt Cobain was not even processed for fingerprints until May 6, 1994, nearly one month after Cobain's body was found!
The report continues, "The four cards of lifted latent prints contain no legible prints." I've commented on the "no legible prints" topic before, so for the purposes of this page, we're going to just stick with the documented facts. The fact that holding the shotgun for one month after he died before sending it out for fingerprinting, proves Cobain's death was not "investigated on the premise that this was a homicide" as the Seattle Police spokesman deliberatley misrepresented to the public.
Shotgun Print Results
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And the shell casings?
In this SPD report we see that the expended and pre-loaded shell casings were not processed for fingerprints until January 13, 1997, nearly three years after Cobain's body was found!
This same report from 1997 also referred back to the pen that was allegedly used to write the so-called "suicide note" as having been processed for fingerprints at the same time as the shotgun, (nearly one month after Cobain's body was found).
Shell Casings - Print Results
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This, again, demonstrates a clear lack of basic homicide investigtion methodology. It is imperative that someone decisively explain how the Seattle Police detectives could have gone "into this investigation on the premise that this was a homicide."
The Death Certificate
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Before we begin discussing the issues related the late Deputy Medical Examiner, Dr. Nicholas Hartshorne, keep in mind that he was just 31 years of age on April 8, 1994; a relatively new doctor when he arrived at the Cobain residence to handle one of the most noteable celebrity deaths of our time.
Problem A Dr. Hartshorne certifies cause of death before toxicology report is available.
A police report displayed at the end of Part #2 of "The List" publicly certifies the blood morphine level to have been 1.52 mgs. per liter of blood in Cobain's system when he died.
Now this large dose of heroin documented by the Seattle police, as you will later hear and see, was reported to be a "fatal dose" of black tar heroin."
But the issue, for now, is not the amount of heroin in Cobain's blood system. Our leading concern, under "Issue #7, is that the results of the toxicology report could not have been known by Dr. Hartshorne before he signed off on Kurt Cobain's death certificate, labeling the cause of death as "Suicide" just one day after Cobain's body was found!
In fact, two months after Kurt Cobain was found dead, the body of Kristen Pffaf, bass player for the band "Hole", was found in her bathtub. She allegedly died from an accidental overdose of heroin. It should be noted that the SPD homicide investigators as well as the Deputy Medical Examiner, Dr. Hartshorne, were the same Seattle authorities on the scene of both Kurt Cobain's and Kristen Pffaf's deaths.
On June 18, 1994, the L.A. Times wrote,"The body of Pfaff, 27, was found in her bathtub by a friend. ... a nearby purse contained syringes and other drug paraphernalia. ...the King County coroner [Medical Examiner] said that no cause of death had been determined, pending results of toxicology tests, which are expected in four to six weeks."
Dr. Hartshorne, did not wait "four to six weeks" for the toxicology results before a determination was made in the case of Kurt Cobain's death.
Dr. Cyril Wecht Refutes Dr. Hartshorne
I met Dr. Cyril Wecht at an event in Pittsburgh in 2018 where we were seated next to each other at a table. As we spoke with each other that evening, I asked him if it was possibly for the King County Medical Examiner's office to have received the results of the toxicology report within one or even two days after Cobain's body was found.
"No," Dr. Wecht replied. "They may have been able to discover, very soon, that Kurt Cobain had heroin in his blood system during the autopsy. But, receiving the figure indicating the amount of the blood level from the crime lab within a couple of days after his body was found - there's just no way!" he told me, then added, "And you can quote me on that."
As we parted ways later that evening, Dr. Wehct handed me his business card and asked me to email him so we could "keep in touch."
I'll have more to say later about my meeting that evening with Dr. Wecht and his wife, Ingrid.
Problem B The most vital piece of evidence was destroyed!
The Death Certificate indicates that Hartshorne released Cobain's body to the funeral home where it was allowed to be cremated prior to receipt of the toxicology report, just (6) days after he was found.
This legally permitted the destruction of evidence in a so called homicide investigation, before the possibility of a closer and more thorough examination of the most important item of evidence in this case, Kurt Cobain's body.
ISSUE #8 Cobain's death described as a "Classic - Textbook" case of suicide!
Listen to Dr. Hartshorne during a televised interview.
The use of the words "classic" and "textbook" to describe Kurt Cobain's death was an embellishment and deliberate deception by this young, relatively inexperienced Doctor. How do we know this?
Just one of the many details which expose Hartshorne's elaboration are revealed as you will soon see and hear Seattle Police Department's own detective Mike Ciesynski say that he spoke with the King County Medical Examiner's office about the Cobain case. They told him, "they didn't think they'd ever seen an overdose with the amount of heroin that was found in Cobain's system."
There's much more to follow here on this "List," but that detail alone is enough to show that Kurt Cobain's death could not be be labeled as either "Classic" or "Textbook."
Then young Dr. Hartshorne gives a three point list explaining his logic. Let's examine these three points closely:
1. "The fact that there was a suicide note left at the scene."
Once again, there's no evidence whatsoever that the note found at the scene of Kurt's death was a "suicide" note. Dr. Hartshorne apparently believes that if he says it's a "suicide note" then it is!
2. "The weapon is still at the scene."
