With the 16th anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain coming up on April 5th I thought I would write a post on the subject…..
Having been a fan of Nirvana since the early 90’s, the question of Kurt Cobain’s death, whether you believe suicide or murder, has always been something that I have thought about over the years. I had always thought that he had never just committed suicide, that something more had happened. I also did not necessarily just assume that Courtney Love had killed him… but I had always thought that she had something to do with his death.
In September 2009 I went to Seattle, Washington with my sister. we went to a Pearl Jam concert just outside of Portland, Oregon and then headed to Seattle the following day to walk around the city and see the “sights”. We also traveled to the area of Madrona, Seattle to try to find Viretta Park. Viretta park is located right beside Kurt Cobain’s former house, where his death took place. It also acts an “unofficial” memorial to Kurt with the park benches decorated with notes from fans who leave flowers and other mementos behind. There are reports that Kurt used to frequent the park and there is a report from one of Kurt’s neighbours that she saw Kurt in the park, sitting on the park bench on the morning of April 3rd, just hours or days before his death (depending on when you believe Kurt actually died). We never did end up finding Viretta Park during that Sept 09′ trip, as the area is a little confusing and without actually researching the area and getting directions, it was difficult to find. In march of 2010 I had a trip to Seattle already planned. I was heading there for a Matthew Good concert and figured I would do some online research of Viretta Park and surrounding the area and planned on finding the park and Kurt’s house. I printed off maps & directions and was looking forward to paying Kurt a visit. I also did a lot of research on his death. I came across investigator Tom Grant’s website cobaincase.com Tom Grant is a private investigator who Courtney Love hired in the last few days of Kurt’s life to track down her supposed ” heroin junkie husband who was on a suicidal rampage and who had just bought a gun”.
Anyone wondering what happened to Kurt Cobain, Nirvana fans, people interested in crimes that have not been properly investigated by police or just anyone who wants to hear the truth about events that took place in the last few months of Kurt’s life should visit Tom Grant’s site and read the facts that he has uncovered.
Traveling to Seattle after reading the details of Tom Grant’s investigation, visiting Viretta Park and the house at 171 lake Washington Blvd east really put things into perspective for me. As I drove through the outskirts of Seattle towards the area of Madrona, I tried to imagine what the park would be like. I had wondered for days. Was it heavily wooded? Would I run into anyone there? Would I be freaked out going there? As I followed my directions I eventually ended up at 39th Ave East and East John Street, the entrance to Viretta Park, I was about to find out. I parked my car at the side of the road and started to walk towards the park entrance. As you enter the park (at the upper portion) it appears as if you are about to trespass onto some wealthy persons front lawn. The Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz used to live at the house at the top of Viretta Park. Off to the left of the Schultz driveway is a staircase, a very steep staircase, that heads down into the lower portion of Viretta Park. As you travel down the steep staircase and look off to your left, there is Kurt’s former house and the area in which the greenhouse used to stand, where Kurt’s body was found on the morning of April 8th, 1994. Courtney Love had the greenhouse torn down after Kurt’s death. Once at the bottom of the stairs, the park opens up a bit and there, to the left, is Kurt’s bench. While I was at the park there was also another Nirvana fan there, writing a message to Kurt on the bench and leaving some flowers and a drawing for him. I spoke to him briefly, he was from Japan. He had me take a few photos of him and Kurt’s bench with his camera and asked if he could take a picture of me, so that he could remember another fan who he met there. It was nice to meet another Nirvana fan there.
At first, walking up to the bench, seeing all the messages left for Kurt on the bench, having read all the details on http://www.cobaincase.com on the events that took place within the last few months of Kurt’s life… it all just kind of hit me. It was really sad. I felt sad and felt that this was so unfair, for Kurt. I shed a few tears while at the park and really wanted to find out more about what to do to try to get this case reopened.
