01x05 - Chris Cornell

[bunniefuu]

-Ah, Chris Cornell
-He was a literal rock star.

He performed like a rock star.

He was a really electric
performer.

I mean, I can't think of any
other voice that's similar.

Obviously, very, very good
looking, kind of a Jesus

walking on earth situation
there.

One of the greatest singers
of all time.

And on top of that,

an incredible artist
and a humanitarian.

Was it clear that he'd
struggled with depression

and emotional darkness?
Absolutely.

Singer Chris Cornell has died
at the age of 52.

A statement from his
representative said

Cornell died in Detroit
on Wednesday night.

I was like, "Oh, my God,
I can't believe

Chris Cornell k*lled himself."

Cornell was in Detroit on tour

and the statement calls
his death sudden and unexpected.

The final autopsy report

indicated that he did die
from suicide by hanging.

However, there are still
several questions

in this case
that we have not answered.

It was very shocking
to think that, you know,

someone who definitely seemed
to be on a better uptick

with regards to his life
would commit such an act.

My first instinct was,
you know, disbelief.

I think when it comes
to any rock star

who dies suddenly, there's
this baked in unwillingness

to accept the official story.

There must be something
at work here.

911 Emergency.

The official narrative
doesn't tell the whole story.

But you really have to look
at everything.

You still have to go down
that rabbit hole.

You still have to go down
that path.

When a celebrity dies, the
search for answers moves online

and the truth
may be one click away.

May 2017, Chris Cornell
and Soundgarden

played to a packed house at
Detroit's historic Fox Theatre.

It's great to be back here.

I love you guys up there
on the top shelf,

but you got to stand up
and show me something.

I have bragged about
Detroit crowds for 30 years,

so stand up and make some noise.

2 hours later...

Detroit 911.

What is the address
of the emergency?

1777 Third Street,
the MGM Casino.

...Cornell is found hanging
from the bathroom door

of his hotel room.

I have a non-responsive guest
in a hotel.

It's gonna be a 50 year old male
inside of Room 1136.

He's not breathing?

No.

Thank you very much, you guys.

Thank you.

In the mid-1980s,
a new music genre emerges

from America's Pacific
Northwest.

How ya doing, bro?

Fusing punk rock
and heavy metal.

It is labeled grunge.

Early stars of the dark,
nihilistic genre include

Alice in Chains,
Nirvana, and Pearl Jam.

And in 1991, Chris Cornell
and his band Soundgarden

released the double
platinum album

"Bad Motor Finger"

and joins them
as stars of radio and MTV.

He is arguably one
of the most talented

rock and roll singers
of our time.

In 1997, at the height
of their success,

Soundgarden calls it quits.

It's the end of the band,

but for Cornell,
it's a new beginning.

Unlike a bunch
of other grunge acts,

Chris Cornell keeps his career

going through the '90s
into the 2000s.

After Soundgarden breaks up,
he forms Audioslave.

Has a bunch of huge hits
with them

and sort of caps
it all off in 2006,

when he recorded the theme song
for the massively successful

James Bond film "Casino Royale".

By 2017, Cornell has reunited
with his Soundgarden bandmates,

and they hit the road
for an extensive US tour.

There's something really great
about the... that first,

it's either half a song
to, like, the first two songs,

however long it takes
to kind of settle in.

That's, like, the biggest rush.

The news of Cornell's
passing shocks

his fans, who are left
trying to figure out

what could have led to
the successful singer's death.

I was just like,
"How could this be?"

He just did it all,

and so I think all of us
were heartbroken.

And, you know, I think the world
is feeling it right now,

and so...

Investigators immediately ruled
Cornell's death a suicide.

And within 24 hours,
the case is closed.

But family and friends
aren't buying it.

And while the police
are no longer

investigating
the cause of death,

there are thousands
of amateur sleuths

and armchair detectives online
who never stopped.

I was heartbroken.

I really didn't like
what was being reported.

I was mad.

It made me want to try to get
to the bottom of it.

To date, there are thousands
of posts picking apart

Chris Cornell's death,

and the belief that Cornell
did not commit suicide

has taken hold across
all pop culture.

Amateur investigators hit
the metaverse

looking for answers.

I remember Chris Cornell's death

almost like it was yesterday.

He's in the background of every
single happy memory of my youth.

