Kurt Cobain's Death.

[SaintJimmy]

Well, we all know that there are mysteries surrounding the supposed 'suicide' of Kurt Cobain. And just for the fun of it, I've been reading a bit more into it tonight, and just thought I'd share my discoveries with you. I know that the majority of you will probably be like, "Who cares" or you might already know this, but I type this up hoping it will be as interesting a read for you as it was for me.

 

A quick summary - the most feesible idea is that Courtney Love offered a musician called "El Duce" $50,000 to kill Kurt. El Duce turned it down and offered it to another musician, Allen Wrench. These are the reasons as to why I think this is so.

 

1) The Suicide Note

 

Next to Cobain's body, when it was found, was a suicide note.

 

 

To Boddah:

 

Speaking from the tongue of an experienced simpleton who obviously would rather be an emasculated, infantile complain-ee. This note should be pretty easy to understand.

 

All the warnings from the punk rock 101 courses over the years, since my first introduction to the, shall we say, ethics involved with independence and the embracement of your community had proven to be very true. I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music along with reading and writing for too many years now. I feel guilty beyond words about these things.

 

For example, when we're backstage and the lights go out and the manic roar of the crowds begin, it doesn't affect me the way in which it did for Freddie Mercury, who seemed to love, relish in the love and adoration from the crowd which is something I totally admire and envy. The fact is, I can't fool you, any one of you. It simply isn't fair to you or me. The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it and pretending as if I'm having 100% fun.

 

Sometimes I feel as if I should have a punch-in time clock before I walk out on stage. I've tried everything within my power to appreciate it (and I do, God, believe me I do, but it's not enough). I appreciate the fact that I and we have affected and entertained a lot of people. It must be one of those narcissists who only appreciate things when they're gone. I'm too sensitive. I need to be slightly numb in order to regain the enthusiasms I once had as a child.

 

On our last 3 tours, I've had a much better appreciation for all the people I've known personally, and as fans of our music, but I still can't get over the frustration, the guilt and empathy I have for everyone. There's good in all of us and I think I simply love people too much, so much that it makes me feel too f*cking sad. The sad little, sensitive, unappreciative, Pisces, Jesus man. Why don't you just enjoy it? I don't know!

 

I have a goddess of a wife who sweats ambition and empathy and a daughter who reminds me too much of what I used to be, full of love and joy, kissing every person she meets because everyone is good and will do her no harm. And that terrifies me to the point to where I can barely function. I can't stand the thought of Frances becoming the miserable, self-destructive, death rocker that I've become.

 

I have it good, very good, and I'm grateful, but since the age of seven, I've become hateful towards all humans in general. Only because it seems so easy for people to get along that have empathy. Only because I love and feel sorry for people too much, I guess.

 

Thank you all from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach for your letters and concern during the past years. I'm too much of an erratic, moody baby! I don't have the passion anymore, and so remember, it's better to burn out than to fade away.

 

Peace, love, empathy,

 

Kurt Cobain

 

Frances and Courtney, I'll be at your altar.

Please keep going Courtney, for Frances.

For her life, which will be so much happier without me.

 

I love you, I love you!

 

(Just to let you know, Boddah was his childhood imaginary friend.)

 

Now, here is an early lyric sheet for "Smells Like Teen Spirit". The handwriting is vaguely similar but not so much.

 

And, don't you find it funny that just that week Courtney Love was practicing "her" handwriting?

 

Also, the "I have a goddess of a wife who sweats ambition and empathy" seems a bit odd, as towards Kurt's death, there were apparent arguments and a bit of stress in the relationship.

 

 

2) El Duce

Eldon Hoke, more better known as El Duce was the drummer and lead singer for alternative "rape-rock" band known as The Mentors. It was a band local to Riverside. El Duce claims he was offered $50,000 by Courtney Love, and made a statement similar to that in an interview with some guys for a documentary film called Kurt and Courtney.

 

Three days later he was found dead, hit by a train whilst intoxicated.

 

 

3) Allen Wrench

Ok, this guy is one weird f*ck.

Google his site, his band is called "Kill Allen Wrench". Hell, even youtube the c*nt. You'll see what I mean.

 

 

He was another local to the Riverside music scene in the late 80's/early 90's.

