rome

THE ROME INCIDENT, MARCH 4th 1994

Kurt Cobain lived for twenty seven years, some of which were blighted by excruciating stomach pains that sometimes drove him to consider suicide. But He survived. He managed to get treatment for that problem. He survived.
Within hours of Courtney Love and Michael DeWitt joining Kurt in Rome, hours in which Kurt argued with Courtney, and finally decided to leave her, Kurt was fighting for his life in a hospital in Rome.

Courtney's response to this was to tell Select magazine:
"If he thinks he can get away from me that easily, he can forget it. I'll follow him through hell."
She said this not within the context of a failed suicide, but within the context of an argument in which he told her he was leaving her. It is reminiscent of a recorded threat by Courtney to Victoria Clarke, " I will haunt you to fucking hell, for the rest of your life."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Grant believes that this overdose was an attempt by Courtney to murder Kurt. The overdose was due to his ingesting Rohypnol and champagne, which Grant believed Courtney administered to Kurt without his knowledge.
Wallace and Halperin mention this in their book and then ask why Courtney would have called the ambulance whilst Kurt was unconscious, rather than leaving him to die?

In an interview with Robert Hillburn on April 4th 1994, Courtney talked about the overdose in Rome. Hillburn reported:
Love had flown to Rome early last month to spend a few days with Cobain after he cancelled part of a European concert tour, caused by illness. She woke in the hotel room to find him unconcious, having taken some of her prescription tranquilizers and alcohol, she says;
" He was dead......legally dead, he was in a coma for 20 hours...on life support. They
thought he was never going to come out of it."
(L.A. Times April 10th 1994.)
Maybe Courtney did leave him until she thought he was dead. Her above statement looks to me like amazed disbelief that he was not dead. Maybe the answer is that obvious.

Reports came through that Cobain had been moved from the Umberto Prima Hospital-allegedly at Courtney Love's insistence--to the American Hospital...Many thought that, in the state he was in, Cobain would not be moved anywhere unless doctors at the Umberto had said they could do nothing more for him. A doctor at the Umberto Prima said:"Cobain was in a grave condition when he left here."
(Melody Maker's March 12th 1994 edition).
How wise was it to have Kurt transferred at this point? Could this have been a desperate attempt to set-back/prevent his recovery? I know it was supposed to be for security reasons, but I question this excuse.

On March 3rd, just a few hours before she met Kurt in Rome, Courtney did an interview with Select magazine, the writer said that during this interview Love was popping Rohypnol:
There is a box of Rohypnol on the big mahogony table in the middle of Courtney Love's London hotel room, among the scattered papers and cigarette boxes.
"Look, I know this is a controlled substance," she smiles as she empties one of those fizzy stomach upset powders into a tumbler of water and washes back a Rohypnol.
"I got it from my doctor. It's like Valium. You know, fuck that Prozac stuff. I'm not a depressive, I tried it for like five or six days, and by the sixth day I started seeing tracers like when you're on acid..."
(Select's May 1994 edition).

In Melody Maker's March 12th 1994 edition there was a two page article on Kurt's overdose. Everett True had reviewed that weeks singles with Courtney just prior to her flying to Rome. True reported that during this review, Courtney said:
"This reminds me of when I take those dihydrocodeines I get over here in London, with Rohypnol and champagne."
Everett True ended his article by saying:
" If Kurt Cobain wants to take Rohypnol, drink champagne and go into a coma, it's up to him (and his wife, presumably,) and no-one else."
So, Courtney had the Rohypnol, and experience of that method of using it, at a time that was crucial. Everett, where is your compassion?

But was it up to Kurt? It is possible that he wasn't aware that he had been administered it. Rohypnol is tasteless when dissolved in drink, that is why it is called the date-rape drug. One tablet in a drink is enough to confuse and disorientate a person.

It was claimed that Kurt ordered champagne and requested for a bell boy to fill a prescription for Rohypnol, the prescription was Courtney's. How do we know Kurt ordered them? Contrary to Brite's claim that Jackie was the Nanny in Rome, it was reported at the time that Love, Frances Bean and Cali joined Kurt in Rome.
If these were ordered by phone, then DeWitt, aka Cali, could have ordered them, and Kurt could have been oblivious to it.

