Death of Kurt Cobain: Inspector who examined the Nirvana singer's file, evidence

Seattle police detective Mike Ciesynski, now retired, was assigned to the Homicide Unit for 22 years, including 12 in the Cold Affairs Unit. Ciesynski was commissioned to look into the Kurt Cobain case in 2014. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Cobain's death, Ciesynski shares what he has found.

Kurt Cobain

With permission of Mary Lou Lord

When the sergeant public information me summoned to his office in 2014, I thought that he was going to ask me if I would be willing to talk to a writer who wanted to talk about it. a serial murder case where I worked.

Instead, the sergeant greeted me with a funny smile: "Hey Mike, the chef would like you to take a look at the Kurt Cobain Suicide and get your thoughts, "he said. April 5 will be exactly 20 years old, and that is why the leader thinks it would be a good idea to consider it as we start getting media inquiries. "

I told him that I had no thought, since it happened just before my homicide. But that was the mission.

I had no involvement in the initial investigation other than making a recorded statement two years after Cobain's death. I also knew that a couple of 35mm dandruff, backup photos of the death scene, had never been treated.

I therefore ordered the file from our archive safe, closed the door to my private office and read the entire file for the first time.

It was unusual – but not unheard – to see cold case detectives examine resolved cases.

This April 1994 photo provided by the Seattle Police Service shows artifacts found at the scene of Kurt Cobain's suicide in Seattle. The film was developed only in 2014.

AP

Steve Kirkland, one of the first investigators, had died, along with the sergeant of the scene, Don Cameron. Steve and his partner Jim Yoshida were the best homicide detectives in the unit. Jim was retired, so I phoned him to tell him what I was doing. Jim told me that Courtney Love had been very cooperative throughout the investigation and that they had spent a lot of time on the case.

I asked Jim who had made the decision not to develop the entire movie. He added that Cameron's call was not to develop the film and place it in the safe with the file, so that no one could slip anything. Clearly, the attention of the media made some people a little paranoid.

Dr. Nikolas Hartshome was the assistant of the medical examiner who had performed the autopsy. Nick was a wonderful man who died in 2002. When I received the autopsy report, I remembered that I had leaned back in my chair and that I had gave a "whoa" after seeing the level of morphine that Kurt had in his system. There were also traces of traces and there remained several grams of black heroin in his kit. The black tar heroine is on the west coast of Mississippi compared to the brown or white heroin found in the eastern United States.

I knew I had to develop the movie. The supervisor of the crime lab made a funny face when I explained that he was 20 years old. The film deteriorates from year to year and becomes very fragile – which I know from old cold business – and I would not let the film become more clogged on my watch. We should have brought the film to the sheriff's photo unit since the Seattle police stopped developing 35mm film since the transition to digital. Once developed, it was obvious that the film had deteriorated, leaving a green hue to all photos.

The recovered note of the scene was examined by a forensic document examiner of the Washington State Patrol, who concluded that the note had been written by Cobain. Inspectors Kirkland and Yoshida had met Kurt's mother, Wendy O & # 39; Connor, and showed her the note. She had said that the note had been written by Cobain.

I also decided to watch the shotgun. Some conspiracy theorists had suggested that the Seattle Police Service had handed the shotgun to Courtney Love or had destroyed it. When the rusty weapon was brought to me and after having inspected it, I had a storekeeper photograph me holding the weapon.

Did I find overwhelming evidence that would change the medical examiner's finding that Kurt committed suicide? No. In fact, I found evidence that reinforced this conclusion.

I found the shotgun shell receipt purchased at a Seattle guns shop, which corresponds to the time and location where a Seattle taxi driver stated that he had deposed a man corresponding to Cobain's description after having recovered at the Cobain residence. In addition, when I had questions about the positioning of the shotgun found in Cobain's hand and the location of the shell body, I interviewed an experienced gunsmith who explained the dynamics of what had probably happened.

Why would a millionaire musician with a promising future of unlimited potential commit suicide? I wish we could ask all the others who did it that seemed outwardly "good". "He or she would never commit suicide," is one of the most common things we hear when we work in a case that turns out to be a suicide.

As a homicide detective, my experience has taught me that depression is the most common underlying reason why people commit suicide.

Mike Ciesynski retired from the Seattle Police Service in 2017 after 37 years of service. Mike has been assigned to the homicide unit for a period of 22 years, including 12 in the cold affairs processing unit. After his retirement, Mike wrote his first book on the first serial murder case in which he worked, on a murderer known as "Chilly Willy", the first serial murderer to be charged in Seattle. The forthcoming book is about the murders of three women in an area known as "The Jungle".