Soaked in Bleach Page #5

The French doors were locked.

I was first in and right away could see

That it was a fatality.

The shotgun lay in his lap,

a significant pool of blood

By his head.

There was nothing we could do for him,

So we didn't touch the body.

We'll check for mail or

somethin' with a name on it.

The officer said, "Do

you want the name?"

Knowing I needed it for my log book.

He said, "It's Cobain, Kurt Cobain. "

A couple of second delay

and my head snappin' around,

I said, "You mean the rock star?"

The developing story

shocks the music world.

A man found dead this morning

is rock star Kurt Cobain.

Cobain's body was found about a...

Apparently it was a suicide...

Was so severe that his body could only

Be identified by fingerprints.

Police can't release the details found

In Cobain's suicide note,

but over the past couple

Of years, Cobain has

had some tough times.

Cobain was 27.

He joins a growing list of

rock stars who burn bright

Then burn out tragically.

When we arrived at the property

It was broad daylight and

the Greenhouse stuck out

Like a sore thumb.

You could see it from the

street above the bushes,

It was so tall.

I just didn't understand why

he didn't point that out to me.

That's Entertainment Tonight.

He's Rolling Stone.

Dylan didn't like the press

and he said Kurt didn't

Like the press.

Current Affairs; stay away from them.

Ho ho ho.

I'm Tom Grant, how are you?

Fine.

I was hired by Courtney

Love to investigate

The disappearance of her husband.

I've got information I

think would be helpful.

Could I speak to the

detective in charge?

Wait here.

He said he's too busy

to speak with you now.

Call the station after 3PM;

you can talk to him then.

I was dumbfounded by that.

If I were a police officer

investigating the dead body

And somebody told me

there was somebody outside

That had been in the

house the night before,

I'd tell them, "Hold him. "

"If they say they need

to leave, handcuff 'em,"

"And keep 'em there until we

get a chance to talk to 'em. "

You don't let somebody like that go,

You don't take a chance until

you've fully investigated

A case and determined

positively how this person died.

The Seattle Police Department claimed

They were investigating

this as a possible homicide.

If they were, they certainly

wouldn't allow somebody

To leave when they'd been

in the house the night

Before a dead body was

found on the property.

I'm Norm Stamper.

I was a police officer for 34 years,

And last six from 1994 to

2000 as Seattle's police chief.

I wouldn't pretend that

there aren't police officers

Who are cynical and

suspicious and skeptical.

That was the case in

the Kurt Cobain death.

John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King,

Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe.

Over the past 50 years as a

Medical-legal forensic

pathology consultant,

I've been involved

in thousands of cases,

About 18,000 autopsies,

and I have reviewed,

Signed off or supervised, and evaluated

About 38,000 other autopsies.

I have personally

investigated, supervised,

Consulted and researched

on over 8,000 homicides.

I wrote Practical Homicide

Investigation because there was

A need for a standard protocol

to approach all death scenes.

From the very beginning,

everything that the detectives

Encountered indicated to

them that this was a suicide.

The decision to rule the

case by police the same day

And to make a public

pronouncement that this was

A suicide is not the

way good police agencies

Would function today.

As a homicide commander,

I would not be making any proclamations

That the case was a

suicide without the evidence

the victimology,

The medical-legal process, toxicology.

It's a death investigation.

They knew nothing about the drug level,

They knew nothing about fingerprints,

They knew nothing about

anything else at that time

Except that they had

found him with a shotgun.

The reason we call things

death investigations is

That we don't wanna

prematurely make them

Homicides, suicides or accidents.

It's a death investigation.

Cases that involve prominent figures,

These cases usually take

more time because you know

That there are gonna be more questions.

People are gonna wanna know every single

Thing about it.

In the Philip Seymour Hoffman case,

They found him with a needle in his arm.

They found 50 bags of heroin right there

In his apartment, and

yet they did not make

Any announcement beyond that.

They knew that they

should not be commenting.

Official statements as to

cause and manner of death

Do not come from police or

even homicide detectives.

They do not.

I've never believed that

the police were involved

From the beginning in

any kind of a conspiracy

Involving Kurt Cobain's death.

I think they were set

up by Courtney Love

From that missing person's report,

And everything that it said in it.

If my officers heard or were made aware

That Kurt Cobain had

left rehab, had purchased

A shotgun, was suicidal,

that's of course going

To affect them.

They, what I call assumed

the suicide position,

Which to me means cut

corners, not do this,

Not do that, because it's

a suicide, no problem.

I have to admit, there's

been a lot of inconsistencies

In this case.

Really?

The reports that were

coming out in the media said

Kurt Cobain was barricaded

inside the Greenhouse.

Look at this photograph.

Is that the lock you're talking about?

I dunno where this picture's from,

So I couldn't say.

Well, it's from the Greenhouse.

I've been over the place inside and out,

And trust me, that is the only lock.

If you say so.

Presuming I'm telling you the truth,

Why would you say that

he locked himself in?

Because the door was locked.

Look at the picture.

It's not a deadbolt, it's a twist lock.

Anybody coulda twisted that

lock and pulled the door shut

Behind 'em when they left.

Look, the lock doesn't matter.

There was a stool wedged

up against the door.

Now how do you wedge

a stool against a door

After you've already left the room?

The police reports plainly

states that the stool

Was simply sitting in

front of the two unlocked

French doors at the

other side of the room,

But on one of the reports,

it was added that the stool

Was blocking the entrance.

Someone reported that there was a stool

Blocking the door.

That wasn't the case.

I dunno where that came from.

If you could just

show me the photographs

Your officer took at the

scene, we can put that issue

To rest once and for all.

Well the photographs

haven't been developed,

Probably never will be.

We don't develop

photographs on suicides.

I have never heard of that.

Every case I've been

involved, with the crime scene

Photographs were developed.

Why not release 'em to other experts?

I can't answer that question.

It was something that the

Seattle Police department did.

In hindsight, they

probably shouldn't have.

But that's what they did.

Nothing you've said

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