Ex-Cop: I'd Reopen Case to See If Love Killed Cobain

Former Seattle chief thinks new movie's conspiracy theory should be fleshed out
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 24, 2015 10:15 AM CDT

Conspiracy theories have long swirled around the 1994 death of Kurt Cobain, but the latest film documentary about the Nirvana frontman has Courtney Love filing cease-and-desist letters and the ex-police chief of Seattle saying he'd reopen the case if he were still in charge, Spin reports. In Soaked in Bleach, a private investigator named Tom Grant says he was hired by Love to find Cobain, who had gone missing, just a few days before his death, per the Consequence of Sound. The movie reportedly offers up convincing evidence from Grant that Cobain didn't kill himself but was murdered, and that Love was the mastermind, Spin notes. The film also features commentary from Norm Stamper, who had just taken over as head of Seattle's police force before Cobain died.

While Stamper doesn't come right out and say Love had her husband offed, he does think the movie's allegations warrant a new look. "We should in fact have taken steps to study patterns involved in the behavior of key individuals who had a motive to see Kurt Cobain dead," he says in the movie, per Spin. "If in fact Kurt Cobain was murdered … and it was possible to learn that, shame on us for not doing that." And if he were still chief today, those steps would be taken, Stamper adds: "It's about right and wrong. It's about honor. It's about ethics. If we didn’t get it right the first time, we damn well better get it right the second time, and I would tell you right now if I were the chief of police, I would reopen this investigation." (The Montage of Heck documentary about Cobain has been described as "brilliant" and "uncomfortable.")

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