Seattle police review of Kurt Cobain death investigation

The Seattle Office of Police Accountability has launched a formal review following allegations that former Police Chief Shon Barnes privately acknowledged inconsistencies in the 1994 death investigation of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

The probe follows a complaint from the research group ‘Who Killed Kurt?’, which alleges that Barnes admitted during a November 2025 meeting that certain forensic evidence contradicted the original police report. Specifically, researchers noted the absence of blood on Cobain’s left hand, despite it being the hand allegedly used to hold the shotgun barrel.

Independent researchers, including Michelle Wilkins and former King County Prosecutor Mark Larson, claim the death may have been a homicide staged to appear as a suicide. Their findings, based on a peer-reviewed study released in February, involve analyses of bloodstain patterns, firearm evidence, and toxicology reports. Investigators are examining allegations that Chief Barnes failed to conduct a substantive evaluation of 180 pages of new evidence before the department decided not to reopen the case. While researchers maintain a murder theory, official police and medical examiner conclusions continue to maintain the death was a suicide.