It is believed that El Duce, after turning down Courtney's offer of 50k, passed it onto Allen Wrench. Here is some poor bastard's story, which seems kinda feesible. Other people that know Allen Wrench said he was much of a low-life, and very poor.

Then how'd he suddenly get all that money and start making these music videos, getting onto Record Labels, and suddenly became part-ly famous?

NOTE - His quote, as seen on his Myspace page (And I managed to add him on facebook, it says it there too) is

"The Perfect Assassination is Suicide".

 

Here is a recount of El Duce's last moments:

 

According to the book Who Killed Kurt Cobain? by Max Wallace and Ian Halperin, El Duce showed up at his friend Drew Gallagher's home on April 17, 1997, asking where he could go to get a fake driver's license. Hoke was incredibly paranoid and nervous at this time. When Gallagher asked what he meant, Hoke responded, "People get buried in cornfields, people get lost in swamps", meaning he was in fear for his life. The author claims that Hoke secretly informed Gallagher of who he was told had "killed Kurt Cobain".

 

It is believed that El Duce spilled the beans on Allen Wrench murdering Kurt - and 2 days later, it was reported that El Duce was seen taking a walk with someone who the witness' had never seen.

 

 

 

Okay okay, this may just be "okay, another dude's dead, he's dead, so what?" topic. But I like the fact that there are so many open endings, and that it's something that you can answer for yourself.

Pretty interesting, if you ask me.

Edited April 7, 2009 by SaintJimmy

[Lethal Nizzle]

Interesting read, and I still believe that it wasn't suicide. There was a documentary on the subject that aired a few years ago, and since then my view has changed from suicide to set-up. So who knows?

[Saggy]

The handwriting thing to me has always been easily argued. First of all, a person's handwriting is really not all that consistent; it changes with given factors like age, emotional state, and of course physical state. At the time of his death, doctors say he had taken a dose of heroin that could kill a large animal, and he was allegedly writing a suicide note several years after "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was written. All very good indicators of why the handwriting would be so different.

 

Then there's the idea that since Allen Wrench, by all accounts an impulsively violent person, killed El Duce after he accused Allen Wrench of being involved, that it somehow implicates him. If the man was so violent, then isn't it just as reasonable to say that he killed El Duce just for saying it? As far as his sudden monetary gain goes, that's all really completely hearsay; there's no solid proof he was ever doing that badly, that he ever improved that much, and certainly nothing that says for sure where he could have gotten the money. The only thing that holds any implications is El Duce naming him in the interview.

 

Why no signs of forced entry into the home? I suppose maybe Kurt had a history with El Duce and let him in, but how does this explain why Kurt had a massive dose of heroin in his system? We all know that he used, but as far as I know he was pretty much fresh out of rehab, and when I say a "massive" dose, it was massive even by rockstar standards. Was it just coincidence that Allen Wrench killed him before he accidentally over-dosed? I suppose there's the possibility Allen Wrench was behind all of it, and injected him with a dose too large because he didn't know how much was required, trying to make it look like an accident. I'm really stretching it with that one, because if that were the case there would have been some kind of sign of struggle, as I'm sure Kurt wouldn't let this guy just dose himself. So then what did he do? Ask Kurt to let him see his shotgun, and then shoot him in the head with it? Let's just imagine he did shoot Kurt with Kurt's own gun and then placed it on him afterward. Wouldn't the police have noticed the inconsistencies with the bullet holes and a self-inflicted gunshot? I think the most damning of it all: If Allen Wrench supposedly killed El Duce and left him on the train track, then how would he have been so careful to have left no trace killing Cobain?

 

It's simply too coincidental. I'm not really sure how to explain the note in Courtney's posession. For all we know maybe she was actively involved in some conspiracy to forge a note or something; maybe she was just practicing her handwriting. The thing is, nothing about the police report really indicates murder, forced entry, a struggle, anything. Someone would have gotten in without breaking and entering, shoot and kill Kurt with his own shotgun, and leave no trace; all while Kurt was coincidentally OD'ing on a massive dose of heroin. It's still not really impossible, I just find any conceivable scenario of it impractical.

