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Kurt Cobain’s Death Was Apparently Looked Into by the FBI

Cobain 1993
Kurt Cobain of Nirvana during the taping of MTV Unplugged at Sony Studios in New York City, 11/18/93. Photo by Frank Micelotta. *** Special Rates Apply *** Call for Rates ***

Kurt Cobain is many things…but the subject of an FBI file? Yep, you read correctly. As Rolling Stone pointed out, the FBI recently released its archived records pertaining to the 1994 death of the Nirvana singer.

The bureau’s 10-page file reveals nothing too exciting. Basically, two people not named asked the FBI to investigate Cobain’s death, saying that foul play was involved.

“I’m writing you in hopes for your help to press for a reexamination of Mr. Cobain’s death. Millions of fans around the world would like to see the inconsistencies surrounding the death cleared up once and for all. It is sad to think that an injustice of this nature can be allowed in the United States,” one of the individuals wrote in September 2003.

In 2007, another said that “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.”

Perhaps the most interesting element of this is that in 1997, the production crew for Unsolved Mysteries, Cosgrove/Meurer Productions, sent the FBI a fax inquiring about a potential conspiracy theory floated by L.A. private investigator Tom Grant who expressed his doubts about the investigation. Grant once said the suicide conclusion was “a rush to judgment.”

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Cosgrove/Meurer co-founder Terry Meurer said that he didn’t remember much about that fax but added that they reach out to the FBI about “various stories and try to get information on them.”

The FBI’s response was almost uniformly this: “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.”

You can read the full FBI report here.

This reveal comes a day after it was announced that six pieces of Cobain’s hair are going up for auction, so there’s that.