Kurt Cobain was commonly known as the lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and singer of Nirvana – one of the most influential grunge bands of all time. Kurt was only 27 years old when he was found deceased in the greenhouse at his home in Seattle on April 8th, 1994. There are two main theories surrounding Kurt’s death that will be discussed along with the facts in this article.
For more perspective on his death, forensic investigators claimed that Kurt’s body was found on April 8th, but he had been dead 3 days prior. A shotgun was lying across him, and a suicide note had been found. For these reasons among others, his death was ruled as a suicide. Even Kurt’s background helps explain why this may be true; he struggled with addiction, severe chronic stomach pain, and other debilitating problems mentally and physically. During Nirvana’s 1991 European tour, it was said that Kurt’s stomach pain was so severe he claimed heroin was the only thing keeping him from killing himself at that very moment. He has also attempted to end his life in the past according to his wife. Kurt purchased a gun the day he got out of rehab on the first of April 1994, four days before his death. His autopsy reported that he had been high on heroin when he did this, with the level in his blood being about 1.52 milligrams per liter, which is a lot, and potentially fatal. With all of this evidence, it’s safe to say that his death was a suicide.
However, many people would disagree and classify his death as a mystery or a murder. This is because of one main theory: Courtney Love, Kurt’s wife of two years, murdered him. How could such a specific death occur? To explain this theory further, people believe that Courtney Love murdered Kurt due to not only the handwriting in his note being different, but the large amount of heroin in his blood leads to questions if he was even able to pick up the gun and coordinate it. In addition, the book Who Killed Kurt Cobain? by Ian Halperin and Max Wallace claims that Courtney hired a man named El Duce who affirms he was hired to kill Cobain and was offered $50,000 by her to do so. However, we have no official proof of any of this, which is why his death will most likely remain ruled as a suicide. I interviewed five individuals with the question, “Do you think Courtney Love was involved in Kurt Cobain’s death or had the intention of killing him?” and 4 out of 5 people said yes. This is most likely because of the “factors” to his suicide that don’t quite make sense, that I’ve previously mentioned.
We’ll most likely never know for sure how Kurt Cobain died, but the one thing that we know for sure is that he was a pretty awesome guy. Kurt was an extremely talented musician and person with a kind heart and soul. Kurt and his music should never be forgotten. What do you believe happened?