I'm Deanna Thompson,

and I have been in information
technology for over 20 years.

I have my Bachelor of Science
degree

in information technology,
and I'm also an Internet sleuth.

I spend time online trying
to get

some sort of evidence
and information about crimes

that have been committed
on the Internet.

And usually, these are
for people or animals

that normally would not
be getting attention.

I have, like, this super
hyper fixation on injustice.

I don't like when people
get away with things.

The chatter online is that
Chris didn't k*ll himself.

It made me want to try to get
to the bottom of it.

Set the record straight.

Jennifer Bucholtz is an author
and criminal investigator

living in Colorado.

My background is in Army
counterintelligence.

I also have experience and
training in forensic science

and criminal justice.

I teach courses in both of those
at the university level.

I'm a true crime author and I
am a criminal investigator

for my local sheriff's
department.

As an investigator who has
worked on many

different types of death cases,

this case really caught my eye

because it's not
your typical suicide.

What happened in those minutes
that made him flip the switch

and decide to hang himself?

I haven't been this pissed off
about a fake suicide cover up

since... Kurt Cobain.

For more than ten years,
investigative journalist

Justin Ling has been analyzing
and debunking outlandish

conspiracy theories online.

He has made it his mission
to separate fact from fiction

and find the truth.

One thing I think every good
investigative journalist

wants to do is to dig
into how systems can exploit

and even destroy people.

I love you guys up there
on the top shelf,

but you got to stand up
and show me something.

Cornell and Soundgarden played
to 5,000 fans in Detroit.

They were performing
at the Fox Theater.

The Fox Theater's like
a really famous theater.

Got a lot of history
with Motown.

It's really an iconic landmark
in Detroit.

According to band insiders,

the night started
like any other,

and that Chris was his normal,
affable self before the show.

But when they hit the stage
at 9:15 PM...

- Thank you.
- ...something seems different.

That's the spirit.

Some fans who had seen him play
repeatedly said it seemed

like he wasn't totally there.

He is not singing correctly.

He is missing key moments
of songs.

- He's forgetting words.
- The band had to cover up

when he just stopped singing.

The singer's erratic behavior
doesn't go unnoticed on stage.

The band mates even kind of,
like,

were looking at each other,
like, "Should we stop?"

The band manages to finish
the show,

and at 11:30,
Cornell heads back to the hotel.

And not long after he gets on
the phone with Vicki, his wife.

According to a later interview
with her,

it is immediately apparent
to Vicki

that something is not right
with her husband.

He's groggy,
he's slurring his words,

he's confused,
and it sets off alarm bells.

And she says, "Chris,
what's going on?

I'll fly out there.

I'll be there
as soon as possible.

What's going on?
Is everything okay?"

And he says, "I'm just tired.

I might have taken an extra
Ativan or two."

There must have been something
that Vicki knew

about Chris' history
that did raise alarms with her

when she spoke
with him that night.

After they hang up,

Vicki is unable to shake
the feeling

that something is seriously
wrong with Chris.

So she calls back at 12:15,
but Chris doesn't answer.

So she calls Martin,
his bodyguard, and says,

"You know, I'm
a little worried about Chris.

Could you please
go check on him?"

The door is locked and latched,
meaning the key won't work.

And security is like,
"Well, you know,

you're not on the room.

You're not...
We can't let you in."

Martin relayed this information
to Vicki,

and she asked him
to just kick in the door.

He kicks down the door,

walks in to find
the bathroom door closed.

He sees the door to the
bathroom and the light's on.

He said he could see
Chris' feet on the floor.

Cornell's sitting on the floor.

There's blood coming
from Cornell's mouth

There's about
a 12-by-three-inch,

like, strip of blood,

and then up the bathroom tub,

the bath,
there's, like, spray of blood.

But perhaps most importantly,
there is also

what seems to be a red band
wrapped around Cornell's throat.

Is anyone doing CPR?

Okay, so they found out
that the guest

was attempting to hang himself.

So they're trying
to get him down

so they can assist with CPR.

At 12:56 in the morning,
Dawn Jones,

a medic for the MGM Hotel,
arrived to Chris' room.

Dawn and Martin both attempted

to remove the stretchy red band
from Chris' neck,

and Dawn took over CPR
from Martin.

But it's pretty clear
he's long gone.

