Original subtitles

ANNOUNCER: Tonight on "Unsolved Mysteries"--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Rock and roll star Kurt Cobain

was renowned for his music and denounced

for his drug-addicted lifestyle.

To many who suicide in 1994 seemed understandable.

But what if Kurt Cobain did not take his own life?

At least one investigator is convinced

that the official ruling was a rush to judgment.

The police have always valued the phenomenal nose of the dog,

whether it's tracking a fugitive, detecting a bomb,

or uncovering a stash of drugs.

Now the medical world is catching on.

Can a dog's remarkable sense of smell

be used to sniff out deadly cancers?

Tommy Zeigler is a condemned man, sentenced

to the electric chair for a Christmas

Eve rampage that left four people dead,

including his own wife.

Recently, an independent lie detector test

suggested that Zeigler may, in fact, be innocent.

You be the judge in the final appeal Tommy Zeigler.

Join me for another intriguing addition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music playing]

The cure for cancer is medicine's holy grail.

In the absence of a cure, early diagnosis is our best hope.

Amazingly, one of mother nature's most ingenious designs

may have given us an astonishingly

accurate detection device.

This unsolved mystery could save your life.

A dog's nose, as sensitive as radar, as accurate

as a heat seeking missile.

It's been estimated that a dog's sense of smell

is more than 200 million times stronger than that of humans.

Over the centuries, we've trained

dogs to find anything we need.

Incredibly, our four-legged friends

may also be able to detect some kinds of cancer

as long as two years before doctors can diagnose it.

Duane Pickel has been training dogs professionally

for more than three decades.

He worked with them during the Vietnam War

during his 22 years with the Tallahassee,

Florida Police Department.

When a local dermatologist wondered

if cancer had a signature scent and if dogs could smell it,

Dwayne decided to find out.

I talked to several nurses at the hospital

and they said, yes, I can smell cancer myself.

And said, [inaudible],, when you got off the elevator floor

at the hospital, there's something unique

about that floor as far as smell is

concerned-- not necessarily offensive,

but something very unique.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The initial experiments centered

on skin cancer for two reasons.

First, it affects more people than any other cancer,

killing thousands every year; second, skin cancer

is extremely difficult for doctors to detect visually,

especially the most dangerous type, melanoma.

Melanoma begins on the surface of the skin

and at that point is 100% curable.

However, if you ignore it, it will grow deeper into the skin

and eventually, it will reach the blood vessels.

Once it reaches the blood vessels,

it can spread around the body and reach the vital organs.

Once it's done that, there is no treatment.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Duane hid real melanoma cells

inside plastic tubes, hoping the scent was strong enough

for a dog to detect.

Duane started the experiment with George,

a standard schnauzer already trained to sniff out bombs.

Once George was given the scent, Duane hid the canister.

DUANE PICKEL: I wasn't sure whether it was going

to have a strong smell or whether it

was going to be like a salt, have a very weak smell.

But we found out that it has a very strong smell.

And if you're going to compare the ease of finding cancer

with the ease of finding drugs, you'd have to equate

cancer with marijuana.

It's a very strong odor.

It's very odiferous, very easy for the dog to find.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Duane Pickel

took pains to make certain George

was actually finding cancer cells.

To be sure the dog couldn't be thrown off,

he also tested George's ability on a variety of other cells.

We used normal lung tissue from pigs,

we used normal lung tissue and skin tissue from people,

we used necrotic tissue.

We used everything we could to make

sure that the dog was really and truly trained to find cancer.

Show me where it's at.

Good boy.

OK.

Then we knew that we had it made.

The dog was doing a good job and was, indeed, finding cancer.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The first part of the experiment

seemed a clear success.

Out of 451 searches, George and other cancer

trained dogs had a 99.8% success rate.

Now Duane went to the next level.

Kim Edwards, a nurse, became a human volunteer.

During each of a dozen tests, she

placed bandages on her body.

Sometimes there were live cancer cells beneath them,

sometimes there were none.