 

Okay, possibillity, the murderer went to his house with his own weapon, got Kurt to open the door, and then demanded the gun from Kurt, and instructed him to write his suicide note. Totally plausible, and the only thing that I would really see preventing this scenario is that Kurt was so loaded on heroin that I'm not sure that he would be able to answer his door or write that letter, or whether he really would. I mean, he would obviously realize it was a frame-job, and at that point why would he even go through with it?

 

 

To me it just seems like Kurt got really loaded one weekend, and went back over the deep-end and killed himself.

[makeshyft]

About the handwriting thing: wasn't the problem that part of his 'suicide' note matched his handwriting, and a small section did not? I thought that was the issue. And when that particular section is removed, it could easily have been a retirement note, rather than a suicide note.

 

It's been a long time since I read up on all this, but that's what I thought the discrepancy was as far as the whole handwriting thing went.

[Mike Tequeli]

@Sag - Well I think the theory is that Kurt was too high to even operate a shotgun and that he must have been intentionally drugged. Part of this stems from the fact that Kurt's shoes were on at the time of death and he would have had to gone through some difficulty to shoot himself. And the note could read to be anything from Kurt quitting to Kurt leaving Courtney as long as you ignore the last couple of lines. These theories aren't really unlikely as far as conspiracies go, but I don't really believe them.

 

The reason for this is because his suicide remains somewhat plausible. He was likely bipolar, as some people have postulated and as we know it can leave you in very deep states of depression. Kurt was on an unusually bad heroin bender and was feeling extremely depressed, coupled with the pain of a pinched nerve in his stomach (which is partly the reason for his heroin addiction), he committed suicide. It's sad really but he was mentally unstable, which is why it always pisses me off when people think less of him because of the suicide, the guy had problems.

[Saggy]

@Sag - Well I think the theory is that Kurt was too high to even operate a shotgun and that he must have been intentionally drugged. Part of this stems from the fact that Kurt's shoes were on at the time of death and he would have had to gone through some difficulty to shoot himself. And the note could read to be anything from Kurt quitting to Kurt leaving Courtney as long as you ignore the last couple of lines. These theories aren't really unlikely as far as conspiracies go, but I don't really believe them.

I'm not sure that it would be that plausible for someone to have intentionally drug him. I mean, if it were the case, why was there no sign of a struggle? I suppose maybe if this Allen Wrench guy was a heroin buddy of Kurt's, he could have given him a hot shot ( a dose of heroin too large or containing poison to kill someone ) with a huge dose of heroin; but it seems more likely that he would use some kind of poison that would be found in the toxicology; I suppose if he really was getting 50k using a little bit of his heroin wouldn't be a problem. So I guess it's really possible the heroin was all part of the murder setup.

 

I don't know though, it all just sounds too much like a Hollywood movie for it to really be possible, and on top of that it's all a lot of speculation and pretty much no real evidence to suggest anything wrong. The police didn't find anything wrong with the scene to think it was a murder, and the scenario in which the murder would have to take place is just too out of there.

 

My biggest reasoning for believing that it would be impossible to frame this is really the fact that if the bullet holes would have easily indicated whether Kurt shot himself, or was shot by someone at a different angle. This is something that police definitely look for at a crime scene, so clearly the bullet holes matched where the body and weapon were found. Now it's arguable that someone could be moved, but in all reality, the shotgun was most likely pointed upward at a slight angle. Someone trying to recreate this would have to hold the shotgun in Kurt's mouth, and just how would he persuade him to do this? If he was already that high on heroin, I'm pretty sure he would be an unconscious ( or close to it ) lump that it wouldn't be easy to set up a frame job with. If he were somehow covered with a pistol, maybe the guy told him something would happen to his family or friends if he didn't kill himself, why wouldn't Kurt turn on a guy with a loaded shotgun to try to protect he and his instead of blowing his brains out? It just doesn't make any sense to imagine someone drugging and then shooting Kurt Cobain in the head in an intricate frame job. I mean, it wouldn't really even need to be that complex to kill a musician; look at the guy that took out Dimebag Darrel, or the asshole who shot John Lennon. The murderer of Kurt Cobain could have just as easily waited for him to step out to get his paper and shot him to death from the bushes, and probably never would have been found if he was really that capable of leaving no crime scene. I mean, think about it, if the guy can get into Kurt's home to frame him without leaving prints and somehow getting in trouble, what would be different from him just waiting outside and killing him?