This statement is completely preposterous. It demonstrates that Dr. Hartshorne was either deliberatley deceptive or he had no ability, whatsoever, to apply common sense and logic to the scene of a dead body. If, as many suspect, Kurt Cobain was murdered and the scene of his death was staged to look like a suicide, of course the weapon would still be at the scene. Why would the killer(s) take the shotgun away if they wanted this to look like a suicide?
Has there ever been a murder that was staged to look like a suicide, using a weapon of any type, where that weapon was not left at the scene? Of course not! That is not a legitimate talking point here. How does a medical doctor come up with such ridiculous comments?
Furthermore, how would the police ever be fooled into thinking a suicide was actually a murder if the weapon used was missing from the scene? How would a weapon be removed from the death scene UNLESS he or she had been murdered? So, of course the weapon was still at the scene just like any staged murder with a weapon, whether in the U.S. or anywhere else around the world.
It sounded authoritative to a gullible, uncaring media, but in reality, these were ludicrous, thoughtless statements made by Dr. Hartshorne. He must have assumed most people would just accept what he said because, after all, he was the doctor who performed the autopsy and signed Kurt's death certificate. Who would know better about Cobain's death than him?
The truth is, anyone who actually paid attention to his words would have seen through these extremely deceptive comments.
3."The nature of the injury."
"This was a contact shotgun wound to the mouth that required the gun to be against the decedent's chest. And with this information it makes it a classic textbook example of suicide."
Let's hear that again last last part again.
Before he did the above televised interview, we made a phone call to Dr. Hartshorne. Let's listen to what he told my undercover investigator:
Dr. Hartshorne Re: Sitting
There is no disagreement with any of the authorities that Kurt was sitting or was positioned sitting up, on the floor of the greenhouse, when the shotgun was discharged. But with this statement from Hartshorne describing the gun against Kurt's chest while sitting up, he carelessly describes an impossible death scenerio.
Let's see what that looks like.
This is the only position imaginable that Dr. Hartshorne so thoughtlessly described. "Sitting" on the floor, requiring "the gun to be against his chest."
So if Kurt allegedly shot himself while sitting on the floor, with the 45" long shotgun "against the decedant's [his] chest," as Hartshorne stated here, Kurt would have had to hold the shotgun in an upright position with the butt of the shotgun on the floor and the barrel pointing nearly straight up, as illustrated above.
In other words, with the position described by Hartshorne, there's no way that Kurt would have been able to get his mouth over the tip of the shotgun barrel while the shotgun was still against his chest.
Remember, Kurt was was only 5'7" to 5"9' tall, depending on your source of information.
If Hartshorne actually believed what he told the public and my undercover P.I., Kurt Cobain's death could not have been a "classic...textbook" case of suicide. It would have been an impossible case of suicide.
It certainly sounded as if Hartshorne knew what he was talking about in that televised interview, if no one paid attention to the details and didn't know any better.
Of course I don't believe Hartshorne intended to describe this illustrated scenerio. I posted this here to illuminate Hartshorne's arrogant carelessness in handling and speaking about Kurt Cobain's death.
ISSUE #9
Questions about the nature of Cobain's so called "suicide" note reveal Dr. Hartshorne's cavalier attitude.
"It's "IRRELEVANT"!
How can such a strange note, found at the scene of someone's death, be simply dismissed as "irrelevant"?
If the note was truly irrelevant, why was it even booked into evidence?
Of course it would not have been irrelevant... if they were truly investigating Kurt's death as a possible homicide like their SPD spokesperson told the television audience in 1997.
Dr. Hartshorne, labeled that note as a "suicide" note even though it says nothing about suicide.
That "note" is more easily interpreted as a note to his fans explaining why he was quitting the "business" of creating music. Then, he adds the footnote - (if Kurt even wrote those last lines) - assuring Courtney that this would be a peaceful divorce but that he didn't want to be a bad influence on his baby girl, Frances.
I could easily argue that the latter is true based on my firsthand conversations with Kurt's own friends and personal Lawyer, Rosemeary Carroll. The point I want to make clear is that no person, including Dr. Hartshorne, should have or could have automatically labeled that note as a "suicide" note.
Again, Hartshorne seems to believe that if he says it's a "suicide note" then it is. End of conversation.
"Hundreds and Thousands"
The question of Dr. Hartshorne's credibily arises again when he claims to have read "hundreds and thousands" of suicide notes. Considering about 50% or less of those who committ suicide don't even leave a note, the reading of even one thousand suicide notes, much less two thousand or more, ("hundreds and thousands") during this young doctor's career, sounds deliberately inflated.
So, let's get another take on this.
I had spoken with Dr. Cyril Wecht a couple of times on the phone over the years. But, as I mentioned earlier, a few years ago, while attending an event in Pittsburgh, I was seated next to Dr. Wecht and his lovely wife, Sigrid, who is also a medical Doctor.
The photo below was from my cellphone camera, along with a copy of the email Dr. Wecht later sent in reply to my thanking him for that memorable evening.
During the time we spent together that evening, Dr. Wecht and his wife both seemed more fascinated by the Cobain case than anything else we could have talked about.
So, with such an opportune time to get his feedback, among other issues, I asked him whether it was possible for a medical examiner or coroner to have read over 2000 suicide notes, especially such a young pathologit in his 30's like Dr. Hartshorne.
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