FBI releases info on Kurt Cobain’s death, 27 years later

When Kurt Cobain was found dead on April 8, 1994, he’d already been lying in that room above a carriage house for three days already. And given that he was a high-profile celebrity, a variety of law enforcement agencies were involved, including the FBI.

Almost immediately, the feds started getting tips and reports that this wasn’t a cut-and-dried suicide, so naturally, a file was opened. That dossier has now been made public–and to the dismay of Kurt-was-murdered conspiracy fans, there’s not much here.

The file runs a total of ten pages with the most interesting things being letters from two unnamed individuals who were apparently that this wasn’t a suicide. I quote one from 2003: “Millions of fans around the world would like to see the inconsistencies surrounding his death cleared up once and for all.” The author also refers to the “evidence” in Kurt & Courtney, the Nick Broomfield documentary on Kurt’s death, which was released in 1998.

The other letter, written in 2007 and with the author’s name also redacted, reads “The police who took up the case were never very serious in investigating it as a murder but from the beginning insisted on it being a suicide…This bothers me the most because his killer is still out there. …There were no prints on the gun he supposedly shot himself with”….He mentioned nothing about wanting to die except for the part of it that was in another handwriting and appeared to be added at the end.”

The file contains a fax sent to the FBI by Cosgrove/Meurer Productions, the company that gave us Unsolved Mysteries. It’s a summary of all the different conspiracy theories that had been promulgated over the years. That includes all the theories put forward by Tom Grant, the PI who became infamous for digging into Kurt’s death.

The FBI seems to have a standard response to any inquiries/tips:

“We appreciate your concern that Mr. Cobain may have been the victim of a homicide. However, most homicide investigations generally fall within the jurisdiction of state or local authorities…We are unable to identify any violation of federal law within the investigative jurisdiction of the FBI.”

Conspiracy fans will have fun parsing what this means. (HINT: Nothing. Despite all the “evidence” to the contrary, it was a suicide.)