Paramedics arrived a little
after 1:00 AM.

He's brought to hospital,
but pronounced dead by 1:30.

Martin had actually told
Vicki the paramedics

had declared
her husband Chris dead.

Cornell's body is transferred

to the Wayne County
medical examiner.

And as people's fascination
with celebrities go,

news of the tragedy
begins to leak online.

But it is what happens
next that proves controversial

to many observers.

Less than 24 hours after
Cornell is pronounced dead,

a preliminary autopsy
is released.

The preliminary autopsy reports
list the cause of death

as suicide by hanging.

The report quickly hits
the Internet.

And for those still
digesting the news,

the speed of the announcement
is surprising.

For the medical examiner
to come out

and make a public statement
on the manner of death

less than 24 hours
after somebody had passed away

is a little out of the ordinary.

There's no way that the police
had completed

their full investigation
into Chris' death.

Unhappy with the preliminary
autopsy results,

Vicki Cornell disputes
the finding through a statement

by her lawyer.

She has said, "While the coroner

does say this was a suicide,
we disagree.

We think it's too soon
to call this a suicide."

They were like, "Nothing's
even been investigated yet.

What do you mean,
it was a suicide?"

Like, that doesn't make sense.

You have to like...
What was in his system?

What happened?

Vicki Cornell was especially
disturbed by the inference

that Chris had knowingly

and intentionally
taken his own life.

It just seemed such an odd time
for him to go.

"Yeah, okay.
I'm 52.

I've lived this long.
I'm going to end it now."

We need to look deeper
into those clues.

Just didn't make any sense.

There's blood at the scene,
his shirt is ripped.

I want to get to the bottom
of it

and I want to find out
what really happened.

We have a rock star
who's at the top of his game.

People like that don't
just die unexpectedly.

Looking at the photos
of the hotel room,

some people say the evidence
is not consistent

with suicide by hanging.

They really believe
that this was m*rder.

I have a non-responsive guest
in the hotel.

It's going to be a 50 year
old male inside of Room 1136.

He's not breathing?

Early morning, May 18th, 2017.

Just a couple of hours
after performing a show

in Detroit with his band
Soundgarden, rock star

Chris Cornell
is found unresponsive

on the bathroom floor
of his hotel room.

His death is ruled a suicide
by hanging.

When Chris Cornell died,
the death was suspicious

because that
wasn't supposed to happen.

My name is Mike Rothschild.

I am a journalist and author
who studies conspiracy theories,

hoaxes, and fringe beliefs.

We have a rock star
who's at the top of his game.

People like that don't
just die unexpectedly.

2 hours before he
is pronounced dead,

Chris has a phone conversation
with his wife, Vicki.

She reports that he was
completely incoherent.

Vicki stated Chris was slurring
his words

in their last phone call,

and then he sounded
incredibly sleepy.

Her account and the actions

he had to go through to
commit suicide don't match up.

Something here is off.

His name was popping up
everywhere

on a whole bunch
of conspiracy message boards

and social media pages
and chat rooms.

QAnon had become absolutely
fixated on Chris Cornell's death

and are convinced that it's
evidence of some deeper plot.

They really believe
that this was m*rder.

Looking at the photos
of the hotel room,

some people say the evidence
is not consistent

with suicide by hanging.

While you're sleuthing
and you're watching videos

and you're watching
conversations happen,

there's other sleuths out there
who are looking at these photos

and looking for
the same thing I am.

They're looking for
inconsistencies in the room.

Was there a struggle?

On YouTube and TikTok,

the blood spatter that's going
up the tub caused a huge ruckus.

The bathroom floor, the blood
splatter from your head

is, like, not on the right spot
of the floor where it should be.

They also point to autopsy
evidence of what they believe

to be excessive injury
to Chris' body.

In Cornell's autopsy, reveals
that he has nine fractured ribs

and Cornell's shirt was ripped
when he was found

They're posing the question of
why would

someone have a ripped shirt

if they hanged themselves?

Which again, adds credence
to this idea

that there was a fight or
struggle just before his death.

If he's in a physical
altercation with somebody

and the other person
has some sort of weapon

and Chris took a blow
to his chest,

that could very well
have fractured some of his ribs.

Fans all over the world begin
investigating the possibilities.