KIM EDWARDS: I actually would use long underwear

to completely cover everything so that George wouldn't have

any indications of where the bandages might be placed

or where the cancer cells might be placed.

OK, Kim.

Let's just go ahead and lay down.

We'll get started.

KIM EDWARDS: And Duane would not know how many bandages I had on

or even whether I had any cancerous bandages on.

Come on, George.

Check.

Check.

Check.

Very good.

OK.

Is that where you put it?

Yeah.

That's the spot.

Show Show me again.

Where's it at?

Every time George indicated only on the cancer cells.

He hit every one of them every time, or if there were none

he never indicated on them.

While you're doing that, we're going to have the dog check you

and were going to start at the head.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Eddie Messer,

a Tallahassee police officer, also volunteered

as a human Guinea pig.

A biopsy on a suspicious spot on Eddie's back

had already tested negative for skin cancer.

George slowly went over Eddie's body,

checking each bandage thoroughly.

When George reached the suspicious spot,

his nose smelled skin cancer.

When George first put his nose to that spot,

it felt a little funny there.

But knowing and being in the background that I've been in

and working with dogs at the airport and what have you,

it makes you think maybe he knows what he's talking about.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For a second opinion,

Duane's partner, Glenda [inaudible],,

brought in her cancer trained dog, Breeze.

Breeze confirm George's diagnosis.

Eddie had a second biopsy, it was still negative.

Duane was sure it was wrong.

They called me and said, well, the spot come back negative.

I said, I'm very sorry, but my dog said

it's melanoma, it's melanoma.

So then they took off the whole lesion

and they froze it and they sent it to a lab in Cleveland.

They shaved it just one little stroke at the time.

It actually took four and a half days later

before they found that there was a spot

in the middle of that lesion that

was a melanoma level three.

If it hadn't been for the dog, if it hadn't

been for this pathologist just checking on this one spot

for four and half days and finding,

yes, proving the dog was right, in a couple of years

it could have been beyond repair.

So now we found it early enough that it is repairable.

He's going to do fine.

This could lead to some exciting research

in finding out what is it that the dog's smelling?

And that may lead to blood tests or other tests

to find these molecules as a detection system for cancers.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Coming up, the mysterious case of rock

and roll star Kurt Cobain.

Is there more to his untimely death than suicide?

But first, a judge put him on death row

for the cold-blooded murder of four people.

Now an independent lie detector test

suggests he may be innocent.

Also, Lu Hanessian joins us from the phone center

with an intriguing update.

You may recall this harrowing scene

from a previous broadcast.

[gunfire]

The double murder was as mystifying as it was ruthless.

Michelle Cartagena and Grant Hendrickson,

to straitlaced dean's list college students,

had been killed in a barrage of semiautomatic rifle fire.

Michelle's body had been dragged from the car and her clothing

left in disarray.

One eyewitness reported seeing a Honda

CRX near the lakeside park where Grant and Michelle were killed.

Others described a similar a car speeding from the area

just after the murders.

At the scene, the only clues were spent shells from a Colt

AR15 semiautomatic rifle.

To solve the crime, authorities would need a run of luck

in a classic case of detective work they made their own.

Keely Shaye Smith is still on maternity leave.

Here's Lu Hennesian with the tales of the investigation

that cracked the case.

Thanks, Bob.

For nearly two years, investigators

checked the records of every major pawn shop and gun dealer

within 150 miles of Macon, Georgia.

They interviewed every single person who

had sold or pawned a Colt AR15.

The first 2,000 leads turned out to be dead ends.

Still, they persisted.

One of the agents found some pawn records on an assault

rifle that he was following up.

When he followed up those records,

that's where he located Mr. Randy Cook.

And he in a routine interview there interviewed him

and the suspect acted somewhat suspicious,

made him want to follow that up a little further

and that's how he was developed as a suspect.

LU HANESSIAN (VOICEOVER): The suspect 22-year-old Andy Cook,

had also owned a Honda CRX similar to the one

spotted at the scene.

