Former Seattle police chief says investigation into Kurt Cobain death should be reopened

Norm Stamper was in charge of the Seattle police force at the time of the Nirvana frontman's death

A former Seattle police chief has expressed his belief that the case surrounding Kurt Cobain‘s death should be reopened.

The Nirvana frontman passed away in April 1994, with the official cause of his death cited by police as suicide by a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head. Despite this, the circumstances surrounding his passing have been much debated ever since.

SEE ALSO: 50 things you never knew about Nirvana

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Taking its name from a lyric in Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are’, a new Benjamin Statler-directed documentary Soaked In Bleach was released on June 11 and speculates that Cobain may have been murdered.

In the film, former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper expresses regret at how his force handled the investigation and says that the circumstances surrounding Cobain’s death should be reinvestigated.

According to Alternative Nation, Stamper says: “We should in fact have taken steps to study patterns involved in the behaviour of key individuals who had a motive to see Kurt Cobain dead.”

“If in fact Kurt Cobain was murdered, as opposed to having committed suicide, and it was possible to learn that, shame on us for not doing that. That was in fact our responsibility.”

Stamper, who was in office at the time of Cobain’s death, continued: “If we didn’t get it right the first time, we damn well better get it right the second time, and I would tell you right now if I were the Chief of Police, I would reopen this investigation.”

In March 2014, Seattle police briefly reexamined Cobain’s death after unseen photographs from the crime scene emerged. They determined that the photos offered no new evidence and reclosed the case.

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Courtney Love recently filed a cease and desist order against the makers of the documentary, claiming that the film is defamatory.

A spokesperson for the film later told Deadline that, “Courtney Love and her lawyers clearly don’t like that the film presents a compelling case for re-opening the investigation into Kurt’s death,” adding that Love should “respect the First Amendment and let people decide for themselves.”

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