The late rocker’s widow, 51, and only child, 22, are up against Richard Lee, who is suing Seattle and the Seattle local police department for not releasing material that allegedly proves that Cobain did not die from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1994.
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The city of Seattle is arguing that the material should remain private for the privacy of Cobain’s family and loved ones.
“I have had to cope with many personal issues because of my father’s death“.
She added: “Further sensationalising it through the release of these pictures would cause us indescribable pain”.
She cited concerns that the release of such information could also spur obsessive fans, recalling an incident where one broke into her home and waited there for three days because he believed the spirit of her father lived on inside her body.
The photos show his entire body and the damage to his head from a shotgun blast, according to a declaration filed last week by Cobain’s wife, the musician Courtney Love, seeking to block the release.
In 2014, four previously undeveloped rolls of 35 mm film from the 1994 crime scene were examined by Seattle police cold-case detective Michael Ciesynski in advance of the 20th anniversary of Cobain’s suicide. Those terrible images still haunt me. “I cannot even imagine the enormity of the trauma this would cause me, not to mention many others”.
The city will ask Superior Court Judge Theresa Doyle to dismiss the case on procedural grounds during a hearing later on Friday, said the spokesman, John Schochet.
In 1995 Love got court permission to keep Kurt Cobain’s suicide note, and another note used for handwriting analysis, out of the public eye.
Another showed the paraphernalia box closed, next to cash, a cigarette pack and a wallet that appeared to show Cobain’s identification.
Lee, who could not be reached for comment on Friday, has produced a public-access television show called “Kurt Cobain Was Murdered”, according to a website cataloging the show.
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“Sometimes people believe what they read … some of the disinformation from some of the books, that this was a conspiracy”, a Seattle PD detective said at the time. Lee himself has made two unsuccessful bids for mayor, in 2001 and 2005. “These are the intricacies of civil law and this is a technical challenge”, says Lee.
