Love & Death (34 page)

It is the copycat suicides that push Grant the hardest. Learning of the double suicide of two French schoolgirls in 1997 has been particularly difficult, he says. Aged only twelve and thirteen, the girls, Valentine and Aurelie, left a note saying they were “in love with Kurt” before shooting themselves in the head with a rifle. At the time of Kurt’s death, they would have been only nine and ten years old. “They probably didn’t even know who Kurt was at that age,” says Grant. “As the father of three grown daughters, this waste of precious life is especially disturbing to me. Nirvana is gaining new fans every day. Kids continue to kill themselves because they
think
that’s what Kurt did.” A number of new copycat suicides have been reported in recent years, and some crisis clinics reported a sharp increase in teen depression after the release of the
Journals
in 2002.

In the face of the allegations against her, Courtney has maintained an unbroken silence. Shortly before the publication of our first book, a private investigator in Courtney’s employ named Jack Palladino showed up in Ian Halperin’s backyard and asked to see the manuscript. Palladino’s impressive roster of clients included Patty Hearst, Snoop Dogg, and Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, for which he had been hired to “contain the bimbo eruptions.” Over lunch, Palladino told Halperin, “You’re a musician and I have a lot of contacts in the music industry. I can help you out if you help me out.” He was carrying a thick file containing a complete dossier on our personal and professional lives. Halperin told Palladino our price for a glimpse of the manuscript: an interview with Courtney Love to get her side of the story. These were serious allegations that had been leveled against her, and it had always troubled us that we could not obtain Courtney’s version of the events surrounding Kurt’s death. “That will never happen,” Palladino declared. We promised him we would not write about Eldon Hoke’s allegations if he could provide any evidence proving that Courtney Love wasn’t in Los Angeles at the time of the alleged $50,000 offer. He never got back to us. Later, a week before our publication date, Palladino showed up at the publisher’s office demanding to see the manuscript. He was refused and quickly escorted out of the building.

Frances Bean turns twelve in 2004 and attends an exclusive private school in Los Angeles. Courtney told
US Weekly
that she didn’t explain Kurt’s suicide to her daughter until she was seven. Frances’s passion, she revealed, is horses: “She’s an amazing rider. Her trainer thinks she can go to the Olympics.”

Michael “Cali” Dewitt was working for a time at Geffen Records, but, still plagued by drug problems, he appears now to have dropped out of sight.

Kurt’s bandmates have never publicly commented on the murder theories. In a 1998 interview with Howard Stern, Dave Grohl was asked about the theories, but he refused to comment. Our own sources, however, tell us that neither he nor Krist give Grant’s theory much credence. Hank Harrison claims to have an e-mail Krist sent him in 1994 declaring that “Kurt died like Trotsky,” referring to the Russian revolutionary who was murdered in Mexico in 1940 by a Stalinist agent. “I understood what he meant,” Harrison says.

It is unclear whether Rosemary Carroll, now senior partner in a new law firm in New York, continues to officially represent Courtney in any capacity. In 1995, shortly after Tom Grant publicly revealed Carroll’s doubts about the suicide, Courtney revoked her status as Frances Bean’s godmother and replaced her with Drew Barrymore.

Dylan Carlson still lives in Seattle, where he continues to play with his band, Earth. He does not believe Kurt was murdered.

Allen Wrench has refused our request to submit to a polygraph.

Caitlin Moore left Seattle and dropped out of sight shortly after Kurt’s death.

Hank Harrison is currently seeking a publisher for his biography of Kurt.

When we failed to name Courtney as Kurt’s killer in our first book, some murder theorists thought it was because we feared a lawsuit. The fact is that we just could not find a smoking gun directly linking Courtney Love to the crime. Courtney has never sued Tom Grant or anybody else for publicly accusing her of murder. Nor has she ever sued a single media outlet for airing the allegations. It is unlikely she will ever do so. Grant believes the knowledge that she would have to testify under oath prevents her from taking legal action. He says he would welcome a lawsuit. For our part, if we located the evidence to prove that she had her husband killed, no legal threat could prevent us from making it public.