Authorities kept Cook under surveillance and within a week,

he managed to get himself arrested

on a hunting violation.

Later that day, Cook's father told authorities his son had

confessed to the double murder.

A ballistics test was the clincher.

Police say slug's from Cooks rifle

matched those that had killed Grant Hendrickson

and Michelle Cartegena.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): For convicted

murderers on death row, it's just

a few short steps to eternity.

The electric chair awaits, ready to exact

the ultimate price for the ultimate crime.

Unless his last ditch legal appeal succeeds,

51-year-old Tommy Zeigler will someday be led from his cell

and executed, Florida's retribution

for a savage multiple murder.

I did not kill Eunice, I did not kill Mr. And Mrs. Edwards,

and I did not kill Charlie Mays.

I have not killed anybody.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Tommy Zeigler

was wealthy and well-known.

His family owned Zeigler's Furniture Store

and several apartment buildings in the town

of Winter Garden, Florida.

Zeigler was married, attended church,

and called the mayor and chief of police by their first names.

According to prosecutors, it wasn't

enough for Tommy Zeigler.

This is the scenario they presented in court.

Zeigler murdered his wife, Eunice,

in the kitchen area of the furniture store

on Christmas Eve in 1975.

His motive, to turn $500,000 of life insurance into cold cash.

My marriage was very good, very sound.

Eunice and I loved each other greatly.

I couldn't kill her.

There's just no way I could kill her.

I loved her.

She was my life, that was just all there was to it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The killings didn't stop

with Eunice, say prosecutors.

Her parents, Perry and Virginia Edwards, were also at the store

that night.

[gunshots]

By prearrangement, a customer named Charlie Mays stopped

by to pick up a television set.

Zeigler's plan, to kill Mays and frame him for robbing the store

and murdering Eunice and her parents.

Mays would be found with stone receipts

and cash stuffed in his pockets.

Zeigler ended the bloodbath with final dramatic flourish.

He shot himself in the side to ensure that he,

too, would be seen as a victim.

Prosecutors say they never fell for the charade.

Zeigler was still in the hospital

when he was charged with the killings.

Soon after, he was convicted and condemned to death.

Assistant State Attorney Jeffrey Ashton

will represent Florida if Zeigler is granted an appeal.

I think that Tommy Zeigler will ultimately die for killing

those four people and I believe he

has the right man to die for it and I believe

that he will deserve it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): This is how Tommy Zeigler tells it.

He planned to meet Unice and her parents at the store.

He says he was unaware that they were already

dead when he opened the back door

and found the lights not working.

TOMMY ZEIGLER: I walked from there into the main showroom,

through the door, and I was hit in the back of the head.

As I was getting up, there were two blurs coming in.

One was a shorter, stocky man; one was a big burly man.

[glass breaking]

I was just being bounced around, glass was breaking,

things were being knocked over and knocked down.

I was thrown back into the hallway.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Zeigler

kept large amounts of cash at the store

and carried a handgun for protection.

He believes he may have wounded one of the assailants.

Then he himself was shot in the side.

Before filming this segment, we insisted

that Tommy Zeigler submit to a lie detector test

with no attorneys present.

Zeigler was examined by one of the country's

most respected forensic specialists, John Paul Matir.

After talking to Tommy Zeigler for the period of time

that I did and assessing all of the other information

that I had, it was my professional opinion

that Tommy Zeigler was telling the truth

and that in fact, he had walked into probably an armed robbery

in progress or that was staged for his benefit

and that he was, in fact, a victim.

Condemned killer Tommy Zeigler won't go quietly.

For more than 20 years from a hospital bed, from a courtroom,

now from death row, he has loudly

proclaimed his innocence.

Zeigler and his attorneys say they have new evidence

that debunks the prosecution case

and makes liars of its witnesses.

The state stands by the verdict, Tommy Zeitler is guilty.

His motive, a life insurance payout of $500,000.

Tommy!

Tommy, what happened?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On the night of the murder,

Zeigler stumbled out of the store at 9:25.

Minutes earlier, Zeigler had called

the police chief and a private party

to report that he'd been shot.