When it comes to
any celebrity death,

there's always a fan base
that sort of deputize themselves

to dig into the death and see
if there's other things at play.

What's really interesting
about Chris Cornell's death

is that it's not his fans,
for the most part,

who have been
trying to uncover these secrets.

It's been this broader
conspiracy movement

that's latched onto his death to
help propel their own theories.

In this case, it's a movement
called QAnon,

an online conspiracy group

that peddles many
outrageous theories,

like there's an elite ring
of celebrities and politicians

who are trafficking children.

This movement is rooted
in a 2016 thread

on 4Chan dubbed Pizzagate.

Pizzagate is a conspiracy
theory that arose right before

the 2016 election,

that Clinton campaign chair
John Podesta,

Hillary Clinton,
and other DC elites

were using
Comet Ping Pong Pizza,

a real pizza place in DC,

as their hub of
child trafficking.

This idea absolutely takes
hold of a bunch of people

who become absolutely convinced

that there are two camps
of people...

The evil child sex
trafficking Satanists

and those who are trying
to stop them.

On the good side is Donald Trump
and people around him.

On the bad side
is Hillary Clinton

and a whole raft of celebrities,
from Tom Hanks

to Jeffrey Epstein.

And with Chris Cornell's
situation,

members of the conspiracy
theory movement

are proposing one
particularly dark idea

that begins to spread
online in Reddit forums.

This theory goes that Cornell
was m*rder*d

because he was on the verge
of exposing

a massive child sex
trafficking ring.

And Cornell's death also
ignites a whole new conspiracy

within the group's
faithful followers.

While they're pretty sure
most celebrities

are part of the conspiracy,
something really interesting

happens after
Chris Cornell's death.

They become absolutely fixated
on the idea

that Cornell
was part of a project

to expose this child sex
trafficking ring

and bring all these Satanists
to justice.

In the darker corners
of the Web,

Chris Cornell's death was not
a suicide, but a m*rder.

He was suicided.

He was taken out and made
it look like a suicide.

QAnon believers and other
conspiracy believers

think that Chris Cornell
was taken out

because of his funding
or his involvement

with a documentary
on human trafficking called

"The Silent Children".

This theory also links
Cornell's death

to that of other celebrities.

This one blog is probably
the most popular QAnon blog

out there that has dubbed
the whole thing Suicide Weekend.

So apparently, because the
deaths of Anthony Bourdain,

Kate Spade, Chris Cornell,

Chester Bennington all kind
of happened in the same time,

usually around weekends,

they've decided it's impossible
that it's a coincidence.

People start looking
for a pattern.

They start to look for culprits

who are taking out
multiple people,

than multiple people
taking their own lives

who really don't have
anything to do with each other

other than
their manner of death.

Must be part of this evil plot
from the Illuminati Deep State.

They even have a clock here

that's like a calendar
of all these dates.

Apparently proves that this
is just an effort

to take out their critics.

This idea that both Chester
Bennington and Chris Cornell

were k*lled
by the Deep State elites

becomes incredibly popular
in some of these circles.

We're talking about posts that
are regularly racking up tens,

hundreds of thousands of views,
maybe into the millions.

Every QAnon adjacent sect
believes this to be true.

Chris Cornell was an extremely
well-known figure.

He was a famous musician.

He was a literal rock star,
very well-known person,

very well known music,

and so the feeling
among conspiracy believers

is if he's involved in something
and they k*ll him off,

this is going to scare
other people away.

This is a message from the from
the deep state, from the Cabal.

"Don't be involved in this.

If we could get a rock star,
we can get you, too."

Two years later, a high profile
arrest reconnects Cornell

to this supposed cabal
of Deep State pedophiles.

When Epstein was arrested,

the volume of theories about him

and about what he had done
became deafening.

And there were people
who thought that he was

implicated himself
in these crimes.

There were people who thought
he was there

and gave the orders or
directly k*lled Chris Cornell.

Jeffrey Epstein's infamy
as a sexual deviant,

as a powerful individual
with lots

and lots of powerful friends,

has played into this narrative
really well

because it's as though
if you're looking for a villain,

you couldn't create a better
one than Jeffrey Epstein.

While proponents of this
farfetched theory

maintain that Chris Cornell
had enemies who wanted him dead,

there seems to be
no physical proof.