The story as it unfolds in the Rossi/Brite books is that Kurt was acting the romantic, ordering champagne, providing flowers, sending out for a prescription. Courtney fell asleep. She woke up between 3-4 in the morning and found Kurt unconscious, with blood coming from his nose. He had a wad of cash in one hand, and a note he had written in the other, he was wearing a brown corderoy jacket. (Rossi p187/ Brite p 164.)
This does not make sense at all. We know Kurt wrote a note, nearly all sources agree on that. The only example I can find of Kurt's explanation of this note is in Cobain by the editors of Rolling Stone, p.90. where a Gold Mountain employee said:
"Kurt insisted it was not a suicide note. He just took all of his and Courtney's money and was going to run away and disappear."
There seems to be a problem here. I will always accept Kurt's reasons and doubt Courtney's. On that basis then, why would Kurt write a note, prepare to leave, get the cash together, and then take an overdose? The two actions are contradictory.
The other point is that Brite wrote that Courtney woke up between 3-4 in the morning and found him unconscious -but the ambulance wasn't called until 6.30 am.

This incident was described at the time as an accident/mistake/inadvertant overdose. A convenient mistake/accident/etc, which just happened when Kurt was leaving, running away. A mistake which involved Rohypnol and champagne, substances Kurt did not use but that Courtney was in the habit of using in combination and had at her disposal, substances notorious for their use to incapacitate victims. I don't believe this was a mistake for one minute. And I believe Kurt's reasons, so I can only consider the possibility that Grant is right, and it was attempted murder. It was only after Kurt's death that it was claimed this was a suicide attempt.

The accounts are a mess, we only have slivers of information which come from reliable sources. Courtney's and DeWitt's can be discarded.
All I can do is try to piece together what might have happened using the facts I have. So the following is hypothetical, a possibility, an opinion. Are opinions banned under the British Libel Laws, Nick? well, I'll take my chances.

1)....Kurt wasn't attempting suicide.
2)....The note Kurt wrote was a note saying he was leaving Courtney, running away.
On these foundations Kurt didn't take any Rohypnol that he was aware of.
3)....Kurt argued with Courtney, he told her he was leaving, both her, and the tour he was on.
4)....Someone ordered champagne and for the prescription to be delivered. But this
might not have been Kurt. Kurt might not have known about this.
5)....Kurt didn't drink alcohol, this is witnessed by people who toured with him. Just one Rohypnol was dissolved in a small amount of champagne, which was then diluted with water, maybe in Kurt's famous bottle of Evian water. The perpetrators of this act have enough experience of using Rohypnol to know what they are doing. They provide just enough of the drug to render him incapable of leaving. Safe in the knowledge that Kurt won't get very far, they leave the room, possibly to decide what to do next. According to Rossi, p 186 the suite Kurt had in the Excelsior Hotel had an extra bedroom for the nanny. Maybe they go there.
6)....Because Courtney wasn't in the room, Kurt wrote a note saying that he was
leaving. He got ready to leave.
7)....The drug took effect before he could get away.
8)....The perpetrators then returned.
9)....Kurt was incapacitated. Why did he have a bloody nose?
10)..The perpetrators forcefully administered Rohypnol and champagne, Kurt struggled, and in the process he injured his nose. When a person is forcefully administered liquid, their noses are pinched to force them to gulp air/liquid to breathe.
(She saw the top of Kurt's blonde head whipping furiously back and forth (P. Brite, p.169.) This was Courtney's description of Kurt supposedly being man-handled into an ambulance.
Are you sure you aren't getting confused, Courtney? You obviously saw this somewhere, are you playing with the truth?
11)..The perpetrators wait until 6.30 am before they raise the alarm, by this time they believe that he is dead.

This is hypothetical, but it shows a sequence of events which makes sense. Provides answers to the contradictions that otherwise stand.
Tom Grant doesn't have the answers to everything, and neither does he claim to. He does have an informed opinion though, and many people believe him. This will not go away. There are serious and legitimate reasons to re-open this case.
Rome was never investigated as attempted murder, it should have been, maybe it still can. Kurt's death MUST be re investigated. The patterns evident in Rome/Lke Wash Blvd cannot be ignored.

Kurt survived. Dr. Galletta who was responsible for Kurt's treatment, issued the following statemen:
"Cobain doesn't know what happened to him. He hasn't gained complete control of his memory. When he emerged from the coma, he was very hungry and asked for a strawberry milkshake!"
(Melody Maker March 12th 1994.)