Almost immediately, evidence in this store

raised troubling questions.

First, the body of Zeigler's wife, Eunice.

Her oddly unruffled pose--

coat on, hand and pocket--

suggested to police that her killer was no stranger.

I think it's very unlikely that any unknown assailant

could get in a position where they could surprise Eunice

Zeigler in that kind of circumstance

and shoot her in the back of the head and catch her in that way.

Second problem, blood type.

Zeigler's father-in-law, Perry Edward,

was type A. Tommy Zeigler's shirt was

stained with a quantity of type A blood,

in addition to his own type O.

JEFFREY ASHTON: His story didn't account for that,

as to how he got someone else's blood on his shirt

and the blood type matched Perry Edwards, which would indicate

that he was involved in that struggle

with Perry Edwards that resulted in his death.

During the course of his struggle in the store when

Tommy first came in, he was in a fight with a couple of people.

One of those people he had a struggle with and was hitting

him with a gun, it would have caused bleeding

and it could have caused the blood there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Scattered among the bodies

were five handguns.

Four had been wiped clean of fingerprints.

Two of the guns were inexpensive Saturday Night specials

made by a company named RG.

Of the five guns found in the store, three of them

were documented as belonging to Tommy Zeigler.

The other two that were there, which was the cheaper guns,

were not registered to him but they were connected

to him through another witness.

I bought good, high quality guns when I bought guns,

and I had good high quality guns.

From what I understand and what I saw at trial,

those RGs are garbage.

State your name, please.

Felton Thomas, sir.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): One of the key witnesses

for the state was a man named Felton Thomas.

Thomas was a friend of Charlie Mays, one of the four victims.

Tommy Zeigler says the account you are about to hear

is a total fabrication, start to finish.

We went to the furniture store.

About what time did you get to the furniture store?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Felton Thomas

testified that on the night of the murders,

he had gone to Zeigler's store with Charlie Mays.

Sorry I'm late.

Oh, that's all right.

Hey, this is Felton Thomas.

He come to help me get the TV set.

Listen, the guy with the keys isn't here yet,

but while we're waiting for him, why don't we take a ride?

I've got something I want to show you.

All right.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Thomas told the court

that Zeigler took them to a nearby orange grove

to show off some new guns.

Smooth, clean action.

All right.

I'm going to step out and fire off a couple.

No, no, no.

No, here.

Just do it from the window.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Prosecutors charge

that Zeigler's plan was to taint Thomas and Mays

with gunshot residue and taint the weapons

with their fingerprints.

If, in fact, that was his purpose

for doing that so that he could set up Charlie Mays and Felton

Thomas and have their prints on the guns,

why were all of the guns wiped clean?

What happened later at the store?

Mays told us to go around--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Thomas testified

that once back at the store, Zeigler

asked him to kill the power.

Thomas complied.

All right.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Zeigler then made a more

startling proposal, break in.

Come on.

OK, Charlie.

Pick yourself up a piece of pipe and help us out.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): To prosecutors, it

was all part of Zeigler's plan to create

evidence of a robbery to explain the murders

of Eunice and her parents.

No, I ain't doing it.

All right.

Well, maybe I've got an extra key back home.

Why dont' we go and pick it up.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Thomas told the court that they next

drove to Zeigler's house for the key,

then they went back to the store.

Well, are you going to come in and help us with the TV?

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): According to Thomas,

Mays and Zeigler went inside and he left.

Prosecutors say that once inside the store, Zeigler killed Mays.

The defense completely dismisses Thomas' account.

To begin with, they claim his entire scenario

would have to occur in less than 21 minutes.

We get out I guess about a mile--

Felton Thomas is a joke.

I have no idea why Felton Thomas would

make up a story like that.

I had never laid eyes on him until he

walked in that courtroom to testify against me.

I know Tommy Zeigler.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Another key witness

for the state was Ed Williams, who

had known and worked for the Ziegler family

during the previous 10 years.

