(4) Anything Goes: Courtney Love Hires Private Investigator

The following words are from the Kurt Cobain Manual, written by Tom Grant.

My name is Tom Grant. I'm a California state licensed private investigator and former detective with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. On April 3, 1994, I was hired by Courtney Love, (who was in Los Angeles at the time) to locate her husband after he left a drug rehab center in Marina Del Rey, California. Ms. Love stayed in Los Angeles while I flew to Seattle, Washington to search for Cobain with his best friend, Dylan Carlson.

Courtney and Kurt 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 Lollapalooza.

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 people Kurt and Courtney did drugs with. Courtney claimed she told Kurt, “This has got to end.

You have to be a good daddy!”

PRIOR TO MY INVOLVEMENT

Kurt and Courtney had not been getting along. They'd been talking about divorce. In the weeks before Kurt died, Courtney called one of their attorneys, Rosemary Carroll and told Rosemary to get the meanest, most vicious divorce lawyer she could find. Courtney also asked Rosemary if the prenuptial agreement could be voided. Kurt called Rosemary too. He hadn't completed his will. He told Rosemary he wanted Courtney taken out of it. 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 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 friends Kurt used to do drugs with.

Courtney claims she told Kurt, "This has got to end. You have to be a good daddy!"

This statement is a somewhat pretentious one, since it came from a woman who was doing drugs when we were first hired and continued her drug use during the next eight months.

Saturday, March 26, 1994

Courtney left Seattle for the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Wednesday, March 30

Kurt and his best friend Dylan Carlson purchased a shotgun. Kurt told Dylan he was afraid of

intruders at the house. 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 was going to enter a rehab program in Marina Del Rey, California (near Los Angeles). He took the shotgun to his house and stashed it in a hidden storage compartment inside his bedroom closet. He then left for the airport and flew to L.A.

Friday, April 1st

Thirteen phone calls were made to Kurt’s rehab center from Courtney’s hotel room at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. 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 center. Later, at 8:47 PM, he called the Peninsula Hotel and left a message for Courtney to call him back.

A page from Love & Death, The Murder of Kurt Cobain

Timeline + copy of the message that Kurt left for Courtney when she was at the Peninsula Hotel In Beverly Hills, 1994.

Kurt Cobain "Love & Death" Press Conference, April 2004 Ian Halperin, Max Wallace & Tom Grant

Saturday, April 2

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

Courtney had a friend plant a phony story with the Associated Press that she had overdosed on drugs and was in the hospital. Police arrived at her hotelroom and wrote down her statement and what they had found. There where some medicine on prescription, but Courtney seemed fine. She only had a allergic reaction, but had not overdosed.

EASTER SUNDAY AT THE PENINSULA HOTEL

Sunday, April 3

Courtney called my office in Beverly Hills. She told me someone was using her husband’s creditcard and she wanted me to try to find out who it was. I took another investigator with me named: Ben Klugman and we met Courtney Love at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills.

“If you leak this to the press, I’ll sue the f*ck 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 who 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*cking 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 Lollapalooza 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. Courtney initially failed to mention 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 entered 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 private investigation firm in Seattle for the surveillance.

A FALSE POLICE REPORT

Monday, April 4

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.

Missing Person's Report filled by Courtney Love.

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 that Kurt only stayed 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 6

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 and told 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 6, 11:30 PM

I picked up Kurt’s best friend, Dylan Carlson, at his apartment. We went to a café 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 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.” So 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. He said he helped Kurt buy a shotgun to have at the house when he returned from rehab. Dylan 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 café, 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, Washington. Dylan replied, “No. Kurt wouldn’t go there. He doesn’t get along with his mom.”

Thursday morning, April 7, 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 a least five minutes saying no one was home.

I wondered what took so long if no one was home. We found a nearby pay phone at a gas station 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 since Dylan hadn’t told me about the room above the garage.

It was dark and raining very hard so I hadn’t noticed it.