A month before Kurt Cobain died, he suffered from an overdose in Rome. After reading the facts that Tom Grant provides at cobaincase.com, there is no doubt in my mind that Kurt’s “Rome Incident” was 100% a murder attempt on him by Courtney Love and Michael “Cali” DeWitt, Courtney’s long time friend and live in nanny. Courtney Love has planted so many stories in the press, has put Kurt in such a negative light, during his life and after his death, making his drug usage out to be more than what it actually was. She was the junkie in the relationship. She was the one who was telling the press that Kurt was a junkie and trying to drag his name through the mud, attempting to make him seem like a suicidal junkie. There are many reports of people who knew Kurt and other musicians who toured with Nirvana that said that in the last year of his life Kurt was clean and was happy. He planned on leaving Courtney love, who was cheating on him with Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins. Kurt was having a lawyer draw up a new will, excluding Courtney form it and was planning on leaving the music business. Courtney Love had motive to have Kurt killed. It’s like she had his death planned for months.
Something needs to be done to reopen this case. The Seattle Police Department started investigating Kurt’s death as a suicide right from the start, because that is what it “appeared” to be. Courtney Love was friends with one of the detective’s assigned to the case, along with the medical examiner. The police basically took whatever Courtney had to say about Kurt’s death and believed every word without giving his death a proper investigation. Just because something looks a certain way, doesn’t mean it necessarily is that way. Courtney Love planted a false missing person’s report on Kurt, claiming to be Kurt’s mother and claiming that Kurt was on heroin, had a gun and was suicidal. It was Courtney that planted the idea that Kurt was suicidal in the minds of the police. She then hired private investigator Tom Grant to help “find her missing suicidal husband” but then did everything in her power to prevent Mr. Grant from actually finding out where Kurt was.
There have been a few websites that have been created to spread the word on what actually happened in March and April of 1994 and to try to get this case reopened. I really wish I would have researched Kurt’s death a long time ago. A lot of information has been lost, websites shut down, articles that are hard to find. But there are still a few sites out there with a ton of information from people who are dedicated to bringing some justice to Kurt Cobain.
To find out more information on the circumstances surrounding Kurt’s death, you can visit the following sites……..
Private Investigators Tom Grant’s site cobaincase.com
Justice For Kurt site www.justiceforkurt.com
The Death of Kurt Cobain
Frances Barnett’s In Defence of Kurt Cobain this is one of the websites that has since shut down but a lot of information from the site was archived at “The Death of Kurt Cobain” website
You may think “who Cares”. This death happened 16 years ago…. get over it. BUT Kurt’s death was not properly investigated. There is so much information and facts that investigator Tom Grant has uncovered that shows that Kurt’s death was something more than just a suicide. Everyone deserves justice. If something like this happened to you or one of your family member or friends, I am sure you would want the police department to do a proper investigation and to rule out all possibilities before making a ruling. The Seattle Police Department DID NOT do this in Kurt’s case. At the very least this case needs to be reopened and Kurt’s death declared as “Undetermined”.
So what can we do? Well that might just be the hard part. We have a police department who has dealt with this very high profile death, who made assumptions on what had taken place and now probably doesn’t want to admit they were wrong. The best thing we can do is to write to the Interim Chief John Diaz at the Seattle Police Department and ask for them to reopen this case. Please send letters to….
Chief John Diaz
Seattle Police Department
PO Box 34986
Seattle, WA 98124-4986
AND
You can also bring awareness to this case by reviewing the facts and information on Tom Grant’s website www.cobaincase.com and telling friends, family, co-workers or anyone about the events of this case and how badly this case was investigated. Hopefully one day Kurt will finally receive the justice that he deserves.
This April 5th (the date that the coroner placed Kurt’s death) I am heading to Viretta Park to pay a visit to Kurt. I know that in the past years fans have gone to the park on April 5th for a memorial for Kurt. I have searched the internet,trying to find information on any type of meeting happening this year but can’t find any information on anything.
SO… if you have any info on a time that people will be meeting up..please leave a comment and let me know. I am heading to the park on April 5th regardless if anyone else is planning on attending… so I will be there… somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2pm. If your in Seattle and a fan of Kurt and would like to stop by Viretta Park on April 5th for a memorial to Kurt…. I would love to meet up with you 🙂
Chillaxin 