More than three decades after Kurt Cobain's death shocked the world, a newly published forensic paper is once again casting doubt over the official ruling that the Nirvana frontman died by suicide.
Cobain was found dead at his Seattle home on April 5, 1994, aged 27. At the time, the King County Medical Examiner ruled that he had died from a self-inflicted shotgun wound, citing a Remington Model 11 20-gauge shotgun discovered at the scene. The case has remained officially closed ever since.
Now, however, an unofficial private-sector team of forensic scientists says a reexamination of Cobain's autopsy and crime scene materials suggests a very different scenario.
According to a peer-reviewed paper recently accepted by the International Journal of Forensic Science, the team identified ten points of evidence they believe are inconsistent with an instantaneous gunshot suicide and instead suggest Cobain may have been incapacitated by a heroin overdose before being shot.
Independent researcher Michelle Wilkins, who worked closely with the team, told Daily Mail that after just days of reviewing the evidence, forensic specialist Brian Burnett reached a stark conclusion. "This is a homicide. We've got to do something about this," Burnett reportedly said.
Wilkins claims the autopsy revealed signs of oxygen deprivation that do not typically align with a rapid gunshot death. "There are things in the autopsy that go, well, wait, this person didn't die very quickly of a gunshot blast," she explained. "The necrosis of the brain and liver happens in an overdose. It doesn't happen in a shotgun death."
Cobain's autopsy noted fluid in the lungs, bleeding in the eyes, and damage to the brain and liver — findings the team argues are more commonly associated with heroin overdoses, which slow breathing and reduce oxygen flow, rather than immediate ballistic trauma.
The report also scrutinizes the crime scene itself, pointing to what Wilkins describes as an unusually orderly setup. "Suicides are messy, and this was a very clean scene," she said. "The receipt for the gun is in his pocket. The receipt for the shells is in his pocket. The shells are lined up at his feet."
The placement of Cobain's hands and the lack of blood spatter have also been questioned. Wilkins argues that if Cobain's left hand had been positioned near the gun's muzzle at the time of discharge, "there is no universe where that hand is not covered in blood."
The team even replicated the weapon, concluding that with Cobain's reported hand placement, "the gun wouldn't eject a shell at all," raising further doubts about the scene as documented.
The alleged suicide note was also reexamined. Wilkins claims the bulk of the note reflects Cobain discussing quitting the band, not ending his life. "The top of the note is written by Kurt," she said. "There's nothing about suicide in that." She added that the final lines appear stylistically different, describing them as "bigger" and "more scrawly."
Despite the renewed scrutiny, authorities remain unmoved. A spokesperson for the King County Medical Examiner's Office told Daily Mail: "Our office is always open to revisiting its conclusions if new evidence comes to light, but we've seen nothing to date that would warrant re-opening of this case."
The Seattle Police Department echoed that stance, stating: "Our detective concluded that he died by suicide, and this continues to be the position held by this department."
Wilkins insists the goal isn't to point fingers, but to push for transparency. "We weren't saying, arrest people tomorrow," she said. "If we're wrong, just prove it to us. That's all we asked them to do."
