(Claim) Courtney love secretly murdered Kurt Cobain and the shotgun was planted to frame it as suicide

[Mythic Suns]

Before I get into the claim I would like to say that if this is in the wrong section please let me know, I felt it counted as a conspiracy theory since it centres around the idea of Courtney framing Kurt's death as a suicide for some nefarious reason.
As someone who was on a music course for a while I often heard a variety of different theories relating to the death of Kurt Cobain, most of which centred around him being secretly killed by Courtney Love. The official story is that Kurt Cobain placed a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger to kill himself however one of the big counter claims is that such an action wouldn't be physically possible with the long barrelled shotgun that Kurt supposedly used to kill himself. The picture below shows a member of the Seattle Police department holding the gun that was found at the scene of Kurt's death (photo source: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/photos-shotgun-found-at-kurt-cobain-death-scene/ ).

Personally I don't think it's completely impossible for someone to shoot themselves in the head with a long range shotgun, it just wouldn't be very easy. There is also the fact that the claim that Courtney killed Kurt relies rather heavily on the police being ridiculously incompetent; lets say I believe that the Police were involved with covering up Kurt being killed by Courtney, I would also have to believe that the Police couldn't be bothered to find a shotgun with a shorter barrel and just went "whatever, just give him the long barrel" and then never changed their story in the 17 years since Kurt's death. I'm not saying it's impossible for someone to shoot themselves in the head with a long barrelled shotgun, I'm just saying that if I was going to fake someone's suicide I'd go for a shorter gun to avoid having to explain how a long gun can be used for suicide. To believe the story that Courtney killed Kurt and the police are covering it up you have to believe that the police made things way more complicated for themselves than they needed to which might not be impossible but definitely seems unlikely.

The other possibility is that Courtney planted the shotgun herself. This theory seems a bit more likely but still relies on the police being unusually incompetent. There is also the possibility that she fired the shotgun but honestly, I don't see what the police would have to lose by outing her as the killer. They've outed much bigger people than her before so what would be the harm?

To me it just feels easier to believe that Kurt found a way to shoot himself with a long barreled shotgun he just happened to own but I don't like the idea that I'm just believing a truth because it's easier to believe; I'd rather believe a truth based on what the evidence shows.

 

[deirdre]

lets say I believe that the Police were involved with covering up Kurt being killed by Courtney, I would also have to believe that the Police couldn't be bothered to find a shotgun with a shorter barrel and just went "whatever, just give him the long barrel" and then never changed their story in the 17 years since Kurt's death.

what? if someone shot Kurt with a long barrel the long barrel would be sitting right there.

note: not that i ever heard the claim that Courtney herself shot Kurt. can you link to this claim?

I'm just saying that if I was going to fake someone's suicide I'd go for a shorter gun to avoid having to explain how a long gun can be used for suicide.

you're also probably not a heroin addict.

The other possibility is that Courtney planted the shotgun herself.

what? how did he get the hole in his head if the gun was planted later?

There is also the possibility that she fired the shotgun but honestly, I don't see what the police would have to lose by outing her as the killer. They've outed much bigger people than her before so what would be the harm?

a major defamation lawsuit if they cant prove their claim. who else "bigger" have the police outed before the prosecutor pressed charges?

To me it just feels easier to believe that Kurt found a way to shoot himself with a long barreled shotgun he just happened to own but I don't like the idea that I'm just believing a truth because it's easier to believe; I'd rather believe a truth based on what the evidence shows.

there were more issues than the length of the gun, there was the amount of heroin in his system, the stuff you use to shoot heroin being packed away, the location of the shotgun, the add on to the suicide note that people think Courtney added herself, the alleged fact he was going to divorce her etc.

^i'm not saying all or any of these things is true, just those are the murder-theory claims i've heard over the years

I think any "police coverup" theory would have to involve something along the lines of "there is ample evidence (and that would have to include more than just a long gun*) to prove murder but the police chose not to pursue it". which, as you say, makes no sense at all. I can't imagine the police were particularly fond of Courtney Love.

Article:

Suicidal gunshot wounds from long guns are relatively common [9,[14], [15], [16]], but suicides with rifles using supportive devices with strings or cords to pull the trigger are very rare [8]. Many rifles have long barrels that cause investigators to question whether individual`s arms are of sufficient length to pull the trigger [1]. It is a standard practice among pathologists that the length of the arms and the distance between the entrance wound and the tip of the middle finger of the extended arm be measured during autopsy [1,7,9]

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2665910720300980

 

[Rory]

Famous people should start killing themselves on video and in front of their fans if they want to stop the inevitable conspiracy theories that follow - seems that even the fact of the suicide note that was found at the scene isn't enough for them:

In the 2015 documentary Soaked in Bleach, Cobain's former lawyer Rosemary Carroll stated that she does not believe Cobain wrote the suicide note that was found in his house. In the documentary, Carroll, a close friend of Cobain's, says: "I don't think he wrote it. I feel the same way I felt when I read it. He didn't write it."

