James Dean Death (1931-1955)

For 50 years, since his death in a car crash on September 30, 1955, Dean has been portrayed as a daredevil driver whose speeding and recklessness on the road caused his own death.

Now, new evidence has emerged proving that not only was Dean driving safely, but at a much lower speed than was believed at the time.

It has long been part of Hollywood lore that Dean, with his passion for fast cars and reputation for rebellious behaviour, was driving his high-powered Porsche Spyder 550 when he and Rolf Weutherich, a mechanic, smashed into another car on a Californian highway.

A ground-breaking discovery has unearthed evidence that Dean, contrary to what was said at the inquest into his death, was travelling at just over 70mph, up to 20mph slower than was claimed. It reveals that Dean braked hard, trying to avoid the car that cut across him, rather than using the throttle to accelerate around it, as was alleged at the time.

Using sophisticated computer technology, the documentary concludes that it was indeed Dean who was behind the wheel. But while the evidence seems concrete, the last surviving witness to the crash, Don Dooley, still insists that it was Weutherich, the mechanic, who was driving, not Dean himself.

Dean, who died from a broken neck and massive internal injuries, had made just three films before he died and only East of Eden had been released. But his tragic death made him front page news and when Rebel Without a Cause came out a month after his death he became - and remains - an American icon, his moody good looks and his rebellious disdain for authority defining the youth of post-war America. He died while still filming Giant but its release confirmed his star status.

Mr Dooley, now 65, was 15 when he saw Dean's frail Porsche demolished, leaving it little more than a mangled mass of metal. It was so badly damaged that police officers at the scene described it as "looking like it exploded". Mr Dooley and his brother-in-law narrowly avoided being caught up in the crash. When Dean's car finally came to a standstill Mr Dooley ran over to help.

"James Dean was sitting on the left side facing us, on the passenger side," he insists "The man in the plaid shirt, the mechanic, was doing the driving." The programme makers, however, using sophisticated modern technology, have now determined that Dean's body, which took the full force of the impact, was pushed into the passenger's seat by the other car in the collision, Donald Turnupseed's coupe.

At the inquest Mr Dooley's account was discounted; he was told he had an "untrained eye". But despite the new evidence, he is still convinced it was not the Hollywood legend who was driving that day. "That is what I saw," he says. "The things I say, I say truthfully out of memory. I have nothing to gain by lying about it."

The inquest findings were confusing, complicated by conflicting testimonies. But Mr Turnupseed was exonerated, leaving Dean as the one who most likely caused the crash.

The one person who could have solved the enduring mystery, the mechanic Weutherich, was too badly injured to attend the inquest. When he recovered he returned to his native Germany and never spoke of the crash. He died in another car crash in 1981.

Dean's death transformed his status from that of a promising young actor into an enduring icon. But he is often remembered as much for his reckless passion for speed as for his film career.

Many at the time thought the Porsche Spyder was too high-powered for him and, indeed, days before he died Alec Guinness, the actor, had a premonition that he would die behind its wheel. Dean had bumped into Guinness at the Villa Capri, a local Hollywood hangout. He was so proud of the car that he insisted upon showing it to Guinness.

Dean, a self-confessed speed freak, laughed off the suggestion. There was no way he could have known that Guinness's warning would become a chillingly reality.

THE CASE: Jury Finds Dean Death Accidental

October 11, [1955]
After deliberating only 24 minutes a verdict of “accidental death with no criminal intent” was returned in the coroner’s inquest into the death of movie star James Dean here this morning.
Returning the verdict was Don Orcutt Sr., foreman.
The Jury went out at 12:27p.m. to deliberate after hearing testimony of California highway patrolman O. Hunter of Bakersfield. Hunter made the arrest of Dean near Bakersfield on highway 99 for speeding at 3:30 p.m., two hours before the fatal accident occurred.
Hunter fixed the distance from the place where he had given Dean a speeding ticket to the intersection of highway 41 and 466 where the movie star collided with the car of Harold Turnupseed, 24-year-old Cal Poly student of Tulare, at 108 miles.
telegram-tribune-10-11-1955.JPGTom Frederick of Shandon told of driving in back of the Turnupseed car which was coming off highway 41.
Fredericks, a Shandon bee keeper and his brother-in-law, Donald Dooley, were traveling east when Turnupseed passed them at 60 miles an hour, the testimony brought out. Turnupseed slowed down to less than 40 miles an hour before he came to the intersection where the accident occurred.
Fredericks said that Turnupseed appeared to attempt to get out of the path of the oncoming sports car.
Dooley, who took the stand at his own request and Fredericks testified that Wuetherich had been the driver of the car. They said that Wuetherich had on a red tee shirt while Dean was wearing a white tee shirt.
Wuetherich, now in a Glendale hospital, is unable to speak English but his statements were taken through an interpreter the Rev. M.J. Galle of the First Mennonite church of Paso Robles.
Wuetherich said they had stopped at Blackwell’s corner for a soft drink and an apple while coming over 466 from Bakersfield. He said they stopped for Approximately 15 minutes.
According to the coroner’s inquest this fixed the speed of Dean’s car at 85 to 86 miles per hour.

Kurt Cobain Suicide Controversy

Investigation into the death of Kurt Cobain by Tom Grant

SUMMARY OF EVENTS

Courtney Love and her husband, Kurt Cobain, had not been getting along. They'd been talking about divorce. Kurt did not want to tour or perform anymore. He was walking away from what Courtney said was a $9.5 million dollar contract to headline the Lollapalooza tour.

Courtney was angry at Kurt for the possible loss of all those millions. Her anger wasn't working, so she tried to blame Kurt's attitude on his drug use and put together a so-called "tough love intervention." Among others at the "intervention" were some of the junkies Kurt did drugs with!

Courtney claimed she told Kurt, "This has got to end. You have to be a good daddy!" This statement is somewhat pretentious, since it came from a woman who was doing drugs when I was first hired and continued her drug use during the eight months I worked for her. It's hard to believe Kurt could have taken this whole "intervention" scene seriously.

March 26, 1994.
Courtney left Seattle for the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.

March 30th.
Kurt and his best friend Dylan Carlson purchased a shotgun. Kurt told Dylan he was afraid of intruders at the house. Walking out on the Lollapalooza tour was a business decision that would cost others a great deal of money also. I have reason to believe Kurt may have been intimidated into believing his life would be in danger if he failed to do the tour.

The shotgun was a 20 gauge, set-up for light load. This set-up is what gun dealers often recommend for home protection because the shot won't penetrate walls and endanger those on the other side. Kurt took the shotgun to his house so it would be there when he got back from rehab. He then left Seattle to go to a rehab center in Marina Del Rey, California, (near Los Angeles).

April 1st.
Thirteen phone calls were made to Kurt's rehab center from Courtney's hotel room at the Peninsula. Most of these are to the patient's pay phone. Courtney later told me she only talked to Kurt once that day.

That evening, Kurt left the rehab. Later, at 8:47 PM, he called the Peninsula Hotel and left a message for Courtney. The message on the hotel log reads: "Elizabeth's phone # is (213)_______." (This # is in my case file.) Courtney never mentioned this message to the media. It doesn't appear to be a message from a person who is "suicidal."

Kurt arrived in Seattle early Saturday morning, April 2nd, and was taken to his house on Lake Washington by a hired driver.

Saturday night Courtney had a friend plant a phony story with the Associated Press that she had overdosed on drugs and was in the hospital. This planted story became significant later in the investigation.

Easter Sunday at the Peninsula
Sunday, April 3rd.
Courtney called my office in Beverly Hills. She told me someone was using her husband's credit card and she wanted me to try to find out who it was.

I took another investigator with me named Ben Klugman. We met Courtney at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. "If you leak this to the press, I'll sue the f___ out of you," Courtney warned me as we walked into the room.

Courtney told us her husband was Kurt Cobain and that he just left a drug rehab. She said she lied to the credit card company and had his card canceled. She wanted us to call the credit card company and find out what the attempted activities were on this canceled card. I mentioned I couldn't understand why she needed us for that. I advised her she could do that herself and save some money. If we did it, I'd have to charge her fifty dollars just to make a phone call.