Now, as we listen to the hours of Grant’s recordings documenting the events of April 1994, Courtney does not come off well. Over the course of our listening, she alternately schemes, admits to lies and elaborate ruses, makes inexplicable requests and discusses the ins and outs of bending this or that truth to her needs. She appears to be frantically trying to locate her husband but always keeps a calculating eye on how the circumstances might affect her record sales. She is a weepy, one-woman antidrug crusade one moment and audibly strung out on drugs the next; alternately cloyingly solicitous when speaking of her missing husband and vowing furiously to wring every last dime from him; arrogant at times and then jarringly pious. Yet we did not hear a single iota of evidence on these tapes directly implicating her in Kurt’s death or Kristen’s overdose.

According to credible medical and law enforcement experts, the forensic evidence in the case is clearly strong enough to at least change the verdict from “suicide” to “undetermined.” This would be the first step toward reopening the investigation, one that seems to have been characterized by indifference from the start. There is no question, moreover, that the circumstantial evidence is damning. Why did Courtney file two separate false police reports, and why did she apparently wait more than two hours before calling an ambulance after Kurt overdosed in Rome? These actions are suspicious, to say the least. It seems clear that at the time of his death, Kurt was determined to start a new life without Courtney. We may never know for whom he bought that second airplane ticket, whether it was for a new love, as Courtney believed, or not. But it is clear Kurt wanted out, literally and legally. Their prenuptial agreement, which ensured she would not have access to his millions if he divorced her, certainly provides a motive for the crime. At the very least, Courtney needs to answer some questions—questions that were never asked at the time of Kurt’s death.

The sheer volume of people who believe Courtney had her husband killed, however, does not make it true. Perhaps she is simply the victim of several unfortunate coincidences. Yet only one person has the power to clear her name, and that person is Courtney Love.

In early 1995, Courtney made a reproachful phone call to Tom Grant while touring New Zealand with her band. It came just after Grant had accused her of involvement in her husband’s death on the nationally syndicated Tom Leykis radio show. For Grant, the truth lay in the medical examiner’s report, available exclusively to Kurt’s widow. Only the actual report could deny the controversial toxicological evidence that had already been leaked to the media. In addition, the photos it contained could rule out the possibility of murder. Providing this report, Grant tells Courtney on the phone, would end his doubts.

“Here’s what can bring this to a real quick end and solve all your problems—if I had a copy of the coroner’s report and if Cali comes down for a polygraph,” Grant tells her. “It’s as simple as that. You just have to make a phone call and it’s done.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Courtney responds. “You want me to call up Nikolas [Hartshorne] and get the coroner’s report? Am I entitled to that?”

“Of course,” Grant replies. “It’s yours. You just have to ask for it.”

“OK. I’ll be back on the sixteenth, and I’ll get it from Nikolas,” she assures him. “I will give it to you from my hand to your hand. I promise. You’re going to owe me a big fucking apology when this is over.”

“You’ll get it,” he responds. “Believe me.”

Grant never heard from her again.

For the sake of Kurt, and for the sake of the many fans who may still be tempted to follow what they believe was his path, it’s time for Courtney Love to keep her promise.

A full transcript of this note can be found in
Chapter 6.

T
his book draws upon a wide variety of primary sources, including hundreds of personal interviews with friends and acquaintances of Kurt and Courtney, conducted between 1994 and 2003; Seattle Police Department records acquired under State of Washington Freedom of Information laws; State of California police records; and Tom Grant’s personal case tapes and files.

Roger Lewis’s essay, “Dead Men Don’t Pull Triggers,” and Lewis’s extensive medical and forensic research—much of which we expanded on in this book—were a rich source of information for chapter four, as was the forensic data provided to us by Colorado deputy coroner Denise Marshall.

The book
Cobain
by the editors of
Rolling Stone
was a valuable source of interviews with Kurt and Courtney over the years.