Victims of date-rape/Rohypnol often don't remember what happened to them, and their memory comes back at different rates, sometimes remaining lost for years.
In Dave Thompson's book, Never Fade Away, published 1994, p 11, Thompson mentioned an internet posting by Kurt, where he said:
"I'm still pretty freaked over the Rome thing, and need some time to rest and get over
it. You'd think they could make a good milkshake, but no."
I would be freaked if my intended plans suddenly came to a halt, and I ended up in hospital for no reason that I could fathom. In Rome, Kurt was on the verge of running away, next thing he finds himself in hospital and he doesn't know why.
Sandford mentions this same posting ( p 323), but he omitted the above section, maybe by 1995 (when Sandford's book was published) it wasn't convenient to include the above, Kurt had a healthy propensity for milkshakes and breakfasts, not really in keeping with a suicidal man, a bit inconvenient. The fact is that as time passes certain bits of information which pertain to Kurt are lost whilst facts/evidence supporting Courtney's claims are constantly evolving, miraculously appearing. These un-named/Courtney claims are an insult to Kurt Cobain.

Victims (of Rohypnol/date rape,) are usually unconcious for at least 10 hours and may only remember events in flashbacks over the next few days......Last year Rohypnol's manufacturer introduced an anti-abuse mechanism, in which a bright blue liquid is produced once the drug is dissolved.
(London Evening Standard, 20th August 1999.)

If this was an attempt to murder Kurt, and Kurt survived, what on earth could Kurt be thinking and feeling?
Shocked, confused, scared? Probably not even remembering exactly what had transpired.
He did try to leave Courtney, after his return to Seattle. He certainly contacted his lawyer Rosemary Carroll asking her to write a new will excluding Courtney. He kept several guns for his protection, until the police confiscated them.
The friction within their relationship escalated to intolerable levels in the days proceeding Rome. Why?
If it was just a tiff, as Courtney claimed, well that's no big deal.
If it was a suicide, and Courtney was concerned, she would have told friends, to ensure they kept an eye on him, she didn't do this.
Instead Courtney hounded Kurt (see nanny interview. And police report for March 1994, police reports are on the internet.)
Why did he return to Seattle and remain under the same roof as Courtney? There are witnesses to support the fact Kurt was trying to leave, see the Broomfield/Nanny interview, see the Peter Cleary statement. See the police report for March 1994.

But why didn't he just physically walk?
He'd just come out of a coma, he had been ill and exhausted even before that happened. I don't know. Maybe he still hadn't yet gained complete memory of what happened in Rome.

"The last image I have of him, which in the light of the tragedy now seems pathetic, is of a young man playing with the little girl (Frances). He did not seem like a young man who wanted to end it all."
Dr. Galletta, the doctor who treated Kurt in Rome.

                                REFERENCES TO THE ROME "SUICIDE" NOTE:

1) When he returned the note from Rome to her, Courtney claims Sgt. Cameron told her: "This will never do you any good. I'd get rid of it if I were you."
So.......she burned it!
(Grant website.)

2)"Love gave us another note which she said Kurt had written in Rome. She said it was a suicide note, but it wasn't. It was a rambling letter which was very unflattering to her. There are some veiled references which you'd have to stretch to conclude referred to suicide."
(Un-named police officer of the Seattle Police, WKKC? p 123-124.)

3) "It was on hotel stationary, and he's talking about how I'm not in love with him anymore...and he knows how much I love him...and that like Hamlet, he had to choose between life and death, and he said he was choosing death."
(Courtney Love's description of the Rome note, Spin Magazine's Feb 1995 edition).

                                                        KURT'S DRUG USE.

Courtney has used every opportunity to highlight that Kurt was suicidal and using drugs heavily in the days prior to and after Rome.
She has un-named sources to support her claims!!
Rossi repeatedly accentuates the use of heroin and makes no reference to any possible habitual use, by Kurt, of Rohypnol. The only mention of it is its use at the time of the Rome overdose.

There are witnesses to the fact that Kurt was clean during the tour, see quotes of Tony Barber and Pete Shelley in Kurt wasn�t suicidal section.

In the March 12th edition of Melody Maker, Everett True commented on Kurt's drug/alcohol consumption as follows:
"Although it's no secret that in the past Kurt Cobain has taken drugs, sometimes to excess, the last time we met (in Seattle, last December -1993), he seemed completely "clean". That is, he was clean, optimistic and happier than he'd been for years....I knew that he'd cut down on his drug taking for a while....He hadn't taken alcohol in any serious quantity for several years, that's for sure."