I was a permanent resident.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Williams

testified that on the night of the murders,

Zeigler gave him a handgun.

Later that night, Williams turned

the weapon over to authorities.

Ballistics tests would reveal that bullets from that gun

killed Perry and Virginia Edwards.

Edward Williams in the last 20 years, as far as we know,

has been an upstanding citizen, hasn't done anything wrong.

And there's no reason not to believe Edward Williams.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): However, Zeigler

testified that the gun in question

had been taken from his truck two weeks before the murders.

Among those who had ready access to the vehicle was Ed Williams.

A witness also linked Williams to the weapon that

killed Eunice Zeigler, one of those Saturday Night specials

found at the scene.

The witness, called by the prosecution,

testified that he had purchased the two guns for Tommy Zeigler.

However, he admitted they had never met face to face.

The deal had actually been made through an intermediary

identified by the witness as Ed Williams.

Edward Williams is, in fact, the one

that purchased the two Saturday Night

specials that did the killing.

And the only person that was found with a murder weapon

on him was Edward Williams.

They were all directly traceable to Edward Williams,

not to Tommy Zeigler.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): It was not just

the witnesses who took the stand that troubled

Zeigler and his attorneys.

It was also those who were never called.

The defense claims that two people verified

Zeigler's contention that unidentified individuals

had been at the store.

A husband and wife reported to the sheriff's department

that they had been driving by the Zeigler Furniture Store

on the night of the crime and that they had seen four cars,

not two as the state had contended,

outside the furniture store, including a white Cadillac,

all of which is completely inconsistent with the state's

version of events.

In addition, they saw a man who generally

fit the description of Charlie Mays, who we believe

was one of the perpetrators.

And none of that was reported to the court, none of it

was presented to the jury, and none of it

was reported to the trial lawyers for Mr. Zeigler.

Any witness who comes by and claims

to be an eye or ear witness at the time of a murder

is going to be interviewed.

A statement's going to be taken.

So I think their claim that they went by the police department

to talk about the case is not very credible.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Zeigler's trial

lasted four weeks and filled nearly

3,000 pages of transcripts.

In the end, the jury voted to convict.

They recommended life in prison, but they were overruled

by Judge Maurice Paul.

Notwithstanding the recommendation of a majority

of the jury, it is the sentence of the law

and the judgment of this court that you, William Thomas

Ziegler, Jr., shall be put to death

by means of electrocution.

Nobody in their right mind that can look at that trial

transcript can say that there was a fair trial

in Ziegler versus State.

It was a railroad from day one and judge

Paul orchestrated the whole thing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Ziegler

believes Judge Paul had held a grudge against him

since they had testified for opposing sides

in a bitter legal dispute.

Within months thereafter, Tommy Zeigler

was standing at the defendant's table accused of murder

and Judge Paul was sitting on the bench making decisions

that would affect his life.

Judge Maurice Paul was a very respected member of

the judiciary of Orange County.

He is now a federal district court judge up in northern part

of Florida and his reputation and ethics have

never been subject to question.

No one has even ever alleged he is anything

other than an honest man.

Nothing that I've heard the defense claiming

outside of court in books or on TV

is in any way convincing once you analyze it.

Once you analyze all their claims,

you see that they really are nothing.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): On May 19, 1986,

Zeigler stood at the precipice.

Less than 24 hours remained before he

would face the electric chair.

Then a federal court granted a stay.

Zeigler filed an appeal.

In 1987, his attorneys used Florida's Freedom

of Information Act to open up the prosecution files.

They found previously undisclosed evidence.

You're about to hear excerpts of a tape-recorded conversation

between a prosecution investigator

and an apparent witness.

The young man was staying at this motel

on the night of the murders.

His room faced the back of Zeigler's store.

The man said that at about 8:30, he

saw a policeman, service revolver drawn,

hunkered down behind the store.

Around 9:00, he heard shots.

This is obviously significant because if it was at 9:00,

this was 20 minutes at least before the time Tommy

called for help.

It would mean that Tommy would have been in the store

at this time.