Another possible explanation
for his sudden death emerges,

and the clues can be found
in Cornell's

own bizarre behavior
the night of May 17th, 2017.

There are photos and videos
of him

performing on stage that night,

and some of those show
the back of his head,

where there appears
to be an anomaly.

I did read some information
that Chris Cornell

had hit his head
at the Fox Theater.

I don't know why this supposed
head injury

was not mentioned
in the autopsy report.

Hi, sweetheart.

I bore her with this at home.

In my experience
as an investigator,

photos are always
incredibly valuable to me.

And the photos of Chris'
hotel room

were of great interest.

There were a couple of photos
from the bathroom

where Chris' body was found.

Laying on the floor with some
kind of stretchy red band

around his neck,
which helped me understand

how much blood Chris
actually lost.

To many online, the volume of
blood found in the bathroom

appears inconsistent
with hanging.

Another theory begins
circulating on the Internet.

Cornell may have suffered
head trauma earlier in the day.

This theory takes hold
amongst many online detectives,

and it revolves around
his reportedly bizarre behavior

earlier that evening.

Behavior that seemed
to change suddenly,

just before he hit
the stage at 9:15.

Several of the stagehands,
and not just one,

talked about it.

That he was not doing well
at that show.

During sound check, he was fine.

So something happened
from soundcheck

to when the show
started that things changed.

So what changed?

Well, some think that the answer

lies in footage of Cornell's
performance earlier that night.

There are photos and videos
of him

performing on stage
that night with his band,

and some of those show
the back of his head

where there appears
to be an anomaly.

This video sends
Internet sleuths

and armchair detectives online

to begin
trying to piece together

what exactly could have happened
the night Chris Cornell died.

And one thing in particular
stands out.

I found a topic that a lot
of people

have been talking about online,

and that's the theory,
that he may have suffered

a head injury
the night of his death.

But the fact that none of this
was noted or documented

must provoke us to question.

I did read some information
that Chris Cornell

had hit his head
at the Fox Theater.

But it's something much more
definitive than an unclear video

recording that points
to head trauma

as a possible factor
in the singer's death.

I found a report from one
of the paramedics

that responded to his hotel room

saying they called it
in over the radio,

that he had a head injury.

P order, EMS's are roughly...
Possible head injury.

- Trauma to the back of the head.
- You guys hear it.

This was mentioned to the EMT

that there was trauma
to the back of the head.

Yet on the autopsy report,

none of this was reported
in the initial findings.

Chris' wife, Vicki,
added some fuel to this theory

because she actually said
she felt it was very clear

that there was a sizable gash
on the back of his head.

Despite appearing
in the paramedics report,

there is no mention of head
trauma in the official autopsy.

I don't know why this supposed
head injury

was not mentioned
in the autopsy report.

And the room where Chris' body
was later found

also supports the possibility
of head trauma.

We know it's a fact
that some blood

was found on the bathroom floor
of Chris' bathroom

where he was found hanging.

This does lend to the theory
of a head injury.

One theory holds that Cornell
could have fallen

sometime prior to the concert
and suffered a concussion.

That sort of injury
might explain

his widely reported strange
behavior on stage that night

and possibly what happens
after the show.

And then because his brain
was not functioning correctly

and he had suffered a concussion

and basically
a traumatic brain injury,

did that somehow lead him
to commit suicide?

In fact,
according to researchers,

the risk of suicidal thoughts

tripled after sustaining
a traumatic brain injury.

The only way to know for sure if
a head injury did in fact exist

would be to exhume the body,

an idea rejected
by the Cornell family.

Still, the debate over
the Soundgarden singer's death

continues to rage,
and some sleuths believe

they may finally have
enough information

to answer some of
the most burning questions.

My goal in this was trying
to figure out

did Ativan contribute
to Chris Cornell's death?

And I took it really personally
because I'm an Ativan user.

Vicki said he was overusing
the drug.

She said he was taking upwards
of 20 pills

over the course
of about a week and a half.

Vicki stated that
he had changed.

He started forgetting things.

He was a different person,

and that was the year
before he died.

When somebody has a substance
use disorder

and they are misusing
substances,

that places them at higher risk

for having suicidal behavior.

In 2017, rock icon Chris Cornell

is found dead and bloodied

in his Detroit hotel room
after a sold out concert.