The overdose in Rome was attributed to a combination of champagne and Rohypnol. There has never been any inclusion of heroin in this combination, which implies no heroin was found in Kurt's system. This supports Barber and Shelleys' claims that Kurt was clean. It would also explain why Kurt denied he had a drug problem when he was faced with the intervention, and Steve Chatoff's statement:
"He was in full denial." (Cobain by The editors of Rolling Stone p 82).
"He felt like he had no habit," (Dylan Carlson, talking about the intervention attempts after Rome, Sandford p 324.)

Chapter 18 of Brite's book published 1997 begins thus:

Conversation overheard on a flight from Rome to Seattle, March 12, 1994:
"Give me a Rohypnol."
"They're gone."
A silence. Five minutes later:
"C'mon, give me a Rohypnol.".
"They're gone Kurt. They are gone. I dumped them all down the fuckin toilet. It's over."
"Fuck you, you lying bitch, give me a Rohypnol....Please..."

This is a new progression. Again, no name for the person who overheard this conversation.
It wasn't mentioned in Rossi's book published in 1996.
Courtney has had a few months to elaborate on her stories, before the "New and Improved" version makes it's debut, courtesy of Poppy Brite. The above is an attempt to tackle the previous lack of references with regards to Kurt being a familiar user of Rohypnol. It also introduces the notion that Kurt was now using Klonopin, heroin and speed (might as well go the whole gamut, Courtney, cover all possibilities, Kurt's not here to defend himself.)
There are witnesses to support the fact Courtney was popping pills, and was familiar with the method of mixing them with champagne/drink before and after Rome, see the previously mentioned Everett True comments, and the following:
After their return from Rome Courtney considered administering Valium to Kurt in a drink, secretly, because she claims she was concerned that Kurt was manic and needed to rest (P. Brite p 168).
Are you sure you aren't confused Courtney? are you messing with the truth? You obviously thought of this at some point. Anyway, it contradicts Kurt's posting, where he makes it clear that he is aware he needs rest. I think he could cope without your intervention.

On March 22nd at Kurt's insistence they returned the Lexus Courtney had bought. Kurt was begining to take the upper hand, getting rid of what he didn't want, he seemed quite capable of this, and it caused Courtney to panic, behave in an unstable manner. As he took control, she lost it.

Kurt was not the unstable, incapable wreck un-named sources would have us believe.

"Courtney was popping pills, she had to use the bathroom and she dropped a handful of pills and had to pick them up,"
(Joe Kenney, salesman at the American Dream car lot, talking of the return of the Lexus, WKKC? p 90.)
Also see Sandford p 320, where Kenney described Love as unstable at this time:
Kenney remarked that neither Kurt nor Courtney looked like they would be around much longer because they were so strung out on drugs, Kenney didn't mention that he actually saw Kurt taking pills though.
Kurt had been ill enough to cancel the tour he was on, he had also survived a serious coma where he almost died, his physical appearance could be down this. Because Kurt was clean to other witnesses, I have to give him the benefit of the doubt, and assume that that is why he looked rough, and perhaps Kenney assumed wrongly that Kurt was strung out on drugs.

No heroin was found in Kurt's system in the Rome overdose, and witnesses exist to state that Kurt was clean, and above all this Kurt himself denied he had a drug problem. Therefore Kurt could not, at this time, be classified as a heavy drug user who had a high tolerance for heroin. This is important.

When Kurt died, he had 1.52 milligrams of morphine per litre of blood in his system. Dr Cyril Wecht, one of America's leading forensic pathologists stated:
"With a level of 1.52 millilitres per litre of morphine as found in Kurt's blood level, for the great percentage of people including addicts, it would induce a state of unconciousness quite quickly, in seconds, not even minutes. It would be virtually impossible for him to have shot himself with that high a level of morphine. It raises a question if he shot that shotgun, a big question."
(WKKC? by Max Wallace and Ian Halperin, p 113).

Two Doctors attended Lake Washington Blvd on April 8th, Dr.Donald Reay and Dr. Nicholas Hartshorne. Hartshorne was a friend of Courtney's. It was his verdict of suicide that made Kurt a victim for the second time, firstly of murder, then incompetence.

