Detroit Police investigator Charles Weaver insisted in a new Detroit News article that there was no foul play in Chris Cornell’s death.
Weaver checked a box in his report stating Cornell’s cellphone wasn’t recovered, sparking widespread questions about what happened to it. Weaver said that only means the phone wasn’t taken into evidence.
“The phone wasn’t recovered; it was returned to Mrs. Cornell,” Weaver said.
Another point of discussion has been how long it took bodyguard Martin Kirsten to get into Cornell’s hotel room. Weaver said he watched surveillance video of the bodyguard kicking the door open.
“Everything happened like he said it did,” Weaver said.
Kirsten told police when he tried to get into the room with his key card, he found the door locked from the inside. He said he called security, who denied him access to the room, so Kirsten said he kicked the door open.
When Kirsten found a door to the suite was also locked, he told police he alerted security again, and again kicked open the door when security refused to let him inside.
That prompted many to ask why hotel security wouldn’t let Kirsten into the room after he said Cornell’s wife was concerned for her husband’s well-being.
But hotel security staff rarely grant access to a guest’s room unless there’s convincing evidence of a medical emergency, said Daniel Kennedy, who teaches criminal justice and security administration at Oakland University.
“Having someone’s wife say she’s concerned isn’t enough,” he said. “If you go barging into someone’s room because his wife called and find him in bed with another woman, you’re setting yourself up for a lawsuit.
“There has to be convincing evidence there’s an emergency, and someone saying they’re concerned doesn’t meet that criteria.”
