Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s 1994 death has been declared a homicide by a Seattle Police captain who was ordered to probe the “botched” investigation in 2005.
“I think it’s a homicide, and I do think the case should be reopened,” former police captain Neil Low, who retired in 2018 after spending 50 years with the Seattle Police Department (SPD), told Daily Mail.
Low — who was a police commander at the time of Cobain’s death, and had been asked by his chief to probe the case in 2005 — added that he believes investigators failed to treat the initial scene as a potential homicide, calling the original SPD investigation “botched.”
“I just am not buying that Kurt did that to himself,” the retired police captain said, insisting that the physical evidence from Cobain’s death scene “does not add up.”
Low claims the case was mishandled from the start, and questions whether proper forensic procedures were followed. The veteran police captain also suggested the scene could have even been staged to make it look like the Nirvana singer had taken his own life.
Some of the questionable items he cited include evidence involving Cobain’s blood, as well as the violence from the Remington Model 11 20-gauge shotgun wound.
“The birdshot went into his skull and really did a number,” Low said. “All the pellets were accounted for, but the impact would have been so forceful that it would have produced a significant spray, not just a little, a large spray.”
Additionally, Low pointed out photos that appear to show Cobain’s hands unusually clean, adding that this is inconsistent with self-inflicted shotgun wounds.
Other photos showing the 27-year-old’s chest and hands could help explain blood patterns and suggest whether the scene was altered after Cobain’s death, he added.
Low also mentioned apparent inconsistencies at the scene, recalling missing notes, omitted witness observations, and conflicting information about events leading up to Cobain’s April 5, 1994 death in the autopsy and SPD reports.
“One thing about report writing is the human error factor,” he said, citing “misheard, misunderstood, transposed thoughts, and forgotten details” that likely caused investigators to be “led astray.”
“I’ve read the case, and I can tell you what the evidence says because that’s what I did for a living, and it does say not suicide,” Low — who was given full access to Cobain’s file, as well as the evidence in the 2005 audit — asserted.
Moreover, too many personnel had been allowed inside, potentially contaminating evidence, retired police captain noted.
Meanwhile, an SPD report shows that at least 12 officers went in and out of the room where the Nirvana guitarist’s body was found, Daily Mail reported.
Low went on to recall the suicide narrative transpiring just hours after Cobain was found dead, when SPD spokeswoman Vinette Tishi told reporters outside the house where his body was discovered that there existed “a suicide note.”
“It was obvious this man is dead from a shotgun wound to the head,” Tishi said at the time, adding, “There was a suicide note left inside the house.”
Watch Below:
Low argued that a statement like that should come from the medical examiner’s office — not a police spokesperson.
He added that investigators must follow strict standards and avoid drawing evidentiary conclusions, such as labeling a letter a “suicide note” before it has been officially determined, as early assumptions can shape an entire investigation.
Near the end of Cobain’s purported suicide note, he allegedly scrawled, “It’s better to burn out than to fade away” — a line that would go on to be an infamous quote attributed to the grunge star — before urging his wife Courtney Love to “please keep going,” and claiming that their daughter Frances “will be so much happier without me.”
In 1994, Washington State’s King County Medical Examiner ruled Cobain’s death a suicide by shotgun, noting that the weapon was found in the Nirvana frontman’s arms with a suicide note nearby.
Authorities have maintained this conclusion for more than three decades, despite alternative theories, which include independent researchers who insists the evidence in Cobain’s death points to a homicide.
Low, meanwhile, believes that initial investigators “went in with their mind made up” that “it was a suicide,” and revealed that Homicide units don’t typically examine deaths that are considered suicides.
He added that an audit like the 2005 probe is not meant to change the original ruling of the case, but to conduct a thorough and objective review of an investigation to ensure accountability and highlight training needs, among other similar tasks.
Low’s perspective on the matter is significant, as it comes from a member of senior law enforcement — who also admits to initially accepting the suicide ruling — rather than fans’ theories, Daily Mail noted.
Independent researchers have also pointed out discrepancies in police documents, which they say raise even more questions.
A 1994 police report, for example, notes that a taxi driver “picked up a person who he thought did not match with the residence” of Cobain’s house, implying the individual may not have been the Nirvana singer.
“He drove around looking for a place to buy bullets, but was unable to find one,” the Seattle Police Department’s report adds.
In 2014, the SPD released a follow-up case investigation report that cited a detective’s note mentioning a man had been picked up “from the Cobain residence” on the morning of April 2, 1994 — just three days before the rock star’s death.
“This male advised the cab driver that he wanted to find a place to buy some bullets since he had recently been burglarized,” the report reads, adding that the cab driver later dropped the man off ten miles north of the house, near the intersection of 145th Street and Aurora Avenue.
Notably, the 2014 report — which claimed to include previously unseen details in the Cobain case — omitted the initial observation that the passenger’s identify remained unknown.
Independent researcher Michelle Wilkins, who has been re-examining the case with a team of forensic scientists, said such discrepancies strengthen concerns regarding the thoroughness of the initial investigation.
“The original report explicitly says the passenger didn’t match the residence. That alone suggests it may not have been Kurt,” Wilkins told Daily Mail, adding that Cobain was an experienced gun owner who likely would have known where to buy ammunition.
Another questionable item involves inconsistencies in the autopsy report and police documents.
The autopsy, for example, mentions a handwritten note referencing ammunition and the Remington shotgun, noting it was found in Cobain’s front jacket pocket.
But the official 1994 SPD report described the note as a receipt for the shotgun, noting “the purchaser was Dylan R. Carlson” — a friend of Cobain’s.
“Inside the jacket pocket is a receipt for the purchase of the Remington 20 gauge shotgun,” the police report states, adding that the purchase was dated March 30, 1994.
In response to an inquiry asking to explain the process conducted to determine Cobain had died from suicide before the toxicology and autopsy reports were completed, the SPD told Daily Mail, “Kurt Cobain died by suicide in 1994. This continues to be the position held by the Seattle Police Department.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.