We are particularly indebted to Charles Cross’s biography,
Heavier Than Heaven.
Because his book had the tacit authorization of Courtney Love, Cross was able to interview some of the key players who refused to talk with us, and we drew on a number of his interviews in our own research.

D
uring the nine years we have pursued this case, we have been assisted by a wide array of individuals determined to help us get to the truth. Among these are many who, understandably, asked that their names not be used, including members of the Seattle Police Department, friends of Kurt and Courtney, and others committed to justice for Kurt Cobain and Kristen Pfaff.

We are especially grateful to our agent, Luke Janklow, for believing in us from the get-go and for his confidence that a second book about this case would not be redundant. It was a pleasure working with our editor, Luke Dempsey, at Atria/Simon & Schuster, who made the editing experience an extremely positive one and whose patience, perspective and insight were invaluable.

Special thanks to Jacquie Charlton and Phyllis Bailey for reading and proofing the manuscript in progress, and for editing and offering sage advice as we went along.

And sincere thanks to the following: Leland Cobain, Alice Wheeler, Gillian Gaar, Roger Lewis, Lori Clermont, Dan Sears, Norm Pfaff, Dave Reed, Ethel Reed, Janet and Jason Pfaff, Dan DiJulio, Calvin Johnson, Shawn Scallen, CKCU-FM, Arlene Bynon, Todd Shapiro, Stuart Nulman, Michael Landsberg, Jeff Marek, Bob Mackowycz, Susan Rabiner, Marco Collins, Vernon Geberth, Joel and Dione Teitelbaum, Jaime Roskies, Edward Gelb, Jackie Collins, Alicia Brooks, Pat Dwyer, Willow James, Felicia Sinusa, Michael Lewin, Rizia Moreira, Brenda and Marvin Luxenberg, Brian Rishwain, Kathy Hewitt, Humble and Fred, Mary Lou Lord, Maury Povich, Nick Broomfield, Max Jarrell, Experience Music Project, Jean-Pierre Ouesset, Neil Bakshi, Rachel Hauraney, Allan Katz, Fiona York, Joyce MacPhee, Lee Charlton, University of Toronto medical and law libraries, Aberdeen Public Library, Aberdeen Historical Society, Ted Nugent, Morag York, Hank Harrison, Anna Woolverston of Sub Pop, Ariel Lemercier, Steve Shein, Barbara Davidson, Brenda Plant, Denise Sheppard, Joachim Breuer, Duff Wilson and Diedtra Henderson of the
Seattle Times,
John Oakley, Peter Cleary, Megan Bochner, Karen Golden, Charlotte Golden, Mark Connelly, Dylan Carlson, Peter Anthony Holder, Greg Harris, Jane Hawtin, Mike Merritt, MTV, Scott Maier, Susan Varga, Nick Regush, Audi Gozlan, Julius Grey, MOJO radio, the Seattle Public Library, Jimmy Soprano, David Nanasi, Lamont Shillinger, Clover Sky Walker Halperin, 1077 The End, Jennifer Walker, Santina Leuci, Diane Dimond, the Crocodile, Margaret van Nooten, Warren Mason, Victor Shiff-man, Alastair Sutherland, Slim Moon, James Moreland, Daniel Harris, Heather Robb, Neil Kushner, George Stellos, Heather Grewar, France Desilets, Robert Fleming, Howard Stern, Hilary Richrod, Ian Maclean, CHOM-FM, Julien Feldman, Charles Peterson, Daniel Sanger, Esmond Choueke, Noah Lukeman, Denise Marshall, Rochelle Marshall, Paul Erickson, Nonny Rankin, Rozz Rezabek-Wright, Donnie Collier, Patrick Sanfacon, Jeremy Wallace, Mel Wallace,
The Rocket,
our entire families, and finally to Max Wallace’s late grandmother, Anne Bailey, and Ian Halperin’s late mother, Miriam Halperin, who instilled in us a strong commitment to justice.