"What? That's not enough money for you?" Courtney responded sarcastically.

Courtney told us Kurt only had one credit card and without that one card he had no access to money. She said Kurt didn't have any friends or anyone else that might loan him money. Knowing now who we were dealing with, this didn't make sense!

We questioned Courtney more about Kurt's ability to get money for his needs. "This guy can't even catch a f___ing cab by himself!" she insisted.

Courtney told us about a story she had planted with the Associated Press the previous evening. The story alleged that Courtney had overdosed and was in the hospital. She claimed the reason she did this was to scare Kurt and get his attention so he'd try to contact her.

Later that afternoon while I was with her in the hotel room, Courtney rambled on in an angry rage about the "9 1/2 million dollars" Kurt was walking away from.

She said, "If he doesn't want the money, he ought to do it for his child, for Frances."

She said she'd do the Lollapalooza tour for Kurt if he didn't want to do it...

She said she'd do Saturday Night Live if he didn't want to do it...

She said she thought Kurt wanted a divorce...

She mentioned a prenuptial agreement, but said, "My name's on all the houses and assets."

Courtney said she didn't know for sure where Kurt was. She said he might be in Seattle, or he may have flown back east to stay with Michael Stipe. She failed to mention initially that Kurt had been seen at their Lake Washington house on Saturday morning, April 2nd, by "Cali," (Michael Dewitt), the male nanny who was living at the Cobain residence. Cali later claimed he informed Courtney on Saturday, April 2nd, that Kurt had been to the house earlier that morning. Cali said Kurt came into his bedroom and they had a short conversation.

Courtney asked me to find someone in Seattle to watch a drug dealer's apartment and other locations in case Kurt turned up, but she didn't ask us to watch the Lake Washington house, the one place we later learned Kurt had actually been seen!

I sub-contracted with a P.I. firm in Seattle for the surveillance.

A False Police Report
Monday, April 4th.
I met with Courtney again at the Peninsula hotel. Courtney told me she had called in a missing person's report pretending to be Kurt's mother, Wendy O'Conner.

As we monitored the progress of the surveillance team in Seattle, we continued working with the credit card company trying to track the use of Kurt's credit card. Someone was still attempting to use the card for various charges.

Courtney advised us Kurt only stays in the best hotels. We began calling hotels from listings in the Seattle phone book. At one time we thought we had located him at a hotel under one of the aliases Courtney had given us. I notified Courtney and she asked us to watch the hotel in case Kurt might leave.

Courtney told us she didn't want Kurt to know she was looking for him, but during an earlier phone conversation, Courtney told me Kurt was suicidal. "Everyone thinks he's going to die," she announced. So now I had to wonder why she wouldn't want the police or someone else to go to the room and try to save him?

After less than an hour, Courtney called me and said she talked to the person in the room and it wasn't Kurt. Of course I wondered why she'd call his room if she didn't want him to know she was looking for him.

Wednesday, April 6th.
Kurt had still not been located. At the hotel later that afternoon, I volunteered to go to Seattle and search for Kurt. One of Courtney's friends in the room said, "Why don't you go up there, Courtney?"

"I can't, I have business I have to take care of here," Courtney replied.

I asked Courtney not to tell anyone I was coming because they might alert Kurt. She agreed but later told me she had called Cali to tell him I was on my way to Seattle. Courtney told me earlier that she didn't trust Cali. Now she claimed, "He won't tell anyone."

"Save the American Icon, Tom!" Courtney shouted dramatically as I left the hotel room and headed for the airport.

The Seattle Search
Wednesday, April 6th 11:30 PM.
I picked up Kurt's best friend, Dylan Carlson at his apartment. We went to a cafe where we ate and planned our strategy for locating Kurt and finding out what was going on.

I asked Dylan if he felt Kurt was suicidal. He replied, "No. Not at all. He's under a lot of pressure, but he's handling things pretty good."

I asked Dylan if he'd ever been told that the Rome incident was a "suicide attempt," and he said, "No. Kurt said it was just an accident."

If Cobain was so "suicidal," and if he had really "tried to kill himself" a month earlier, I wondered why nobody clued in his best friend, the guy he hangs out with! Wouldn't they want Dylan to keep a close eye on Kurt? And if Kurt was so "suicidal," wouldn't Courtney want to make sure Dylan didn't allow him to have access to guns?

Dylan told me Kurt had been afraid of intruders at the house lately, and that he wanted a gun for protection. So he said he helped Kurt buy a shotgun to have at the house when he returned from rehab. He said Kurt didn't want the shotgun registered in his name because the police had just confiscated his other guns. He didn't want them to know he had this one or they might confiscate it also.

After leaving the cafe, Dylan and I checked out a drug dealer's apartment on Capitol Hill and several hotels on the Aurora strip where Kurt had been known to stay from time to time.

I mentioned to Dylan that Courtney had told me Kurt only stays at the "best hotels." Dylan appeared puzzled. "No, he doesn't. He usually stays in some pretty ratty places."

While Dylan and I were driving around Seattle, I asked him if we should check with Kurt's mother in Aberdeen. Dylan replied, "No. Kurt wouldn't go there. He doesn't get along with his mom."

Thursday Morning, April 7th. 2:15 AM.
We went to the Lake Washington house. I waited in the car while Dylan walked up alone as we had previously planned. We didn't want to alert Kurt to my presence if at all possible. Dylan came back to the car after at least five minutes saying no one was home. I wondered what took so long if no one was home?

We went to a pay phone and called Courtney. She was at Rosemary Carroll's house in Los Angeles. Dylan talked with Courtney. I told him to have her call the alarm company and ask them to turn off the alarm so we could go in the house.

Upon returning to the Lake Washington house, we gained access through an unlocked kitchen window. While we were searching the house, Dylan commented, "I've never seen the house this clean before." A television was still on in one of the bedrooms upstairs and the bed was unmade. Dylan told me this was Cali's room.

We didn't find Kurt. Dylan didn't tell me about the room above the garage, and since it was dark and raining, I hadn't noticed it. I dropped Dylan off at his apartment and went to my hotel for a few hours sleep.

I picked Dylan up later and we resumed our search. We spent most of the day on Thursday checking out some of Kurt's hangouts and talking to people who might know where he was. As evening approached, we headed for the small town of Carnation located about 30 miles east of Seattle where the Cobains owned two vacant cabins situated on several acres of property. But in the dark, Dylan became unsure as to whether or not he could locate the property. The increasing rain didn't help much so we eventually turned back. We'd try another time.

We stopped at a pay phone and Dylan made a call. When he returned to the car, he said, "Courtney's had some trouble. She got arrested and she's in the hospital."

Dylan eventually managed to speak with Courtney on the phone to get further instructions. Courtney wanted us to go back to the Lake Washington house to look for the shotgun. She said it could be in a hidden compartment in her closet.

Since Cali had been at the house quite a lot, I wondered why she hadn't asked him to look there before now?

9:45 PM.
Dylan and I returned to the Lake Washington house. Inside I found a note from "Cali" which had been placed on the main stairway. It wasn't there the night before. The note read in part, "I can't believe you managed to be in the house without me noticing. You're a f---ing a--hole for not calling Courtney..."

I had a feeling the note was intended for me to find, not Kurt. It just seemed phony. When I mentioned this note later to Rosemary Carroll (a person who knew Kurt, Courtney and Cali very well), she agreed, "Didn't it Tom? Didn't it sound phony?!"

On Thursday afternoon, April 7th, Cali told friends he was leaving for Los Angeles. Although I spoke with him later, I never got to see or talk to Cali while I was in Seattle looking for Kurt. I had the feeling he was trying to avoid me.

Cali later claimed he was hardly at the house from Monday on. He said he wasn't staying at the house because Courtney kept calling and saying she knew Kurt was there.

The obvious question: if Cali was hardly at the house himself, why would he find it so hard to believe Kurt had been in the house without him noticing? And if Courtney told Cali she knew Kurt was there, why wasn't she having us watch the house during our surveillance?