Within 24 hours,

the local coroner
declares his death a suicide.

But his family, friends,
and diehard fans don't buy it.

In fact, they are 100% certain

that Cornell would never
have committed suicide.

Whenever there's a suicide,
we're left with wondering

whether there was
any foul play involved.

As rumors swirl and theories
begin to formulate,

there is
one possible explanation

that seems to gain steam online
and in the tabloids.

It's being driven by Chris'
struggles

with addiction and depression.

Struggles that had plagued him

for the better part
of three decades

and began before
he was ever in a band.

I was having a pretty hard time
struggling with substance abuse

and an addiction that I didn't
think was ever going

to really affect me.

I didn't think I would ever be
someone that had that problem,

and then I did.

Chris Cornell admitted to using
some pretty heavy duty drugs.

He said he was using PCP
as young as 13 or 14.

As a result of his drug use,
Chris spirals into depression.

He drops out of school and
almost never leaves his house.

Chris talked about
his depression often.

It was such a part
of who he was.

He basically stayed in his
bedroom for almost two years.

So from 14 to 16 at a really,
really important age

for young men,
he was agoraphobic,

and I think that
that really shaped his mind.

Cornell turns to music
to help him fit in.

Music was always something

that was really
important to him.

It seemed to be what brought him
together with other people.

The results are astounding.

And in 1984,

Cornell becomes the frontman
of the band Soundgarden.

Dubbed by one music journalist
as music's most lethal genre,

the grunge music scene
is a dangerous place

for anyone with a history
of depression or addiction,

and has lost many
iconic stars to drugs,

including Alice in Chains'
Layne Staley

and Stone Temple Pilots
frontman Scott Weiland.

And in 1990, Chris is personally
touched by the dangers of heroin

when he loses his roommate
and close friend,

grunge pioneer Andrew Wood,
to an overdose.

If he had survived,
he would have been

probably the biggest rock star
on this planet.

His band, Mother Love Bone,

was actually the precursor
to Pearl Jam.

Chris was devastated.

12 years after his
friend's death,

Chris' own struggle
with addiction

is reaching a breaking point.

And in 2002, his bandmates
in the newly formed group

Audioslave become so concerned
for Chris' well-being

that they convince him
to finally enter rehab.

After successfully
completing his rehab,

Cornell remained sober
for 14 years.

So now I get to be that person
that someone else can look at

as an example and go,
"Oh, yeah, wow.

Well, if he did it
and made it happen,

then I guess I can."

By the mid 2000s, Chris Cornell

had basically
kicked drugs and alcohol.

He even stopped smoking
and was living a sober lifestyle

and said he was
really happy with it.

Speculation spreads online
that Cornell had a relapse,

and the same ill*gal drugs
he spent the last 14 years

trying to avoid
seeped back into his life

and may have ended it.

According to the initial report,

there were no ill*gal drugs
found in Cornell's system,

a fact that causes many
to exhale.

I was expecting to read
the articles

and see, you know,
drug paraphernalia were found,

was found in the room,
and, you know, there...

It was probably
an accidental overdose.

There was nothing like that.

But the report did find evidence

of other drugs in his system,

legal ones,
including barbiturates,

caffeine, and Lorazepam,

also known as Ativan,
a common anti-anxiety drug.

Indeed, on the night he dies,

Cornell tells his wife
that he has taken extra Ativan.

Lorazepam
is a type of medication

in the benzodiazepine family.

This family is a family
of medications

that were known as sedative,
hypnotic medications.

They are used to help people
sleep or treat their anxiety.

Used properly, Ativan is not
considered to be dangerous.

But according to his own wife,

Cornell's usage went well
beyond doctor's orders.

Vicki said he was
overusing the drug.

She said he was taking
upwards of 20 pills

over the course of
about a week and a half.

Vicki stated that
he had changed.

He started forgetting things.

He was a different person.

And that was the year
before he died.

Shortly after his death,
Cornell's wife,

Vicki, issues a statement,

insisting that Chris could not
have been in his right mind

and suggests that it was Ativan

that led the singer
to hang himself.

My goal in this
was trying to figure out,

did Ativan contribute
to Chris Cornell's death?

And I took it really personally
because I'm an Ativan user.

So I simply searched for
benzodiazepine,

suicidal thoughts Reddit

because Reddit will have
a lot of personal stories,

and I found
a thread immediately.

