Courtney Love’s lawyer sent a letter to Seattle’s top cop in October 1995. He wanted every piece of the Kurt Cobain death investigation turned over to her. No copies left at the police department. The letter said they accepted the suicide ruling and the matter was done.
Cobain, her husband and Nirvana’s lead singer, was found dead at their Seattle house in April 1994. Police ruled it suicide. Love agreed. The letter came roughly eighteen months later from attorney Bryan Coluccio to Chief Norm Stamper. It asked for the complete file, photos and all, with the department holding nothing back.
The file held undeveloped rolls of film, Polaroid shots, Cobain’s personal letters, and financial papers. Love’s team said some people were trying to make money by leaking pieces of it. They wanted the whole thing under their control.
Retired Capt. Neil Low, who worked the original case, called the demand absurd. The department never gave up its only copy. Low said handing it over would have left them unable to meet public records rules. He questioned how the cops could answer questions if the official papers were gone.
Love has stuck with the suicide finding over the years. That has not stopped the books, films, and theories claiming murder. Law enforcement has rejected those claims again and again. In 2014 police reviewed new photos and stuck with suicide.
The Seattle Police Department has not spoken publicly about the letter or whether it is real. The city was the birthplace of grunge, the sound that took Nirvana worldwide in the early 1990s.
The request stayed on paper. Investigators kept the file. Low made plain that keeping it was the only way to stay accountable.
Leave a Reply