Kurt Is Found
Friday morning, April 8th.
Dylan and I were on our way to the Carnation property once again. We stopped for gas and Dylan got out to make a phone call. When he came back to the car, Dylan said a friend just told him a body was found at the Lake Washington house. Was it Cali, Kurt or someone else? We turned on the car radio and soon heard that the person found dead was Kurt Cobain. Dylan showed no reaction.

Later we heard on the radio that Kurt's body was found in the "greenhouse." I turned to Dylan and asked, "What's the greenhouse?" Dylan told me it was a room above the garage.

"Why didn't we look there?" I asked.

"It's just a dirty little room. I think they keep some lumber in there or something," Dylan replied.

I called my office and spoke with Ben Klugman. He told me the credit card company indicated someone had continued trying to use Kurt's credit card as recent as Friday morning, April 8th, just hours before Cobain's body was found.

Suicide Note:

To Boddah

Speaking from the tongue of an experienced simpleton who obviously would rather be an emasculated, infantile complain-ee. This note should be pretty easy to understand.

All the warnings from the punk rock 101 courses over the years, since my first introduction to the, shall we say, ethics involved with independence and the embracement of your community has proven to be very true. I haven't felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music along with reading and writing for too many years now. I feel guity beyond words about these things.

For example when we're back stage and the lights go out and the manic roar of the crowds begins., it doesn't affect me the way in which it did for Freddie Mercury, who seemed to love, relish in the the love and adoration from the crowd which is something I totally admire and envy. The fact is, I can't fool you, any one of you. It simply isn't fair to you or me. The worst crime I can think of would be to rip people off by faking it and pretending as if I'm having 100% fun. Sometimes I feel as if I should have a punch-in time clock before I walk out on stage. I've tried everything within my power to appreciate it (and I do,God, believe me I do, but it's not enough). I appreciate the fact that I and we have affected and entertained a lot of people. It must be one of those narcissists who only appreciate things when they're gone. I'm too sensitive. I need to be slightly numb in order to regain the enthusiasms I once had as a child.

On our last 3 tours, I've had a much better appreciation for all the people I've known personally, and as fans of our music, but I still can't get over the frustration, the guilt and empathy I have for everyone. There's good in all of us and I think I simply love people too much, so much that it makes me feel too fucking sad. The sad little, sensitive, unappreciative, Pisces, Jesus man. Why don't you just enjoy it? I don't know!

I have a goddess of a wife who sweats ambition and empathy and a daughter who reminds me too much of what i used to be, full of love and joy, kissing every person she meets because everyone is good and will do her no harm. And that terrifies me to the point to where I can barely function. I can't stand the thought of Frances becoming the miserable, self-destructive, death rocker that I've become.

I have it good, very good, and I'm grateful, but since the age of seven, I've become hateful towards all humans in general. Only because it seems so easy for people to get along that have empathy. Only because I love and feel sorry for people too much I guess.

Thank you all from the pit of my burning, nauseous stomach for your letters and concern during the past years. I'm too much of an erratic, moody baby! I don't have the passion anymore, and so remember, it's better to burn out than to fade away.

Peace, love, empathy.
Kurt Cobain

Frances and Courtney, I'll be at your alter.
Please keep going Courtney, for Frances.
For her life, which will be so much happier without me.

I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!

We soon learned Cobain had been dead for two days or more. Now it was apparent that someone had been trying to use his missing credit card since the time he left Los Angeles to return to Seattle. Someone also attempted to use that same card after Cobain died!

I called the Seattle homicide detectives and tried to tell them something was wrong. The detective told me Kurt was locked in the room by himself. He said the door was locked from the inside and the fire department had to break a window on the door to get in, inferring that Cobain had to have been alone in the greenhouse when he died. I assumed they must know what they're talking about, but I was curious about what kind of door lock this was.

I spoke to Courtney on the phone that afternoon. She wasn't at all upset that we hadn't found Kurt. She acted as if she thought Kurt died the night before. If so, we could have saved him if we'd found him in time! Why wasn't she angry at us?

Courtney tried to get me to talk to the press. I told her I didn't want to say anything until I found out more about what happened. This whole thing smelled really rotten!

I left Seattle and flew back to Los Angeles.

Return To Seattle
Wednesday, April 13th.
I met with Courtney's entertainment attorney, Rosemary Carroll, at her Hollywood office. She indicated that she was suspicious about Courtney's involvement in Kurt's death.

"He wasn't suicidal, Tom. Kurt wasn't suicidal!" Rosemary blurted with a deep sigh.

Rosemary told me that Courtney had called her "a couple of weeks ago" and asked her to find "the meanest, most vicious divorce lawyer" she could find. Courtney also asked Rosemary if the prenuptial agreement could be voided.

Rosemary then told me that Kurt had also called during that same time period. According to Rosemary, Kurt hadn't completed his will yet. He told Rosemary he wanted Courtney taken out of it.

Rosemary indicated she was disturbed and somewhat suspicious that Courtney wouldn't let her or anyone else see the so-called "suicide note." I mentioned to Rosemary that Courtney said she couldn't go to Seattle herself because she "had business in L.A."

"She didn't have any business in L.A.!" Rosemary snapped.

During our meeting, Rosemary also told me that on Thursday morning, while Courtney was at her house talking to Dylan Carlson on the phone, she overheard Courtney say, "Be sure and check the greenhouse."

Since Courtney directed Dylan to check the greenhouse, I couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't asked Cali to check the greenhouse in the past few days.

We now know that after talking to Dylan on the phone Thursday morning, Courtney left Rosemary Carroll's house and went back to the Peninsula Hotel. A short while later, she called 911. First reports have Courtney overdosing again. She was later arrested. Rosemary has since shown me evidence that Courtney's "arrest" may have been a deliberately planned event.

As Rosemary and I concluded our meeting, we both agreed it would be best for me to return to Seattle to further investigate Cobain's death. Rosemary, however, was adamant that Courtney should not be told of the private discussions we were having regarding the suspicious circumstances and events surrounding Kurt's so-called "suicide."

6:30 PM
I flew back to Seattle and checked into a hotel. The next day I went to the Lake Washington house. A security guard at the house let me in and I found Courtney sitting at the dining room table. As I approached and sat down to talk, she said, "I guess I really found the right P.I. this time." The flattery was nice, but it didn't make much sense.

After a short conversation, Courtney got up to get a cigarette and a lady walked over to where I was sitting. She was wearing a black T-shirt that read, "Grunge Is Dead." I assumed she was a relative of Kurt's, maybe a sister or cousin. She stood in front of me and asked, "You're the investigator?" I nodded while she continued, "What do you think?"

Not knowing who she was, I replied, "I don't know. What do you think?"

She answered by introducing herself. "Well, I'm Kurt's mom, Wendy. I don't know. Something doesn't seem right. Why didn't Dylan look in the greenhouse?"

I noticed Courtney looking over her shoulder as Wendy and I talked. She seemed to be concerned about our conversation. I told Wendy I'd like to talk to her at length some time in the next few days. She agreed and said she'd like to talk to me too. As Courtney walked back towards us Wendy began walking away. Courtney put her arms around Wendy and kissed her. I noticed Courtney whispering something in Wendy's ear. The rest of the time I was at the house, Wendy seemed cool towards me, almost evasive.

I had to see the "Note"
Courtney took me upstairs where we sat on her bed and talked. Since she hadn't even let her close friend Rosemary Carroll see the so-called "suicide note," I had to come up with a way to get a copy for myself in order to examine it in detail.

"I heard you read the note on TV the other day," I commented. "I was confused about something. It sounded like the note said, 'I'm lying here on the bed. . .' If Kurt was lying on the bed when he wrote the note, why was the bed was so neat when I came in here the other night? It didn't look like anyone had been on this bed."

"No, Tom, I was lying on the bed," Courtney answered and repeated, "I was lying on the bed recording the message to Kurt's fans."

"Are you sure that's what you said? " I asked. "I got the impression it was Kurt saying he was lying on the bed."

"No. Here, I'll show you," she said, and reached over to retrieve a folded paper from under a pillow. Handing me the note, Courtney pointed out, "It's only a copy. The police have the original."

I studied the note as if looking for the phrase in question, then commented, "I can't read this without my glasses. Can I go downstairs and make a copy on your fax machine? I'll look at it later."