It talks about people
experiencing suicidal thoughts

while they have been on benzos.

Is it possible the extra Ativan
pushed him over the edge?

I think that Ativan might
have triggered

some addict's chemical
in his brain.

Chris Cornell's wife reported
that he was slurring his speech.

In general, that can be a side
effect of taking too much Ativan

and taking too much of them
can have side effects.

These side effects can include
being disinhibited,

losing kind of the executive
function of your brain,

maybe causing you
to make decisions

that are not well thought out.

Martin clearly stated
that he gave Chris

the two nightly Ativan pills,
but we don't know

where the additional
Ativan pills were kept.

Often when individuals
are struggling

with suicidal thoughts,
when they become disinhibited,

when they have substances
in their system,

they may be grappling

and fighting between themselves
of doing it and not doing it.

This may increase the likelihood
that they actually carry it out

or take actions
and make an attempt.

But as people begin to dig
into Ativan,

they find many people
are struggling

with the prescription drug
in the same way

Cornell may have.

I found story after story
after story of people

that are asking questions like,
"I want to get off my Ativan

and I'm struggling
with suicidal thoughts."

Vicki Cornell and her family

also began researching
the prescription drug.

They found when you either
overdose Ativan

or when you withdrawal from it,
it can cause suicidal thoughts.

After learning more about
the drug's possible connection

to suicide,

Vicki Cornell hires
a medical expert

to see if she can prove

that drugs did indeed play
a part in her husband's death.

She alleges that Ativan
had something to do

with the state of mind,
to put him in the frame of mind

that he would want
to commit suicide.

Over time, individuals
can develop tolerance,

meaning that they have to take
greater quantities

of the medication
to get the effect.

And when they stop
the medication,

they can actually feel
withdrawal symptoms.

That can be life threatening.

After doing his
own investigation,

Dr. Richard Cote
of the Department of Pathology

at the University of Miami

comes to a very
different conclusion

than the Wayne County coroner.

He issues a statement saying...

In November 2018, Vicki Cornell
sues Dr. Robert Koblin,

claiming he negligently
and repeatedly prescribed

Cornell dangerous, mind altering
controlled substances,

which ultimately led
to the singer's death.

Details of the settlement
are not released.

But many believe it is
further proof that drugs led

Chris to commit suicide.

Oftentimes, when people actually

go through the act of suicide,

substances may be involved,

and maybe those substances
are things that are pushing them

a little bit further
towards that action

and then they actually end up

k*lling themselves
or attempting.

Without that Ativan,
I 100% believe

Chris Cornell
would be alive today.

The problem with suicide
is it never makes sense, right?

But when you're predisposed
to addiction and depression

and then you add
on top of that the Ativan

with the underlying thoughts

that maybe you wouldn't
have normally,

it makes sense for me that
Chris Cornell k*lled himself.

The drugs may have actually
impaired his judgment

and led him to do something

that he would not
have otherwise done,

which makes it
all the more tragic.

To many fans, celebrities
are not just performers.

They become part of our lives.

And the speculation
over Chris Cornell's death

stems from a common
feeling among family,

friends, and fans alike.

They are in disbelief
that the famous rock star

would have committed suicide.

We don't want to believe that
Chris Cornell took his own life.

We want to believe that a
powerful force took him from us.

Online chat rooms are abuzz
with details from the scene

that seem to suggest foul play.

If he's in a physical
altercation with somebody,

he could suffer broken ribs.

In reading Chris' autopsy
report,

I discovered that he suffered
from nine fractured ribs.

This could lend to the theory
of homicide.

But deeper research
reveals flaws in this theory.

There are several factors
that lead me away from believing

that this was a homicide.

There is no sign of a struggle
in the room.

There is no m*rder weapon.

There is no sign of anybody else
being in that bathroom

or hotel room with him.

There is a logical explanation
for Chris' fractured ribs.

The autopsy report did find

that nine of Chris Cornell's
ribs were broken,

but that's not super abnormal.

The average number of ribs
that get cracked

when performing CPR
is around eight.

So that's totally in line
with the norm.

But the sheer amount of blood
in the bathroom

still feels suspicious
to online detectives.

While EMTs were trying to save
Chris Cornell's life,

it's extremely likely
that they spread

some of that blood
around the bathroom.

