Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s 1994 death has been declared a homicide by a Seattle Police captain who was ordered to probe the “botched” investigation in 2005.
“I think it’s a homicide, and I do think the case should be reopened,” former police captain Neil Low, who retired in 2018 after spending 50 years with the Seattle Police Department (SPD), told Daily Mail.
Low — who was a police commander at the time of Cobain’s death, and had been asked by his chief to probe the case in 2005 — added that he believes investigators failed to treat the initial scene as a potential homicide, calling the original SPD investigation “botched.”
“I just am not buying that Kurt did that to himself,” the retired police captain said, insisting that the physical evidence from Cobain’s death scene “does not add up.”
Low claims the case was mishandled from the start, and questions whether proper forensic procedures were followed. The veteran police captain also suggested the scene could have even been staged to make it look like the Nirvana singer had taken his own life.
Some of the questionable items he cited include evidence involving Cobain’s blood, as well as the violence from the Remington Model 11 20-gauge shotgun wound.
“The birdshot went into his skull and really did a number,” Low said. “All the pellets were accounted for, but the impact would have been so forceful that it would have produced a significant spray, not just a little, a large spray.”
Additionally, Low pointed out photos that appear to show Cobain’s hands unusually clean, adding that this is inconsistent with self-inflicted shotgun wounds.
Other photos showing the 27-year-old’s chest and hands could help explain blood patterns and suggest whether the scene was altered after Cobain’s death, he added.
Low also mentioned apparent inconsistencies at the scene, recalling missing notes, omitted witness observations, and conflicting information about events leading up to Cobain’s April 5, 1994 death in the autopsy and SPD reports.