Dr. Reay has since justified this verdict by saying that a severe heroin addict has a higher tolerance and that the level of morphine present in Kurt would not exclude him from being able to pull the trigger (not to mention tidying up the works, pulling down his sleeves etc), due to the fact he was a severe heroin addict.
Kurt was clean. So once again the Seattle police and medical examiners prove that shabby incompetence and lack of investigative techniques do not exclude acceptence into their realms. Just accept evidence provided by the most likely suspect of any given crime. Case solved.
How glaringly obvious do the discrepancies need to be, before this case is taken seriously? Before the likes of Caitlin Moran stop offering such inane comments as:

"Nick Broomfield's persistently uncomprehending film Kurt and Courtney,"
and:
"She seems amazed that she and Kurt hadn't cast off plaid shirts and decamped to the semi-tropics (of L.A.) years before."
(Select Magazine September 1999).

Select is a British music publication which refuses to report this case with integrity, it consistently supports the actions of Courtney Love, boycott it, please.
Caitlin, you don't even get the basic facts right, the Rome overdose was on March 4th, not the 2nd. Courtney was born in 1964, not 1965. Kurt hated L.A. Courtney loved it. Kurt wanted to live in Seattle, Courtney in L.A. Kurt died, Courtney got what she wanted.
You are persistently uncomprehending, Caitlin. You would qualify to work for the Seattle Police Department.

Additional information. I have now managed to get film of Dr. Galletta, where he said, after the Rome overdose:
"Kurt Cobain is clearly and dramatically improving. Yesterday he was hospitalized at the Rome American Hospital in a state of coma and respiratory failure. Today he is recovering from a pharmacological coma due not to narcotics, but the combined effect of alcohol and tranquillizers that had been medically prescribed by doctor."
So Kurt definitely had no heroin in his system at the time of the overdose, and therefore he was clean.

I choose to believe Kurt, when he said Rome wasn't a suicide attempt. I also believe him when he said he didn't have a drug problem, (at the time the intervention attempts took place.) I then have to ask myself what really happened in Rome? and I find myself of the opinion that the Rome incident was attempted murder and on this foundation, Kurt could not be allowed to regain his memory.

If Courtney and DeWitt had both been in L.A. at this time (April 2nd-4th,) this scenario wouldn't exist. But the fact is that Courtney had a nanny travel to L.A. with Frances, but she chose to leave DeWitt at the house in Seattle, so Kurt was never really free of Courtney and DeWitt's influence.

Between the dates of March 3rd and April 3rd/early 4th 1994, (when I believe Kurt was murdered,) Courtney and DeWitt had control over Kurt.There are a few instances when this control was precarious. Kurt was trying to change his lifestyle, and he didn't play to Courtney's rules.

These instances were:
1....(4th March,) When in Rome he attempted to leave her/run away. He ended up in hospital fighting for his life, and he didn't know why.
2....(March 22nd,) When he insisted on returning the Lexus. At this time Kenneydescribed Courtney as popping pills and "unstable".
3....(around the end of March,) When he refused intervention. At this time Sepedjian described Courtney as "frantic" and "screaming".
4....(April 1st,) When he chose to leave rehab. At this time Joe Mama describedCourtney as "freaked" and "scared".
5....(After the Rome incident,) When he talked about divorce and requested a new will excluding Courtney. He died before he got the chance to sign it.

Courtney didn't want Kurt to have control. It scared her.
Not because he was suicidal (he wasn't), and not even solely because she stood to lose everything if he signed his will and divorced her. But because she stood the risk of Kurt remembering that she and DeWitt tried to murder him in Rome.

When David Haig met Kurt (after Rome,) in a downtown hotel he found him tense andemotional, and weeping openly when discussing his marriage. Kurt also complained to him of partial memory loss, insomnia, fatigue and 'a buzzing in the top of my head'. (Sandford p 321.)
It is interesting that Haig made no mention of Kurt looking drugged-up/depressed/suicidal. His observations of Kurt are more in line with what one would expect of a classic victim of Rohypnol induced assault. This is further substantiated by references to Kurt wearing his hunting hat at seemingly innappropriate places ie, indoors, after Rome.
"One could wonder about impairment of judgement", (after Rome,) Dr. David Bailey,Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California. (Sandford p 321.)

On March 29th 1994, Kurt didn't have his complete memory back with regards to Rome. Within 6 days he was dead. He never got the chance to remember exactly what happened.