"Yeah...sure," Courtney mumbled as her eyes dropped out of an icy stare. When I came back up, Courtney was kneeling on the floor looking in a phone book. A telephone was on the floor next to her. "Would you wait downstairs, Tom?" she growled. A few minutes earlier she was friendly--now she was obviously irritated!

Our Trip to Carnation
Later that day we made plans to go to the Carnation property. Courtney told me Eric Erlandson, (guitarist in Courtney's band "Hole"), was going with us. A short time later Courtney took Eric into another room to talk. When they came out, Eric left the house alone in his van.

"I thought Eric was going with us?" I asked.

"He'll meet us there," Courtney replied.

We left the house followed by a couple of television news vans which had been staked out at the Cobain residence. Losing the vans after a few blocks, I drove Courtney to the Carnation property with Kat Bjelland, (a long-time friend of Courtney's and guitarist for Babes In Toyland), in the back seat of my rental car.

As we drove, Courtney began talking about the "son of a bitch" who gave the story to the Associated Press saying she had overdosed on April 2nd. She appeared agitated as she grumbled, "I'm going to find out who the hell it was and sue that mother f...er for libel. I can prove I was at the hotel. People saw me there. It was a total lie."

"You told me you planted that story," I reminded Courtney.

"Huh?...Oh" she responded, and turned to look out the window.

During the drive Courtney wanted to stop twice for snacks. We also missed the turn off when Courtney couldn't remember which road to take. Temporarily lost, we stopped to solicit directions from a nearby farmer. I learned later that one of the houses on the property had just been built. Courtney must have been out there several times while the house was under construction. Certainly she knew how to get there. It actually seemed she was deliberately delaying our arrival for some reason.

Arriving at the Carnation property, I noticed the two houses on the property reflected what I'd already come to know about Kurt and Courtney's individual personalities. One was an old weathered cabin full of well used furniture and bedding. It looked like the home of a person living in poverty! This is where Kurt apparently felt the most comfortable.

The other house is a brand new wood sided mansion, vacant and yet to be furnished. This house was an "exhibition" of success and wealth.

The two houses are separated by a pond with a newly constructed walking bridge connecting the old to the new.

We went into the old cabin first. Courtney and Kat went upstairs to the loft while I stayed downstairs to look around. I noticed a jacket and other clothing spread around the living room and on the floor near the coffee table was a large box containing nothing but Rolling Stone magazines, about thirty or so.

Courtney tried to convince me Kurt had been to the Carnation property after he returned to Seattle from the rehab in Los Angeles. But as I looked around the old cabin, I noticed everything was covered with a very thin layer of moss due to the humid weather in Carnation. The presence of the moss indicated no one had disturbed anything in this cabin for quite some time.

When Courtney and Kat came back downstairs, Courtney reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a cloth pouch. "Look Tom. Kurt was here," she said, as she opened the pouch revealing a syringe inside.

Why would he have left a syringe here? I thought to myself. And what about the moss all over everything? I was having a hard time believing Kurt had been here.

As we continued looking around the old cabin, Kat suddenly screamed. Courtney and I ran to find her in the bathroom looking into the toilet. There were five dead rats inside! It looked like they'd been there for quite some time.

Now it was obvious no one had used this cabin recently! I suspected Courtney brought the pouch containing the syringe with her.

In the new house we found a sleeping bag, some cigarette butts, and soda cans scattered about. Courtney asked me to gather these items up to take back with us. She said she wanted to get them fingerprinted.

Eric didn't show up at the Carnation property while we were there. Had he come and gone before we arrived?

We left the Carnation property and headed back to the Lake Washington house. During the drive back Courtney told Kat and I that she was going to make a rubber hand from a cast she'd made of Kurt's hand. She said she was going to use it to slap people in the face and say, "There! That's from Kurt!"

I mentioned I'd worked with hand casts and told her fingerprints could even be duplicated using a silicon material to fill the mold. Courtney appeared somewhat discouraged, as if something just went wrong. I never heard any more about printing the items found at the Carnation property.

Had this been part of a plan to convince me and others that Kurt had been to the Carnation property after leaving the rehab in Los Angeles? Did Courtney accidentally reveal her scheme by saying too much?

At one point Courtney talked to narcotics Detective Antonio Terry on my car phone. I later learned she'd been talking to Terry quite a lot during the time Kurt was missing. Detective Terry was even mentioned in the missing person's report as having additional information about Kurt.

Remember Detective Terry's name--it will come up again later.

Conversations during the drive indicated Courtney was still thinking more about her herself than about Kurt. She seemed to be obsessed with her career.

While Courtney was out of the car at one time, I heard radio commentator, Paul Harvey, talk about a rumored suicide pact which supposedly existed between Courtney and Kurt. This was typical of the type of planted stories I'd heard Courtney originate on her own and then blame others for leaking to the press.

I wondered if there was a connection between Courtney's fake "overdose" Saturday night and her possible deliberate overdose and arrest Thursday morning. Had she expected Kurt to die Saturday night? Had she expected us to find his body Thursday morning? Had she tried to make this look like a suicide pact?

Obstructing The Investigation.
Back at the house, I told Courtney I'd like to talk to Cali and Dylan together. Courtney replied, "Cali went to rehab in El Paso, or Georgia... no, he's in L.A. with friends." Then she shouted to Eric, "Call Cali and tell him to get back up here on the next plane."

Dylan arrived at the house while I was in the kitchen. When I came out and started looking for him, I was told he was upstairs talking to Courtney in her bedroom. They came downstairs together after about twenty minutes. It was obvious Dylan had just gotten a heroin fix.

I took Dylan into the kitchen to talk. As I began questioning him, I noticed his response was canned as if he'd just been prepared and rehearsed. Dylan kept nodding off from the heroin. There was no sense in continuing.

I left the house and asked Eric to call my hotel when Cali got there. After several hours, I called and spoke to Eric. He told me that after I left, Courtney had him call Cali and tell him he didn't have to come to Seattle. Eric said, "I don't know what's going on here!"

Saturday, April 16th.
Ben Klugman had flown to Seattle the day before to work with me. Ben and I went back to the Lake Washington house to talk to Courtney. The lady who answered the door told us Courtney was upstairs sleeping. I asked her if Wendy was there. She said Wendy was downstairs. I asked the lady to let Wendy know I was there and to ask her if we could talk.

The lady left but returned a minute or two later. "Wendy says she has nothing to talk to you about," she said.

We left the house and after following up on some other leads, Ben and I returned to our hotel. The electrical supervisor who had been at the scene of Kurt's death met with Ben and I later in my hotel room. He described the position of the body and the shotgun. He also told us, "Kurt's hair looked like it had been combed by a hairdresser. It was all spread out nice and even."

I realized this could just be one man's perception of what he thought he saw while under stress, but I wanted to see the police photographs to see what he was talking about.

We later learned Courtney called the electrical contractors on Wednesday, April 6th, before I had agreed to fly to Seattle, and instructed them to begin work on the lights and motion detector on the greenhouse! Did she know Kurt was inside? Was she trying to get the body discovered? It just all seemed a little strange!

Document Exam - Not Credible
I had faxed off several documents, including a copy of the "suicide note," to two separate document examiners in Los Angeles. The document examiners later told me, based on the photocopies they had examined, it was their opinion Courtney wrote the letter left on the stairs, not Cali.

This explanation wasn't logical. Courtney was still in Beverly Hills when this note showed up on the stairs. Why would Courtney write a note and make it look like Cali had written it? Why not just tell Cali what to write?

If the document examiners were right, something very unusual was going on here. Still, I found their conclusions hard to believe.

My Meeting with the Police
April 15th
One week after Cobain's body was found, I went to the Seattle police station and met with Sgt. Cameron, the lead homicide investigator assigned to the Cobain case.

Items discussed with Sgt. Cameron included:

Numerous inconsistencies and contradictions in logic...

The missing credit card and continued activity on the card after Kurt's death...

The fact that Courtney specifically told Dylan to check the greenhouse and yet he didn't even tell me about the greenhouse...

The letter on the stairs from Cali seemed phony and didn't make sense...

