Kurt Cobain Murder Conspiracy Theorist: ‘New Photos Show Seattle Police Has Culture Of Cover Ups’

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Kurt Cobain murder conspiracy theorist Richard Lee sent Alternative Nation the following ‘press release’ yesterday following the Seattle Police Department releasing new photos of the shotgun Kurt Cobain used to commit suicide in April 1994, debunking many murder conspiracy theories.  Lee’s opinions do not reflect the views of Alternative Nation.

SHOTGUN SECRETS REVEALED:

SEATTLE POLICE DEPARTMENT RELEASES FIVE NEW PHOTOS OF NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN KURT COBAIN GUN, DEMONSTRATING SPD’S PROPENSITY TO HIDE EVIDENCE UNTIL COMPELLED TO SHOW THEIR CARDS

“The release of the five photos of the shotgun in the Kurt Cobain homicide case provides crystal-clear proof of one thing above all else—that the Seattle Police Department has its own culture of cover-ups and secrecy, which they generally consider unaccountable to the law,” says Seattle journalist Richard Lee. “Obviously,” says Lee, who is currently pursuing a lawsuit to gain release of all documents in the Cobain case, “Seattle police officials have gotten nervous about the existence of the shotgun in their possession, and did not want to give me credit for such a discovery, especially if this was something that was to slip out in the course of my pre-trial investigation.

“As someone who began making formal requests for documents just a few days after Cobain’s death, SPD’s admission that they still possess the gun is long overdue, by almost 22 years,” says Lee. The gun was long believed to have been destroyed shortly after widow Courtney Love’s announcement in April of 1994 that it was to be donated to an anti-violence charity group which reportedly would melt down the weapon.

Lee continues, “No one should see the SPD’s remarkably long possession of this historical object as related to any legitimate investigative purpose. They declared the case closed on day one, April 8, 1994, and then did some cursory information gathering to prevent any allegations that they did absolutely nothing. It might be tempting to assume this to be careful preservation of evidence, but I assure you, that is absolutely not the case. Obviously, SPD has never made any slight indication, including today, that those are their motives. Other key evidence, such as the so-called suicide note, was given back to Courtney Love almost immediately.

“I honestly feel that the main reason for SPD keeping the shotgun is its monetary value as a famous or infamous weapon. Ever since Jack Ruby’s Colt .38 sold at auction for $220,000 in 1991, you can bet those with control over police evidence rooms have known that a famous crime gun is very desirable, and no factors of good taste need to be considered. The only real trick for coppers looking to score a choice bit of crime memorabilia is creating a paper trail that demonstrates that the object was unwanted, unclaimed, and destined for the trash. To date, apparently no one at SPD has had the nerve to concoct a scenario that would allow them to walk away with it, but don’t count them out yet.

“It was just a few months ago that we issued a press release about a lock of Cobain’s hair up for sale at a major memorabilia auction, arguing that the hair was related to Cobain’s homicide and was very possibly stolen property at one time. The sparse news coverage of our objections seems to have resulted in a last-minute pull of the item from the auction, a significant financial setback for someone, especially when you consider that a sweater worn by Cobain went for $140,800 on the same day.”

Lee received five black-and-white images through email from the Seattle City Attorney yesterday, with no indication that the images were to be made public, although the SPD Blotter website now shows all five photos in color, with this very brief explanation that seems to give the posting as originating two days ago (although directly above the photos SPD says the posting was yesterday):

Update 3/15/2016: The department is releasing five additional photographs of the firearm, taken on or about June 11, 2015. These photos were placed on the City’s computer system on March 3, 2016, and added to the investigative file shortly thereafter. They are now viewable in a gallery at the bottom of this post.

“SPD is saying nothing else, and has refused comment to the sole news organization that did a story so far today, CBS online, so we can expect that they will have nothing further to say for now,” says Lee.

“Nevertheless,” Lee says, “a few points about the photos should be made now, in addition to the obvious factor of the bizarre and illegal procedures by SPD.

· “I was not surprised at the general appearance of the gun, having seen what was called a twin example at the gun shop where the Cobain weapon was purchased in 1994. One element that did surprise is the inclusion of a choke tube extension at the end of the barrel, which its twin did not have. This raises questions about the ease of turning such a weapon into the face of a holder. In the photos, the gun now appears about 6 inches longer than I expected, and SPD Detective Mike Ciesynski does not deliberately strike a pose allowing for consideration of a “turn to face” measurement. But just look at the overall length in Ciesynski’s hands and you can see the problem—this is now a very long gun. If the trigger area is adjusted to be around his belt line, the end of the barrel is slightly above his head. A simple photo using a yardstick against the gun could have been included, but was not.

· “SPD long ago declared that the inspection of the gun yielded no usable fingerprints, according to one SPD official, due to a so-called ‘jerking motion’ occurring when Cobain supposedly pulled the trigger. Any hope that the object has been treated delicately ever since then is dashed by Ciesynski’s manhandling of the gun in the photos, which make him look less like a investigator than a proud owner. Rubber gloves aren’t magic, obviously, they can smear old fingerprints and/or residues (see footnote below).

· “The serial number stamped in metal on the gun matches the one on the receipt from the gun shop, which I won release of in 1994. So this appears to be the correct gun, although there are many rusty areas, especially in the loading slot and the choke tube, which make the gun look as if it has been improperly stored, not even sealed up in plastic, and perhaps stowed away in a secret, damp, dirty place. This is very odd, and seems to let SPD off the hook in terms of the gun being a potential source of biological evidence that should be there, such as blood spatter or mist, if the gun was ever really fired at all in 1994.”

Lee concludes, “After all these years of telling the public they had released all that could be released and had been fully forthcoming in every possible way, it is now obvious that the Seattle Police Department has been deceiving the public about its possession of a key piece of evidence, which, perhaps not coincidentally, has a value as a historical prize which we should assume is in the six figures at auction. So much for all that public relations rot about transparency at the SPD.”

FOOTNOTE: To quote a fairly random internet source on this: “Very old fingerprints may have lost all of their volatile residues, but the sodium chloride residue remains. Silver nitrate has been used successfully to develop latent prints that are years, decades, even centuries old. “

THIS IS THE LINK TO THE SPD WEBSITE THAT DISPLAYS THE 5 PHOTOS:

(Updated) Detective Reviews Cobain Case, Which Remains Closed

RICHARD LEE CAN BE REACHED THROUGH nowseeit@hotmail.com

Seattle journalist Richard Lee has pursued the truth in the Kurt Cobain homicide since the day Cobain’s body was found, April 8, 1994, airing his first cable television program on the subject only five days later. That program is still seen today in ongoing and archival editions on Seattle cable TV, and is titled Now See It Person to Person: Kurt Cobain Was Murdered. Over 600 hours of editions have been broadcast to date.

RICHARD LEE IS THE AUTHOR OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

–END OF PRESS RELEASE OF MARCH 17, 2016.