| Kurt Cobain: The Facts on the matter |
| Here's me sayin I'm not writing this because I am overly obsessed with the matter, I just think injustice is an ugly thing. If you agree with me on anything, surely you will agree that civilised society cannot exist without justice. Do we live in a civilised society? |
| Kurt Cobain, 'rock idol', comits suicide. To many in the world this did not make sense. For people who felt like they knew Kurt, even just a little, through his music this was a hard blow. For some, a simply devastating blow. They couldn't take it and copy-cat suicides occured. What if Kurt did not kill himself? would those people have felt betrayed... I think so. By the press, by the police, and by the lack of justice. |
| So now you're interested? I'm going to tell you the facts; you're going to think about the rest. Although, rest assured, I'll let you know what I think... |
| The following information is taken from DEAD MEN DON'T PULL TRIGGERS written by Roger Lewis, revised January 4, 1998. There are some additional notes in this colour just to help you, the original document is very sizable! I have taken the main points and in some cases simplified them. In no way did I mean to mis-represent any information, and if you wanna check, you're welcome to read the original document, ok? : ) SUICIDE OR HOMICIDE? 0 A review of cases involving homicides shows many simaliarities with the Cobain case. 0 Out of 3586 suicides, 760 of them violent, no incidence was found of a suicide involving both a weapon and narcotics overdose. Now people have suggested certain things which seem to explain away the evidence. Let me just point out to you that if someone says something like: "oh, it was three times the lethal dose of heroin, but Kurt was an addict, so it wouldn't kill him." they know less than you do, even though you're reading this now. 0 1.52 mg (miligrams) of morphine per litre of blood was found in Kurt's body. There is no doubt that this level is just a little bit over three times the maximum lethal dose - this does NOT mean 1.52mg were injected. A level of 1.52 mg per litre of blood would indicate an injection of 225mg - 240mg of heroin.. Heroin turns into morphine when injected into the bloodstream after about 9 minutes, just so you don't get confused when 'blood morphine' levels are talked about. Just to clear that up! 0 The effects of large overdoses of heroin in heroin addicts are well understood. Research clearly shows that an overdose of the level received by Kurt would lead to immidiate and complete incapacitation and/or immediate death. Ok..... so then how does Kurt go on to pick up a shotgun and blow his brains out?? are we talking zombies here?? NO. The fact is that the scientific aspects of this case clearly point to homicide, not suicide. Science doesn't lie. 0 Kurt's body weight was at most 130 lbs., and he was listed as being 115 lbs. in late 1993. This would generally incease his succeptability to overdose by 20% (toxicity data based on a 130 lb. adult) He was thin so drugs would affect him qucker and stronger than if he was average - large. 0 Heroin purity varies widely, some samples containing as little as 1% heroin, or as much as 93% purity (highest recorded amount). Heroin is not uncommonly up to 80% pure. The heroin in the drug kit found next to Kurt was suspected Mexican black tar heroin. 40% pure is a common figure, and procaine or acetlyprocaine is commonly used as an adulterant and is very common in Mexican black tar heroin. Procaine is potentially toxic, and would not have been found in Kurt's body as he was found at least three days after his death. 0 Diazepam was also present in Kurt's blood. The significance of this is that Diazepam, term sometimes used to describe the catergory of drugs known as benzodiazepines, is synonymous with the well-known drug Valium. Benzodiazepines are regarded as sedative-hypnotic, and are not cross-tolerant. Meaning, in this case, just because Kurt was a heroin addict with high tolerance to heroin does not mean he had a tolerance to Diazepam. If a benzodiazepine is taken in conjuction with heroin, as they both cause "respiratory depression" the likelyhood of death occuring as a result is greater than if either drug were taken alone. Benzodiazepine poisoning and Diazepam poisoning in particular is rare in isolation, but not at all uncommon in combination with heroin. This means that when the two drugs are taken together, the chance of respiratory failiure (death) increases. 0 No legible fingerprints were found on the shotgun Kurt allegedly used to shoot himself in the head with. That means somebody else could have used the gun and the most probably the gun was wiped with a cloth to get rid of all fingerprints. Surely Kurt's fingerprints should have been on it if he bought it and then used the weapon?? 0 The missing person's report. (Click to see it) This was apparently filed by Kurt's mother, but was probably filed by Courtney Love, who had done things like that before. It says he is "armed with a shotgun" and "May be suicidal" which would indicate Courtney filed the report. 0 There was an incident where Courtney called the police, telling them that Kurt had locked himself away with a weapon and may be suicidal. On arriving on the scene, Kurt told them that he was just trying to get away from his wife. 0 If someone is dead, they don't really go on using their credit card, do they? and if the credit card is used by someone else this is suspicious right? bcause somebody did try to use Kurt's card after he was dead. Who would have access to it, Courtney would, or was it stolen? 0 Handwriting experts, having looked at the 'suicide note' say that there are indeed two different sets of handwriting on it. The first being Kurt's, and if you read only that part, and not the larger writing at the end, the note seems only to sound like a 'retirement' from the industry note. It only sounds like Kurt wants to get out of the spotlight for a bit and live his life. Only the end part, in the larger writing - which experts say is not by the same hand as the other writing, is the only part that sounds suicidal. Strange, eh? This case in particular was what started to get me interested in Forensics, as good police work can be backed up and enhanced by good Forensics work. In this case, seeimingly nothing went right with the police to uncover what happened on that day, the day that will live forever in Fan's memories, young and old alike. |
| Most people have at least heard the main points against the suicide verdict, but I'll go over them incase you are not totally sure: 0 Three times the lethal dose of heroin was found in Kurt Cobain's body 0 There were no legible fingerprints on the weapon 0 A misleading missings person's report was filed 0 Kurt's credit card was used after he was dead 0 There appear to be two different sets of handwriting on the 'suicide note' So, it seems maybe somebody wanted this to look like a suicide. 0 Kurt was going to divorce Courtney and take her out of his will, but the will was never signed. Motive perhaps? |
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| April 8th 1994 |