Document examiners said Courtney wrote the letter on the stairs...

Doubts about Kurt's handwriting on the so-called "suicide note," especially the bottom portion...

The electrician's statement about Kurt's hair appearing to have been combed...

Courtney's motives for possible involvement in Cobain's death?...

She'd get more money from a suicide than from a divorce. With a suicide, Courtney would inherit and control the entire Cobain and Nirvana estate. If Kurt divorced her, she'd have to settle for half, at best, of Kurt's assets...

Kurt's record sales would increase, leaving Courtney with even more income...

And finally, based on what I'd learned about her personality, Kurt's death and the publicity it generated would help Courtney launch her own career.

I asked Sgt. Cameron why he told me the door was locked from the inside, pointing out that the lock was a simple push-in and twist type. "Anyone could have pulled that door shut after locking it!" I added.

"There was a stool wedged up against the door," Sgt. Cameron replied, with a touch of resentment in his voice.

Once again I assumed the police had evidence that Kurt was alone when the shotgun was discharged, but I still had some real problems with this case!

When I asked Sgt. Cameron if I could look at the photographs to see why the electrical supervisor thought Kurt's hair had been combed, he responded, "We haven't developed the photographs and probably never will. We don't develop photographs on suicides."

"Nothing you've said convinces me this is anything but a suicide," Sgt. Cameron informed me as we concluded the meeting.

Continuing The Investigation
I spent the next few weeks trying to determine if my document examiners were correct. Through my own testing I was eventually convinced they were wrong. I concluded Cali did write the letter I found on the stairs at the Lake Washington house. It was not written by Courtney.

One of the document examiners finally admitted her mistake. The other remained firm in her original opinion. I don't believe in the accuracy of the work done by these two document examiners. We want to get to the truth here. I'm not interested in false hype over unreliable evidence.

I called Detective Kirkland and told him the document examiners had made a mistake. He didn't understand the significance in the first place, so it was obvious they had paid little attention to anything I had to say about this case.

I studied media material and found it was full of planted stories and misinformation. One story had Courtney grieving at home, while she was actually calling me from Canyon Ranch in Arizona and bragging to me that she was sleeping with Billy Corgan. This was only three weeks after Kurt died!

Courtney Love On Notice
May 18th, 1994.
I sent Courtney a letter indicating my suspicions about Kurt's death.

Dear Courtney,

I'm sure you know by now that my investigation has been somewhat more active than you might have been aware of. The purpose of this letter is to clarify my position regarding our working relationship.

You may recall our trip to Carnation on Thursday, April 14th. I mentioned during the drive that I was beginning to turn over some "rocks" that I wasn't sure you'd want turned over. I asked you if you wanted me to continue digging. Kat, who was in the back seat, said, "Oh yeah, she wants to know everything." You responded, "Yeah Tom, do what ever it takes. I want to know everything that happened." Your instructions were clear, so in the days and weeks that followed, I proceeded to "do whatever it takes."

As the investigation continued, my attempts to get at the truth often seemed to be deliberately hindered. While reading some of the articles being written in newspapers and magazines, I discovered the information being released to the press was inaccurate and often cleverly misleading.

I consider the circumstances surrounding your husband's death to be highly suspicious. My investigation has exposed a number of inconsistencies in the facts of this case as well as many contradictions in sound logic and common sense. I'm required to report findings such as these to the police, so on Friday, April 15th, I spoke with Sgt. Cameron about some of what I've learned so far.

As I've experienced in past cases, police detectives don't often welcome the work of outside investigators. I've learned it's somewhat idealistic and naive to think the truth might be more important than professional pride.

I've decided to continue working on this case until I see it to its conclusion, without additional charge. Attached you will find an invoice which accounts for the charges billed for our services, including time and expenses. As you can see, prior to my return to Seattle on April 13th, these charges exceeded the retainer amount. However, please consider your bill paid in full. There will be no further charges.

As I pursue the truth regarding the events surrounding your husband's death, your cooperation and assistance will be appreciated, but not required.

Sincerely,
Tom Grant
THE GRANT COMPANY

Maintaining The Lines of Communication.
I anticipated an angry reply from Courtney. Instead, she responded by retaining me to do more work for her! This additional work was unrelated to the investigation into Kurt'™s death, but it was always time consuming and obviously an attempt to keep me on the payroll. Whenever I started talking to people close to Courtney about Kurt's death, she'd hire me to do another job. Courtney had assumed I'd keep quiet as long as the money kept coming in. This became even more obvious as work was completed and she didn't seem to care about the results.

During conversations with Courtney over the next several months, she verbally encouraged me to continue investigating Kurt's death, but often sabotaged my efforts to obtain information.

I took advantage of her somewhat foolish strategy. Courtney wanted me under her wing and in a position where she could keep tabs on what I was doing. That worked for me. It allowed me to stay informed about what she was doing too! Ethically, I had no problem with the arrangement since I'd given her written notice about my suspicions.

Actually, unless she was innocent of any wrong doing in Cobain's death, she really had very few options at this point. Getting angry would just create more suspicion. Cutting off contact would keep her in the dark about what I was doing.

Courtney often told me she thought Kurt was with "Katlin" before he died. Katlin was a drug dealer living in Seattle's Capitol Hill area. Since we had someone watching Katlin's apartment and video taping nearly everyone coming and going, it seemed odd that Courtney had not asked for the surveillance tapes.

At a meeting later in my office in Beverly Hills, Cali told us he checked the greenhouse on Sunday but never looked after that. He said, "It's just a dirty gross little room." The greenhouse is a rather large, clean room. It measures 19' x 23'!

In the May 11th issue of the Seattle Times, Dylan told a Times reporter he didn't know the greenhouse was there. "For all the times I'd been there, I didn't even realize there was a room above it associated with the house." This contradicted the conversation I had with Dylan in the car on the day Kurt was found.

Several weeks later, Courtney told me she gave Cali $30,000 to go to a rehab somewhere back east. She was angry because he took his girlfriend with him. I couldn't help but wonder if this was actually an excuse for a payoff.

Police Reports Bring Startling Revelations
I finally received copies of the police reports. The reports indicated the credit card used by Cobain to purchase the tickets for his flight from Los Angeles to Seattle - the credit card Courtney had canceled but someone was still attempting to use - was not found in his wallet or other property. Kurt had two other Versateller cards in his wallet, along with $120 in cash which was on the floor, and $63 in cash, which was found in Kurt's coat pocket.

Studying the reports further, I discovered misleading information had been given to the police, to me, and to the press.

The Missing Persons report filed by Courtney Love while pretending to be Wendy O'Conner, reads, "Mr. Cobain ran away from California facility and flew back to Seattle. He also bought a shotgun and may be suicidal."

The wording of this report made it sound like he purchased the shotgun AFTER he left the rehab in L.A. The report also failed to mention Kurt was last seen at the Lake Washington house after he left the rehab!

According to the police reports:
The stool Sgt. Cameron said was wedged against the entrance doors, was actually just sitting in front of the unlocked balcony doors on the other side of the room. These doors did not allow access since there's no stairway to that balcony.

As mentioned earlier, the entrance door to the greenhouse had a push and twist lock. Anyone could have locked it and pulled it shut as they left, so Kurt was NOT barricaded in the room as the police had indicated to me and as the media had reported.

Kurt's driver's license had been removed and placed in front of his wallet for a photograph BY AN OFFICER on the scene. Kurt DID NOT leave his license out so his body could be identified as falsely reported in the media.

The first officers on the scene had taken 23 Polaroids. The police DID have photographs they could have shown me!

The canceled credit card was not in Kurt's possession.

There was no attempt in these reports to explain the missing credit card... and yet the case was now closed!

No Legible Prints on the Shotgun!
The police reports also indicated the shotgun had been sent to the crime lab to be checked for fingerprints. The Fingerprint Analysis Report for the shotgun reads: " The above item was processed for prints on 05/06/94 by Sr. ID Technician T. Geranimo, #4466. Four cards of latent prints were lifted. The four cards of lifted latent prints contain no legible prints."

So the shotgun wasn't even checked for prints until nearly one month after Cobain's body was found!