Courtney gets arrested

Rosemary Caroll (Kurt and Courtney's entertainment laywer) takes out a sheet of paper. Written in Courtney’s handwriting are two words: “Get Arrested.” “She planned that whole thing,” says Carroll, referring to Courtney’s April 7 arrest.

She refers to what occurred after Courtney’s visit to Carroll’s house two weeks earlier,

on the night of April 6. Hours after Courtney left Carroll’s house to return to her hotel, she was indeed arrested. Responding to a 911 call reporting a “possible overdose victim,” Beverly Hills police, fire department officials and paramedics arrived at Courtney’s Peninsula Hotel suite the morning of April 7 to find Courtney in a state of physical distress. She was taken by ambulance to Century City Hospital, where she told doctors she was merely suffering an allergic reaction to her Xanax medication.

Police files from Courtney's 'overdose' and arrest. Courtney only suffered from an allergic reaction. There where no drug substances found in her system as seen in the test results.

Upon Courtney's discharge from the hospital, she was immediately arrested, brought to Beverly Hills Jail and charged with possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession/receiving stolen property. “When she eventually went to court,” says Grant, “she had a logical explanation for everything police found in her room. It turned out that the white powdery substance they thought was heroin was actually Hindu good-luck ashes; the prescription pad they thought was stolen she said had actually been mistakenly left behind by her doctor.

I dropped Dylan off at his apartment and went to my hotel for a few hours of 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.

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.

Based on conversations I had with Courtney Love and Dylan Carlson, as well as the events that led us back to the house, this note made little sense. In fact, when added to the information we later gathered, the note made no sense at all!

I had a feeling the note was actually just put there for me to find.

CALI’S NOTE

“Kurt-

I can’t believe you managed to be in this house without me noticing. You’re a fuckin' asshole for not calling Courtney & at least letting her know your ok. She’s in a lot of pain Kurt, and this morning she had another “accident” and now she’s in the hospital again. She’s your wife & she loves you & you have a child together. Get it together to at least tell her your o.k. or she’s going to die. It’s not fair man. DO SOMETHING NOW.”

Cali dewitt's note.

Cali told us that Kurt had come to the house early Saturday morning, April 2nd, after he left the rehab in Los Angeles. He claims he talked to Courtney on the phone and told her about Kurt’s arrival at the house later that same day. Cali also told us later that he didn’t see Kurt after he left the house that previous Saturday morning.

When I was in Seattle on Thursday, April 7th, Cali told friends he was leaving for Los Angeles. I never got to see or talk to him while I was in Seattle. But we know Courtney called Cali to let him know I was coming to Seattle to search for Kurt. If he really wanted to help Courtney find Kurt, why didn’t he make himself available to me while I was there? Why didn’t he stay in Seattle to help with the search?

Cali dewitt's handwriting sample

According to Cali’s note, he believed Kurt had come back to the house. How did he know? And if he did know Kurt had been in the house since Saturday why didn’t he stay around to tell me about it? Cali later claimed he stopped staying at the house because Courtney kept calling to say she knew Kurt was still there. Once again, if Courtney thought Kurt was there, why didn’t she want us to watch the house during our surveillance on other locations in Seattle? If Cali thought “suicidal Kurt” might come back to the house, why wouldn’t he want to stay there to help him?

Notes from the Seattle Police Department. They knew about the note that was found on

the stairway by Cali Dewitt (Frances Cobain's nanny)

Thursday afternoon, April 7

We found Kurt’s car parked in front of a friend’s house. There was a “For Sale” sign on the car. Although we know who drove the car to this location, I’m not going to discuss those details until the case is reopened. Here, Dylan Carlson checks to see if there’s anything in the car that might lead us to Kurt’s whereabouts.

KURT IS FOUND ON FRIDAY MORNING, APRIL 8, 1994

Kurt is found in the greenhouse by an electrician in the morning.

Kurt is holding a gun, there is a little blood at his left ear, there is a note nearby,

his belongings lay next and around him. There is a cigar box with drug paraphernalia.

Every detail about the Cobain case and the evidence that was found is being discussed in our next posts:

The Seattle Crime Scene and the Evidence part 1, 2, 3