It's entirely possible
that some of that blood

came from Chris Cornell's neck

or that he spit some of it out
while he was hanging.

There are also other problems
with the m*rder theory,

namely the lack of proof
that there was anyone else

in the room
with Chris that night.

Let's start with
the scene itself.

Both the door to the hotel room

and the door to the bathroom
were locked.

If you could explain to me
how someone can get

into that bathroom,
k*ll him, close the door,

latch it from the inside,
close the hotel door,

latch that from the inside
and leave

without anyone seeing them,
I invite you to give me a call.

So unless the k*ller
turned into mist

and left through under the door,
Chris Cornell was not m*rder*d.

And as for the supposed
QAnon driven motive for m*rder,

it simply doesn't add up.

This idea that Chris Cornell
was about to blow the lid

off this international child sex
trafficking ring,

there's nothing to it.

This documentary that he was
supposedly involved with,

"The Silent Children",
he wasn't involved with it.

He didn't finance it.

The documentary was real,

but they shut down months
before Chris Cornell died.

But of course, evidence never
gets in the way of a good QAnon

conspiracy theory.

QAnon doesn't need facts
or evidence or data.

All they have to do is believe
strongly enough

and something becomes true.

That leaves the theory
that some sort of head trauma

addled Cornell that evening

and he wasn't in his right mind
leading up to his death.

It's worth noting that Chris
just kind of

like wandered off stage
and, like, was stumbling around.

And, I mean, it was clearly
very obvious to the people

in his life
that something was wrong.

Upon scrutiny, video of
Chris' performance the night

he died appears to show a gash
on the back of his head.

But despite what people
believe they see in the video,

there is
little physical evidence

to support the possibility
of head trauma.

Head injuries bleed profusely.

So if he did have a sizable gash
up on stage,

people definitely
would have noticed blood.

The Detroit Free Press,
who was there to watch the show,

mentioned nothing about blood
dripping down

Chris Cornell's face.

This is just some made up
conspiracy theory

on 4Chan, where,
you know, they all come from.

And even Chris' wife, Vicki,

who first noted
the possible gash,

very quickly offered
a more plausible explanation

for the glistening spots
seen in the video.

The 52-year-old rock star had
the beginnings of a bald spot.

We may never know for sure
how Chris Cornell

ended up on the bathroom floor

of a Detroit hotel room
in May 2017.

But the answer likely lies
in the two things

that had plagued him
for most of his life.

The problem with suicide
is it never makes sense, right?

But when you're predisposed
to addiction and depression,

and then you add on top of that
the Ativan

with the underlying thoughts

that maybe you wouldn't have
normally,

it makes sense for me that
Chris Cornell k*lled himself.

The drugs may have actually
impaired his judgment

and led him to do something

that he would not
have otherwise done,

which makes it
all the more tragic.

It's a tragedy. Mental illness
and personal trauma

and strife strikes anybody from,

you know, the wealthiest
and best looking people to,

you know,
the most vulnerable among us.

So to assume that someone
who had a, quote, unquote,

good life on the surface

didn't have those struggles
is again,

just hugely oversimplifying.

What doesn't make sense to me

is that people who have listened
to anything Chris Cornell

has ever written believe
that he didn't k*ll himself.

Chris Cornell's lyrics
were often very somber,

not apocalyptic by any stretch
of the imagination,

but they tended to lean
pretty dark and deep.

And for a lot of people,
it resonated with us.

You know, it's, "Wow,
there's somebody out there

that feels the same way I do.

I felt like he understood me,
right?

And if somebody like that
can k*ll themselves, can I?

It's something about questioning
your own mortality,

and it's so unbelievable.

And you're a little bit
in denial

and you just want
to make sense of it all.

- He was a person.
- He was a human being.

He was a father.

He was a brother.

He was someone who struggled
in his life,

someone who found
incredible success in his life.

He was someone who lived
many lifetimes at once,

and he was a complex person
with many layers.

And I think that reducing
the tragedy of his death

to Pizzagate

or suing his doctor
or blaming his wife

or whatever conspiracy rabbit
hole people want to go down to,

does an incredible disservice

to the person
who gave us so much of himself.

Years after his tragic death,

Chris' wife Vicki still
struggles to find answers,

saying in a recent interview...

Thank you.