I have to wonder how Kurt could have handled this shotgun before he left for rehab and after he returned to the house without ever leaving any legible finger prints.

More Deaths - More Murders?
June 4, 1994.
Narcotics Detective Terry was murdered. He's the first Seattle police officer to be murdered in the line of duty in nine years. I've read the news reports and although it is quite a coincidence, it doesn't appear Detective Terry's murder is connected to the Cobain case. But, I'd like to know more!

June 15, 1994.
Kristen Pfaff, the bass player for Courtney's band Hole, died of an alleged drug overdose. Her body was found in the bathtub inside the bathroom of her Seattle apartment.

I'm very suspicious of the circumstances of Kristen's death. We know Kurt was leaving Seattle and Courtney when he ended up dead. Kristen was also leaving Seattle and Courtney when she ended up dead. She had a U-Haul trailer all packed and loaded. She was leaving the next morning, going back to Minneapolis.

During a media interview Courtney said she had to drag Eric away from Kristen's body. So we know Courtney was in Seattle at the time of Kristen's death. Was Kristen's death just a coincidence?... or was it murder?

"Copy-cat Suicides"
Reports of so-called copycat suicides continue to surface. Many of Kurt's fans are having difficulty dealing with his alleged "suicide" and feel if he thought suicide was the answer for his problems, then they'd solve their problems the same way.

I'm appalled that no one in the Cobain camp is speaking out about this, trying to put a stop to these senseless deaths.

Another Coincidence?
June 17, 1994.
The original so-called "suicide" note from Kurt's death was returned to Courtney. The police also returned the note from Rome at this time. Courtney had given the Rome note to the police for handwriting comparison. I find it interesting that the police would return some of the last pieces of physical evidence relating to Cobain's death to Courtney, immediately after Kristen Pfaff was found dead!

Gag Orders
As my investigation continued from Beverly Hills, I tried to get Cali back in for additional questioning. He was living in Los Angeles at the time, so it would have been convenient for him to come to my office.

Every time I started to focus on Cali, Courtney would give me another time consuming job unrelated to this case.

Courtney eventually tried to get me to sign a confidentiality agreement. I told her to send me a copy and I'd look at it. But, I added, "I'm not going to sign anything that could interfere with my investigation."

Courtney also said she wanted to get Cali and another friend of hers by the name of Renee Naverette, to sign a confidentiality agreement. She said, "Everyone who works for me has to sign it."

Why now? I wondered. She's known Cali for years!

The Rolling Stone Interview
December 15, 1994
This issue of Rolling Stone featured an interview with Courtney Love by David Fricke. This was one of the most interesting interviews I've read so far. It describes Courtney's mind-set and reveals what I consider to be a psychopathic personality.

Throughout this interview, Courtney seems preoccupied with convincing everyone how suicidal Kurt was. She tells a story about Kurt bringing a gun to the hospital room when Frances was born and she heroically grabbed the gun from him and said, "I'll go first, I can't have you do it first. I'll go first."

This whole story is difficult to believe. I find it interesting that Courtney was so absorbed in promoting the image of Kurt's suicidal tendencies right after his beautiful daughter was born, that she showed no concern at all for the fact that Frances would grow up hearing this horror story once it got published. It certainly wouldn't be the best thing for her self-esteem.

So now we learn... there was another Note!
Questions about Kurt's so-called "suicide note" were also raised by David Fricke during the Rolling Stone interview with Courtney. Feeling pressured to explain why the note was so confusing and not really suicidal, Courtney finally admitted Kurt also left her another note!

Oh really!!

During a taped telephone conversation between her and I on January 19, 1995, I asked Courtney about this "other" note. She claimed she found it on her bed under a pillow. I know this is not true because Thursday morning, well after the time of Kurt's death, I looked under the pillows. I also looked under the bed and between the mattresses. That's where I found a package of the drug Rohypnol that I later told Courtney about. Dylan and I were looking everywhere for drugs and drug paraphernalia that might indicate whether or not Kurt had been in the house recently.

I asked her why she didn't tell me about the "other" note when she found it, or even some time later. After all, she had indicated she wanted me to investigate her husband's death. I couldn't understand why she'd withhold such a vital piece of evidence! Courtney said she didn't think it was necessary.

"I told Sgt. Cameron about it," she told me. "And I told Rosemary about it." Another obvious lie!

If the police knew right away about this "other" note, it would have been listed as evidence and mentioned in the police reports. If Rosemary Carroll would have known about it during the first few months after Cobain's death, she certainly would have told me. She had put her career and relationship with Courtney at risk to provide me with evidence, including Courtney's phone records from the Peninsula Hotel. She was working closely with me to find out what happened. Rosemary was telling me everything else. There's no way she would have kept details of this "second note" from me!

Even more important however, is what the second note says. Courtney admitted to me it wasn't suicidal. She quoted some lines to Rolling Stone, "You know I love you, I love Frances, I'm so sorry. Please don't follow me... I'll be there, I'll protect you. I don't know where I'm going, I just can't be here anymore."

So the reason why Courtney initially kept the second note secret from everyone is obvious: the second note clarifies that the first note (found by police at the scene) was simply Kurt's retirement letter written to his fans. Kurt was quitting the music business, he was leaving Courtney and he was leaving Seattle. That's all he was doing... and Courtney knew it!

There was no actual "suicide" note. In fact, several handwritting experts who have examined the the alleged "suicide" note, have concluded the words at the bottom, "which will be so much happier without me," appear to have been added to the note by another hand.

My own tests with that so-called "suicide" note indicated that when it is enlarged on a copy machine, the inconsitencies become even more clear. The ink printed line of that one critical comment, ("which will be so much happier without me"), are thinner than all of the ink printed lines in the rest of the note. At the very least, this indicates that line was added after the rest of the note was completed. The pressure from the hand using the pen to add that line was not consistent with the pressure from the hand that wrote the body of the note.

What About The Note From The Rome Incident?
During the taped conversation I had with her on January 19, 1995, Courtney told me the Rome note mostly just "trashes" her. But, she claimed, "It says one thing very definitely suicidal." Then Courtney quotes a line from the note written to her by Kurt in Rome.

"Dr. Baker says I would have to choose between life and death. I'm choosing death."

If this statement really is in the Rome note, what does it mean? To think that the doctor was telling Kurt that suicide was some kind of an option is absurd! I've never known a doctor to recommend suicide as a cure for drug addiction. Have you? I think it's obvious to any person with the least bit of common sense, this Doctor was simply telling Kurt that if he doesn't get off drugs, he'd eventually die from using them.

Unfortunately, Kurt was severely addicted to heroin. I believe Kurt's response meant that he was going to do what he wanted, even if he might eventually die from his drug addiction. Heroin withdrawal involves physical pain and torment. This would be a typical response from a severe heroin addict who was afraid or wasn't ready to kick an overwhelming heroin addiction.

A self-destructive comment? Yes. But, suicidal? No. Ask any therapist. There's a huge difference between the two.

A simple statement from Kurt that he would make his own choices in life, even if it meant the use of heroin might eventually kill him, got twisted by Courtney into something she thought she could use to convince everyone, "He wanted to kill himself."

Keep in mind, the incident in Rome was never called a suicide attempt, by anyone, until AFTER Kurt died in Seattle.

The doctor in Rome even said he believed the overdose was an accident. Dr. Galleta says, "The last image I have of him, which in light of the tragedy now seems pathetic, is of a young man playing with the little girl. He did not seem like a young man who wanted to end it all."

In a recently released book "COBAIN" by the editors of Rolling Stone, Neil Strauss writes regarding the Rome event, "Gold Mountain, [Nirvana's management company], still denies that a suicide attempt was made. A note was found, says a company spokesman, but Kurt insisted it wasn't a suicide note. He just took all of his and Courtney's money and was going to run away and disappear."

Was it or wasn't it? Well, Kurt Cobain,the person who wrote the note, insisted it was NOT a suicide note.

What more do we need here?!

Now if Kurt was lying, Courtney could simply release the note from Rome to the public. That would prove she was telling the truth! It would prove Kurt DID try to commit suicide in Rome.