Many conspiracy theorists share the same view on the troubled singer. They believe that the last four lines of the letter - the only section that alludes to suicide - is written in different handwriting to the majority of the document.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8797005/kurt-cobain-lawyer-nirvana-suicide-note-conspiracy-theories/

There was also a 1998 Nick Broomfield documentary called Kurt & Courtney that 'investigated' the murder theories and featured interviews with people close to the couple who believe Love had something to do with it, including Tom Grant (private investigator hired by Love to find Cobain when he disappeared from rehab just before his death), El Duce (punk singer who dubiously claims Love offered him $50,000 to kill Cobain and also says he knows who did end up killing Cobain), and her own father, Hank Harrison, who has written two unflattering books about the claims.

I haven't seen this documentary but Roger Ebert has. He wrote:

Broomfield's film opens with Love as a suspect, only to decide she was probably not involved, and the movie ends in murky speculation without drawing any conclusions. It's not so much about a murder investigation as about two people who won fame and fortune that only one was able to handle.

Why did Kurt Cobain die? Because of his drug use, obviously, from which everything else descended, including his relationship with Courtney. He was filled with deep insecurities that made him unable to cope with the adulation of his fans; he was far too weak for Love's dominating personality; drugs and booze led to chronic stomach pain, and when he climbed over the wall of his last rehab center, he was fleeing to his death.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/kurt-and-courtney-1998

Broomfield himself said in a 1998 interview:

"I think that he committed suicide. I don't think that there's a smoking gun. And I think there's only one way you can explain a lot of things around his death. Not that he was murdered, but that there was just a lack of caring for him. I just think that Courtney had moved on, and he was expendable."

https://web.archive.org/web/20111208062709/http://www.detailsonkurtcobainsdeath.com/broomsfeild.htm

PS The mention of Ebert and Broomfield isn't to in any way suggest they are authorities on this particular case but to illustrate that the tone and conclusions of the film and the filmmaker aren't in support of the conspiracy theories (unlike the more problematic, biased and apparently misleading approach taken by Soaked in Bleach).

 

[deirdre]

Famous people should start killing themselves on video and in front of their fans if they want to stop the inevitable conspiracy theories that follow

no they shouldn't, not with the deep fake technology of today. There will still be conspiracy theories. Even without deep fake tech, we'd still have to listen to "it was a crisis actor, look they look exactly the same" ...even though every crisis actor claim to date does not look even remotely like the person they claim it is.

 

[Mythic Suns]

what? if someone shot Kurt with a long barrel the long barrel would be sitting right there.

What I'm suggesting is Courtney didn't use a long barrel but the police used a long barrel to cover it up. The fact that this makes no sense is kind of my point.

note: not that i ever heard the claim that Courtney herself shot Kurt. can you link to this claim?

I can't, but if people are suggesting that Courtney killed Kurt then it stands to reason she played a part in creating the hole in the back of his head.

you're also probably not a heroin addict.

Nope, although my weird behaviour often causes people to think I'm on narcotics.

what? how did he get the hole in his head if the gun was planted later?

Courtney fired it and the corrupt police conveniently only found Kurt's fingerprints on it.

a major defamation lawsuit if they cant prove their claim. who else "bigger" have the police outed before the prosecutor pressed charges?

Ok, you've got me there. I slightly rushed this post and I guess I had an inverse stopped clock moment at this point.

 

[Mythic Suns]

Famous people should start killing themselves on video and in front of their fans if they want to stop the inevitable conspiracy theories that follow

Or just try and live as long as they can. Mind you, the fact that conspiracy theorists will make theories about alive celebrities secretly being dead (see Paul McCartney) leads me to think that you simply can't be famous without people making conspiracy theories about you.

 

[deirdre]

I can't, but if people are suggesting that Courtney killed Kurt then it stands to reason she played a part in creating the hole in the back of his head.

she could have "hired" someone.

 

[Mythic Suns]

she could have "hired" someone.

That's a fair point.

 

[tinkertailor]

Here's the thing: people have a really hard time admitting that their loved ones (or idols) are suicidal, so after the fact there is often a lot of questioning. I personally know someone who killed themself with a long hunting rifle, in the head, same position Cobain was in iirc. They were desperately unhappy and they felt that this was their only option. Cobain was not a super cheerful guy, addiction or no addiction. He owned a gun. If he was desperate enough, he would find a way.