And if there was a policeman outside with his gun drawn

and there were shots going off then,

the police had to have been involved.

It appears to have shots being fired

after the police arrived, which clearly couldn't

be related to the murder.

Maybe some sound that sounded like a gunshot.

So the information itself is meaningless.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Was a police officer involved?

We may never know.

The prosecution did not inform Zeigler's attorneys

of this account, nor did they call the witness

to testify at the trial.

INVESTIGATOR (ON TAPE): Well, as long as you heard

the gunshots after you saw the police cars,

that wouldn't help us a bit.

Today, Tommy Zeigler is asking for a new trial in which

a new judge and jury can listen to the tape

and review all the evidence.

A ruling on Ziegler's appeal is still pending.

Of course, the question remains, even if Tommy Zeigler

wins another day in court, will that verdict be any different?

Next, when rock and roll singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide,

few questioned the official ruling.

But private investigator Tom Grant

is convinced that the truth about Cobain's death

has yet to be revealed.

April 8th, 1994.

Music fans worldwide were horrified

to learn of the tragic death of reluctant rock star Kurt

Cobain.

Cobain's body was found in a room

above the garage of his Seattle, Washington home.

He had apparently taken a large dose of heroin

and killed himself with a shotgun.

Even as the mourning commenced, rumors began to circulate.

What if Kurt Cobain did not kill himself?

What if Kurt Cobain was murdered?

One private investigator who's been on the case

from the very beginning believes the official ruling is wrong.

I don't believe Kurt Cobain committed suicide.

I believe there was someone with him in that room.

I believe it was someone that he knew,

they were doing heroin together.

I believe at a certain point, more heroin

was injected into Kurt Cobain than what he wanted injected

into himself and after that point,

he was shot with a shotgun once he had

become totally incapacitated.

Our detectives actually went into this investigation

on the premise that this was a homicide.

That's the way they conducted this investigation so

that there was a very thorough, comprehensive investigation

done from the very beginning.

And everything that the detectives encountered

indicated to them that this was a suicide.

We actually found nothing to indicate that this

was anything but a suicide.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Kurt Cobain

was the lead singer and creative force for Nirvana, a wildly

popular grunge rock band.

But Cobain also made headlines for

his drug-addicted lifestyle.

This photograph was taken on March 4th,

1994, as Cobain was being rushed to a hospital in Rome, Italy.

He had overdosed on sedatives and alcohol and nearly died.

Three weeks later, on March 30th,

family and friends persuaded Cobain

to check into the Exodus Recovery Center

in Marina Del Rey, California.

But in less than 48 hours, Cobain

walked out and took a late night flight back to Seattle.

A limo driver dropped Cobain off at his home,

where his daughter's male nanny saw

him on the morning of April 2.

The next day, Cobain's wife, fellow rocker Courtney Love,

is said to have contacted Tom Grant, a Los

Angeles-based private investigator and former LA

County sheriff's deputy.

Grant claims he met with Love at a Beverly Hills Hotel.

He also says she did not mention that Cobain

had been seen at their Seattle home the day before.

We set up a surveillance in Seattle on a couple

of locations and we were attempting to locate Kurt

and try to determine what he was doing-- where he was,

where he was going.

Courtney asked us, of course, not to contact him,

not to make any contact with him,

just to report back where he was and what was going on.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): When the surveillance failed,

Grant himself flew to Seattle.

He claims he and one of Cobain's friends began searching.

They checked Cobain's usual hangouts.

Then about 2:00 AM on April 7th, Grant

says they went to Cobain's house.

And we searched the entire interior of the house--

the basement, the living room, the upstairs, the attic.

We left all through the house for Kurt.

His friend, when we went in the house,

made a comment that he'd never seen

the house this clean before.

Apparently, it's never been that straightened up.

We didn't locate Kurt.

We didn't see any indication that he had been at the house.

About this location right here--

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Some 20 hours

later, Tom Grant says he and Cobain's friend

searched the house again.

This time, Grant claims they found a note left

for Cobain by the male nanny.