 

I don't really think that the Allen Wrench guy, if we're going to look at suspects, would be capable of it. I mean, the El Duce guy was found hit by a train, and it's obvious they're implying that it was Wrench that killed him. If he's careless and reckless enough to leave people laying around on train tracks after he kills them, then I doubt he'd really have the attention to detail to successfully pull off what we're talking about here. I mean, so much is discussed about who might have killed him or why, but it's only until we start asking "how" that it all comes together as being just too unlikely.

 

I mean, I have to admit that it's possible that someone came to the door, and Kurt knew them so he let them in. He could have already had the gun, Courtney could have told him where it was, or he could have just asked Kurt if he could see it ( obviously as some part of a conversation ). I'm not sure the heroin would have any part of it; Kurt was probably just dosing on heroin all on his own. I wouldn't find it all that unlikely that someone would use it to make him incapacitated and unable to defend himself or really be aware of what was happening though.

 

It's just once you get to the note and the suicide itself, there are just some things that wouldn't fly with that scenario. I mean, I guess it's possible that someone could take the shot gun, shove it in his mouth, then huddle down below his waist while he stood, and pulled the trigger. It just seems very unlikely that a person would consider this, as the majority of situations where a murder is made to look like a suicide, this is the first thing that tips homicide detectives off. But who knows, maybe the guy was really smart. If so, then why would he have left the shells in a questionable position for suspicion to arise about those?

 

 

All of these things would have to sync up flawlessly for it to work and fit, and personal I just find it much more believable that a depressed, bipolar heroin addict-rockstar would commit suicide, than I find it believable that a depressed, bipolar heroin addict-rockstar's wife would pay $50k to some local idiot to kill him, and for what? To collect his life insurance, to avoid a divorce and custody battle, to soak up his limelight? I mean, why in the hell would she even approach the two characters in question here, who by all accounts were drunken losers. That's exactly the type I would want to entrust to kill my husband for $50k. The whole notion that a bounty or hit was offered was probably just some fabricated story by this "El Duce" asshole to get some attention.

 

 

Also, the second hand-writing thing... It's very likely he just added something to his note later. Perhaps he started writing it just as the onset of the drug as beginning, he nodded out, and then continued writing. I mean, it just seems like much more of a simple explanation than Courtney Love forged the letter. I mean, it is really possible that Kurt may have written that at an entirely earlier point in time, and Courtney just had it and added some on, but to me the simplest explanations are really the most likely. I mean, why did Courtney love have that sheet of paper? Well, she's "famous", she could have been practicing her own handwriting; maybe she just wanted to be able to forge his checks. To jump to, "It was to place next to the body after a hit man she hired dosed him and blew his head off with a shotgun," is quite a complex conclusion to jump to comparatively.

 

I think all the stuff around the situation just plays on people's natural curiosity to wonder things like why she would have a sheet of paper like that, and then come up with as much fanciful explanations for it as we can, when the most likely explanation is the simplest one. There are dozens of reasons why she would have had that paper. Maybe Kurt even knew about it, haven't any of you ever sat down and compared handwriting with someone? I mean, the idea that no one would assume that she was just practicing her handwriting goes to show how people just look toward excitement in scenarios like this.

[makeshyft]

http://www.justiceforkurt.com/

 

That site appears to be the most comprehensive on the net.

 

 

Being disappointed in most of the theory sites out there at the time, which seemed to have been abandoned, or degenerated into silly and immature insults directed at Courtney Love, we were inspired to create a new site which simply combined the investigation work done by Tom Grant, as well as research work done by Frances Barnett, and books like Who Killed Kurt Cobain? into a very organized and easy to read advertisement-free format.

[Daint]

I myself am a big Nirvana fan, and I've read into this kind of thing before, whether or not Kurt killed himself, or he was murdered, but it all did just seem a bit 'too easy', and I think SagaciousKJB summed things up perfectly - it's all just a little bit inconvenient with the actual evidence. As sad as it is, I think really Kurt did kill himself, but to be quite honest I'd prefer to think that he did it himself, and made his own decision, rather than having his life taken away by some drunken "rockstar".