Private investigator Tom Grant and Soaked In Bleach director Benjamin Statler joined guest host Dave Schrader (email) to discuss the suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of Nirvana front-man Kurt Cobain, the bungled investigation of his reported suicide, and the evidence that points to murder.
Grant, who has personally investigated Cobain's death, was hired by Cobain's then-wife Courtney Love to locate him after he had fled rehab on April 1, 1994. Most of what Love said about Cobain did not make sense, and she wanted other locations surveilled but not their main house in Seattle, he revealed. In addition, Love claimed pressing business was keeping her in Los Angeles, though her own lawyer, Rosemary Carroll, acknowledged Love had nothing going on at the time and could have travelled to Seattle to search for Cobain, Grant explained.
"Within thirty days after I started working for Courtney, I sent her a letter telling her I was suspicious of what was going on," he continued. Grant outlined several important details of the case, including a statement by close friend Dylan Carlson that Cobain was not suicidal, the shotgun found at the scene had been purchased before Cobain had left for rehab, and the Seattle police were predisposed to the idea of suicide from Love's distorted missing persons report as well as the investigation of a corrupt cop. The note found at the scene had nothing to do with suicide though it was labeled as such, Grant added.
"It still is my opinion that there was foul play involved, although that's not the conclusion of [Soaked In Bleach] at this point," Statler admitted, noting the goal of his film is to get the Seattle Police Department to change their findings in the Cobain case from suicide to undetermined. "According to what their own reports say, the findings actually should be undetermined," he declared. It should have taken much longer to determine if Cobain's death was a suicide, Statler suggested. Dave played audio from Soaked In Bleach of Norm Stamper, Seattle's police chief when Cobain was found dead, and he conceded the case should be reopened.