But there's a little problem here. On January 19, 1995, during a tape recorded telephone conversation, Courtney told me that when the police returned the note from Rome to her, Sgt. Cameron said, "This will never do you any good. I'd get rid of this if I were you."

"So," Courtney says. . . "I burned it!"

Frances Bean and Cobain Courtney Love

Jim Morrison Death (1943-1971)

Paris. July 2, 1971, early evening. Jim Morrison and his girlfriend Pamela Courson went to the cinema to see Pursued, a western starring Robert Mitchum. At another theater, Jim Morrison sat alone, watching a documentary called Death Valley. Across town, at the Rock ’n’ Roll Circus nightclub, Jim Morrison scored some heroin and OD’d in the bathroom. At the same time, Jim Morrison walked the streets of Paris and shot up with some junkies on skid row. Meanwhile, at Orly Airport, Jim Morrison boarded a plane for an unknown destination.

No one knows for sure where the 27-year-old Jim was or what he did that evening, but by the next morning, one thing was certain: He was dead.

Morrison was clearly not in a good way when he headed off for Paris during the mixing of the Doors‘ L.A. Woman album. But for a time, those close to him held out hope that he’d be able to sort through his personal issues and find his way back to a state of physical, emotional, and creative well-being. Those hopes were dashed on July 3, 1971, when the singer’s body was discovered by his girlfriend Pamela Courson in the bathtub of the apartment they shared.

Three months earlier, he had fled Hollywood. Bloated, bearded and out of control with his drinking, the once-svelte Lizard King had become a sad parody of his former self. During the difficult recording sessions for the Doors’ final album, L.A. Woman, Morrison would guzzle as many as 36 beers in a single day. His voice was giving out, and he was struggling with his lyric writing.

On March 11, 1971, he went to Paris for a sabbatical. He intended to get clean, lose some weight and reconnect with his muse.

Of the possible scenarios on the night he died, the first has become the most accepted. After the movie, he and Courson returned to their apartment at No. 17 Rue Beautreillis. They watched some Super 8 films of a recent Moroccan vacation before Courson went to bed. Jim stayed up for a while, listening to old Doors albums, trying to suppress a coughing fit that had started earlier in the evening. When he came to bed, he woke Courson, complaining that he felt sick.

He was up an hour later, feeling worse. When he vomited a small quantity of blood, Courson suggested they call a doctor. Jim instead asked her to run a bath for him. While he stretched out in the tub, she went back to bed. The last thing she remembered hearing Jim say was, “Are you there, Pam? Pam, are you there?”

Courson awoke a little after 6 a.m. and realized Jim wasn’t in bed. She called his name. No answer. In the bathroom, she found him submerged in the water. He had a smile on his face. At first she thought he was playing a joke. She shook him. When he didn’t respond, she called the fire department and then the police. They arrived too late.

Jim Morrison’s corpse, wrapped in plastic and packed in dry ice, remained in the apartment while Courson and Alain Ronay, a friend of the couple’s, made funeral arrangements. Three days later, the undertakers finally delivered the coffin that Courson had ordered (the cheapest possible model, the equivalent of $75 USD). Sometime during those 72 hours, a doctor visited the apartment and signed a death certificate. The official cause was listed as heart failure. No autopsy was performed.

By the time Doors manager Bill Siddons arrived from the United States on July 6, he found a sealed coffin and the death certificate. Only Courson and Ronay had seen Jim’s body before it was buried in Pere La Chaise Cemetery on July 7.

Putting aside that notion for a moment, what was it that killed Jim Morrison? There were many theories, from the possible (sexual disease) to the paranoid (he was a victim of a government conspiracy aimed at wiping out counterculture heroes) to the preposterous (a spurned ex-girlfriend killing him with a Wiccan hex).

Morrison’s life had become increasingly clouded by controversy during the years leading up to his move to Paris, and that sadly remained the case even after his passing. Shortly after the news broke, Morrison’s death fell under a persistent shadow of suspicion, with fans and friends calling into question everything from the official cause (a naggingly non-specific “heart failure”) to the events that allegedly transpired during the hours leading to his demise.

Jimi Hendrix Died at 28 (1942-1970)

Jimi Hendrix, whom millions of fans considered the world's finest pop star, died of what police sources said was an apparent overdose of drugs.

The 24-year-old American musician of Cherokee Indian and [African-American] stock was found deeply unconscious at the home of a blonde girl friend in the Notting Hill section. He was pronounced dead after being taken in an ambulance to St. Mary Abbots Hospital.

His body was taken from the hospital to a southwest London morgue for an autopsy.

Hendrix, whose wild performance often ended with his smashing his guitar and amplification equipment, seemed to write his own epitaph when a year ago he told a reporter:

"I tell you when I die I'm going to have a funeral. I'm going to have a jam session. And, knowing me, I'll probably get busted at my own funeral."
Article on Jimi Hendrix's death in the NY Daily News on September 19, 1970.

A year earlier he was arrested in Toronto, Canada, for possession of hashish and heroin, but was acquitted. During the trial he said he used marijuana, hashish, LSD and cocaine but never heroin. His most popular song, Purple Haze, was descriptive of drug culture.

After the trial, he had said: "This I really believe: anybody should be able to think or do what they want as long as it doesn't hurt somebody else."

The tall, rangy Hendrix, one of the highest paid performers in the world, had been a star attraction at big rock festivals from New York's Woodstock to England's Isle of Wight. His records had sold in the millions.

Born James Maurice Hendrix in Seattle, Washington, he was a high school dropout who had served as a paratrooper in United States forces. After his discharge due to a parachute injury, he made his way to New York where he was discovered by Chas Chandler, bass guitarist with Eric Burdon's original Animals.
Jimi Hendrix playing in Copenhagen on September 3, 1970.

Despite his reputation for wildness, Hendrix was an accomplished musician who had taught himself to play guitar, organ piano, drums and bass.

Hendrix last week of his life completed a highly successful tour of Germany, and another tour there had already been arranged.

He had been living at the Cumberland Hotel in the West End with his manager, Gerry Stickells.

Burdon, a close friend of Hendrix, had told that Jimi had spent the night with the girl friend and "she found him in a coma the following morning and had called for an ambulance."

Friend Meic Stevens believes Hendrix possibly choked and lost his life because he didn’t understand how to drink the substance. Speaking openly for the first time since Hendrix’s death, Stevens said the guitar great was blending red wine with lager, and drinking the mixture out of a pint glass.

‘I was with Jimi Hendrix the night he died,” he told the Daily Mail. “He had been drinking red wine with me – even though he had never drunk red wine in his life before.”

The 69-year-old added he and Hendrix were out with Marmalade stars Gary Farr and Jimmy Cregan, plus Eric Clapton, living it up at the Scotch of St James bar in Mayfair.

“[Hendrix] was drinking lager or some kind of beer and he just poured the wine in to the pint glass. I don’t think he had ever drunk red wine before – he didn’t know how to drink it,” Stevens said.

“…He seemed okay. He seemed to be alright. But the next day I woke up late and somebody phoned and said Jimi’s dead. Apparently he choked on his own vomit.”

Hendrix’s U.S. manager recently refuted claims the guitar great was murdered, which makes this red wine story even more possible. We think it still sounds fishy that Hendrix died because he “didn’t know” how to drink wine.

Ill-fated AirAsia QZ8501 Crash : Faulty Component and Improvised Crew Response

Chronic problems with a faulty rudder system and the way pilots tried to respond were major factors in the crash of an Indonesian AirAsia (AIRA.KL) jet last year that killed all 162 people on board, investigators said .

The Airbus (AIR.PA) A320 crashed into the Java Sea on Dec. 28, less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore.

In their first public report, Indonesian investigators did not pinpoint a single underlying reason why flight QZ8501 disappeared from the radar, but set out a sequence spotlighting the faulty component, maintenance lapses and crew actions.The pilots' failure to correctly respond to a recurring rudder problem led to the crash of an AirAsia commercial jet into the Java Sea a year ago.

The co-pilot, Rémi-Emmanuel Plesel, had 2,275 flying hours with AirAsia. Captain Iriyanto had more than 20,000 flying hours.

