Korina Lopez

USA TODAY





Kurt Cobain has been dead for 20 years, but conspiracy theories speculating that he was murdered are very much alive.

Knowing that interest in Cobain's death would surge with the anniversary of his death in April. Detective Mike Ciesynski revisited the files. What he found were four rolls of undeveloped film from the crime scene.

Late Thursday night, the photos were released; One showed a box with a spoon and needles, half a cigarette and sunglasses. The other photo showed cash, a cigarette pack and a wallet with what looks like Cobain's ID next to the closed box.

A statement from Ciesynski on the Seattle Police Department's online blotter reiterated that conspiracy theories are "completely inaccurate. It's a suicide. This is a closed case."

"There was nothing earth-shattering in any of these images," police spokeswoman Renee Witt said.

Cobain's body had been discovered in Seattle on April 8, 1994. An investigation determined that days earlier Cobain had gone into the greenhouse of his large home and taken a massive dose of heroin. He then shot himself with a 20-gauge shotgun.

Earlier that year, Cobain had tried to kill himself in Rome by taking an overdose of tranquilizers. When his daughter Frances Bean was born, he learned Child Protective Services was concerned about her well-being because of his and wife Courtney Love's drug abuse. He went to the hospital with one of the many guns he owned, and threatened to kill himself and his wife.

Charles R. Cross, who wrote the 2001 definitive biography of Cobain, Heavier Than Heaven, and who recently released his views of the doomed star's life and the impact of his death in his new book, Here We Are Now, is equally adamant that conspiracy theories are unfounded.

"He made suicide attempts long before Courtney even came into the picture," Cross told USA TODAY. "There were also the reckless drug overdoses, of which there were many; they show a reckless disregard for living. Maybe Kurt never had a chance." Suicide and depression ran in his family as well. Two of his uncles committed suicide and his great-grandfather killed himself in front of his own family.

"How a person who repeatedly tried to commit suicide over the years then gets murdered makes no sense," he said.

When Cobain died he was 27, making him a member of the grisly 27 Club, comprised of other promising musicians: Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, who was also from Seattle, Janis Joplin and Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones.

When Nirvana skyrocketed to fame after the release of Nevermind, Cobain became the unwitting leader of the grunge scene, altering Seattle's cultural identity forever.

He had an impact on fashion, too. His style, which consisted of torn-up jeans and flannel shirts, showed up on runways, selling for hundreds of dollars — ironic, considering he dressed that way because he was poor most of his life. He didn't achieve wealth until the last two years of his life. He bought most of his clothes at garage sales and thrift shops, and would often wear the same clothes for days.

Cross also addresses the impact of Cobain's drug addiction on the music industry. Before Cobain's death, he writes, record labels simply contained their artists with addictions by keeping them supplied with drugs. Since then, labels and managers have taken proactive steps to help the talent by bringing sober coaches on the road as well as cordoning off drug-free zones backstage. Cross also says that the year following his death saw a decline in suicides in the region.

Cobain grew up in Aberdeen, Wash., an economically depressed town with a high suicide rate about two hours southwest of Seattle. He and his family always struggled financially, but after his parents divorced when he was a teenager they became estranged, and he survived by sleeping on friends' couches.

After Cobain died, thousands of young people converged on the Seattle Center, near the Space Needle, for a public memorial. In his hometown, Feb. 20 was declared Kurt Cobain Day in 2005. A statue of the doomed singer weeping was later erected there. His childhood home may also become a museum.

Nirvana takes its place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month.

Contributing: Associated Press