"There was a chain of events, starting with a broken (part), how it was handled and then after it was handled what the consequences were and how the pilot handled it. It's difficult for me to say what the main cause was," National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) investigator Nurcahyo Utomo said.

The report said the flaw caused an alarm to go off several times during the flight. That led the pilots to attempt to reset the system, prompting a series of events that led to the plane rolling out of control. Miscommunication between the pilot and second-in-command apparently added to problem, the report said.

Bad weather did not play a role.

The crash was part of a string of aviation disasters in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, where rapid growth in air travel has led to overcrowded airports and stirred safety concerns.

The NTSC said a system controlling rudder movement on the plane had cracked soldering that had malfunctioned repeatedly, including four times during the flight and 23 times over the previous year.

Officials told reporters there were indications from the black box data recorder that crew had tried to shut off power to the computer that controls the rudder system by resetting a circuit breaker, something not usually done during flight. Maintenance records indicated the rudder problem's frequency had been increasing, and the malfunction, caused by a cracked joint on a circuit board, occurred nine times in December.

They cautioned there was no proof of this but said they had recommended to Indonesia AirAsia and Airbus that they take steps to prevent pilots from "improvising" when faced with problems.

"The thing we recommend is to please provide some procedure to prevent the pilots from improvising. Today maybe they improvise by pulling the circuit breaker, tomorrow they may do something else," said Utomo.

Investigators confirmed that to reach the circuit breaker, the captain would have had to leave his seat. In February, the NTSC said there was no evidence for a Reuters report that the captain had left his seat or that the power was reset.

The temporary loss of power to the computer would have cancelled the autopilot and removed automated protections against an in-flight upset, handing manual control to the crew.

"Subsequent flight crew action resulted in inability to control the aircraft," the NTSC said in a statement.

Flown by the French co-pilot, the plane reared higher and entered a stall, a state in which the aircraft loses lift.

The captain was heard shouting "Pull Down," a command that investigators called "confusing" as a clearer instruction to point the nose lower and avoid a stall would be "Push Down".

Instructors and automated avoidance systems use "Pull Up" to mean pulling the stick back, which can cause or deepen a stall.

During this time, the rebooted computer was coming back to life and waiting for new instructions.

"The computer was back on but it wasn’t functioning to control (the aircraft). If they’d wanted it to control again there’s a button that must be pushed. If your Blackberry dies, you pull out the battery. When it comes back on you have to enter your PIN,” Utomo said.

The plane reached an altitude of 38,000 feet before falling at a maximum speed of 20,000 feet per minute. There were "about five minutes" from the time it stalled to the moment of impact.

Reuters first reported in January that investigators were examining maintenance records of the flight computer and how the crew responded to any technical fault.

The report is not intended to attribute blame and cannot be used in court but could influence a potential legal battle and sour relations between Airbus and its top Asian customer.

Lawyers for victims' families, airline and manufacturer are likely to debate whether the problem with the rudder system was solely a maintenance issue or whether its design was robust. Some relatives have begun action against the airline and Airbus.

Indonesia AirAsia said it had upgraded pilot training and enhanced safety standards following the crash, adding that the report showed "several factors" cased the crash.

"There is much to be learned here for AirAsia, the manufacturer and the aviation industry," AirAsia founder Tony Fernandez tweeted.

In Europe, Airbus (AIR.PA) declined immediate comment.

"Airbus has just received the final accident report. We are now carefully studying its content," a spokesman said by email.

Adel Termos: Who gave his life to save others!!

A marketplace erupted in Beirut as two suicide bombers tried to enter there. 43 lives were lost, and 239 were wounded due to the blasts. These figures might have been higher if a brave man weren’t there.

Adel Termos was with his daughter at the marketplace where he saw the first bomb go off.

Soon after it chaos and debris flew everywhere since people panicked to find shelter. There Termos noticed a second terrorist cum bomber preparing to attack.

Termos went straight to the man instead of running in the other direction, and got successful to tackle him. The bomb went off, killing both men. But with his brave act, Termos managed to save many lives.

She is his daughter, standing at her dad’s funeral, she was one of the lucky people who was saved by his dad’s heroic actions.

Aylan Kurdi

Aryan Kurdi

Little Aylan Kurdi, three, and Galip Kurdi, five, were on an overcrowded boat filled with refugees fleeing the war in Syria when it capsized shortly into the crossing to the Greek island of Kos. Both boys died in the sea alongside their mother, Rehan, while their father Abdullah survived. Today the shattered father watched as the coffins of the family he couldn't save left the morgue. Earlier he had described the horrific moment that his family slipped through his fingers as he screamed for help.

He told reporters: 'My kids were the most beautiful children in the world, wonderful. Now all I want to do is sit next to the grave of my wife and children.'

Aylan and Galip, who were not wearing life jackets, did not stand a chance when the boat overturned in the dead of night, some 30 minutes after it set off from the holiday resort of Bodrum in Turkey.  All 17 passengers were flung into the Mediterranean, and despite the calm water, Galip and Aylan drowned.

Aylan Kurdi found on Turkey Beach 

Their lifeless bodies, still clad in tiny T-shirts and shorts, washed up on Ali Hoca Point Beach in Bodrum yesterday.

Mr Kurdi has confirmed to reporters that he was on board the ship with his family but was unable to save them. He said the boat's captain panicked due to the high waves and jumped into the sea and fled, leaving him in control of the small craft.

'I took over and started steering,' he said. 'The waves were so high and the boat flipped.'
He told Turkey's Dogan News Agency: 'I was holding my wife's hand, but my children slipped through my hands. We tried to cling to the boat, but it was deflating.
'It was dark and everyone was screaming.' 
Mr Kurdi said his family were trying to get to Canada from Kobane after fleeing to Turkey last year to escape Islamic State extremists. According to Mr Kurdi's Facebook page, he was originally from Damascus in Syria. He told Dogan News Agency he had paid human traffickers to take his family to Kos twice before, but both attempts failed.

'In our first attempt, coastguards captured us in the sea and then they released us. In our second attempt, the organisers did not keep their word and did not bring the boat,' he said.
It is believed a smuggler told the journey would only take 10 minutes. Yesterday he identified the bodies of his wife and two sons and waited for their release from the morgue in Mugla, Turkey. Now he wants to return to Kobane now to bury his family. A hospital official in Bodrum said the bodies would be flown to Istanbul later today and taken to the Turkish border town of Suruc before reaching their final destination Kobane.

The boys' aunt has spoken of the moment Mr Kurdi called relatives after the tragedy. She revealed the family had been refused visas in June to join her in Canada, so instead had taken the fateful decision to risk their lives by paying smugglers to take them to Europe. 

'I heard the news at five o'clock in this morning,' Vancouver-based Teema Kurdi told. She said she learned of the tragedy through a telephone call from Ghuson Kurdi, the wife of another brother, Mohammad, who had spoken with the bereaved father.

'She had got a call from Abdullah, and all he said was, 'my wife and two boys are dead',' she explained. 
 

Aylan Kurdi

The aunt said an application to sponsor the family to go to Canada was rejected in June.

'I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbours who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn't get them out, and that is why they went in the boat,' she added. 

Canadian legislator Fin Donnelly told The Canadian Press he had submitted a request on behalf on the boys' aunt. Canadian immigration authorities rejected the application, in part because the family did not have exit visas to ease their passage out of Turkey and because of their lack of internationally recognised refugee status, the aunt told the Ottawa Citizen. 

Textile worker Ferhat Alhan hired Mr Kundi three years ago after he first came to Turkey alone. He told how his friend decided to bring his family over after returning to Syria following the birth of Aylan and asked for help in finding a house.

'He had a very hard life and I helped in any way I could - Aylan slept in my kid's cradle for three to four months.

'Abdullah was the only one working and getting by was difficult and he couldn't stand Istanbul anymore and he sent his family back to Kobane.

'When ISIS attacked Kobane, one shell fell on their house causing the house to be totally destroyed. 'He had to bring the family back to Istanbul. One week they slept at my place, another week at other places, they even slept at the workplace because there was no rental house.  'In the end, they had no choice but to go to the [refugee] camp in Antep [newer name is Gaziantep] and you now the rest.'