The first line of a note started off, Kurt, I

can't believe you managed to be in this house

without me knowing.

We searched the entire interior of the residence

once again for any evidence that Kurt might have been there

the night before or since we had left

the location the first time.

And we found no evidence that he had been there.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): The next day, an electrician

discovered Cobain's body in a room

above the garage known as the greenhouse,

the only place grant says he and Cobain's friend did not check.

According to Grant, he was never told about the room

and it was too dark to see it.

It just really seemed strange to me

that the one place in that entire property

that we didn't search was the place

that I was never told about.

And of course, the medical examiner later

determined that Kurt had been laying

up there dead for several days.

So while we were searching the main house,

Kurt Cobain was lying dead up above the garage.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): This is a diagram of Tom Gran't

depiction of the death scene.

A 20-gauge shotgun was still cradled

across Kurt Cobain's body.

His heroin kit was at his side and a note apparently written

by Cobain was in plain sight.

The first officers to arrive at the house

reported that they were on the scene of a suicide.

I contacted the police the day the body was found.

I attempted on the telephone to get

them to slow down a little bit.

I indicated I felt something was wrong.

They basically told me on the phone, hey,

we know a suicide when we see a suicide.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Tom Grant strongly disagrees

and believes he has found a number

of notable inconsistencies.

Item number one, according to grant,

Kurt Cobain carried only one credit card.

Courtney Love had reportedly canceled

that card shortly after Cobain left

the drug rehab in California.

Now Courtney told me that she had stopped this credit card so

that she could track Kurt's activities as he attempted

to use the credit card.

In actuality, stopping the credit card

is what made it more difficult.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): After the credit card was canceled,

the bank apparently recorded only the dates, the amounts,

and generic information, not where the attempts

were made to use the card.

TOM GRANT: There was an attempt made on April 6th

in an amount of over $1,500.

There was another attempt made on April 8th which was Friday,

the day the body was found, for an amount of $43.

Now, according to the medical examiner,

Kurt had died sometime on April 5th, the previous Tuesday.

Who was using the credit card?

The information we've been able to receive from the bank

has only been able to identify for us

when the information was logged onto their mainframe computer

and not specifically when the attempt was made

or who it was made by.

TOM GRANT: And after the body was discovered, of course,

the police searched Kurt's property.

Two other cards were found in the wallet,

but the actual credit card that Courtney had canceled--

the same card that someone was attempting to use after we now

know Kurt was already dead--

was not found in Kurt's property.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Item number two, the autopsy

reportedly showed Kurt Cobain's blood contained a tranquilizer,

Diazepam, and heroin.

According to Tom Grant and published news articles,

the level was 1.5 milligrams per liter.

Some medical experts say that much heroin could kill

a non-addict three times over.

Could he, with that much heroin

and Diazepam in his system, could

he even pick up that shotgun?

Wouldn't he be incapacitated within seconds?

For most people, including addicts, 1.5 milligrams

per liter of morphine is a significant level

and for most of them, the great percentage,

it will be a level that will induce

a state of unconsciousness quite quickly--

talking about seconds, not minutes.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Cyril Wecht

is a nationally-known forensic pathologist.

Even though he hasn't seen the autopsy report,

Wecht believes the suicide ruling is correct.

However, he does find the high level of heroin intriguing.

I just cannot tell you that it would have been impossible

for him to have shot himself because it was found that he

had a level of 1.5 milligrams per liter of morphine

at the post-mortem examination.

It's certainly within the realm of possibility,

but it does raise a question as to whether or not

he shot that shot.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Dr. Donald Ray,

chief medical examiner of King County,

inspected Cobain's body at the scene.

He does not find Cobain's heroin intake problematic.

It's really an issue of tolerance, how

much is this person used to?

If a person has gradually over the months or years

increased the dose, a person could function

with that amount of drugs, narcotics, or whatever

it is present in the system.

Again, so much of it depends upon individual tolerance

over a period of time.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Item number three,

police have checked the shotgun, the shotgun

shells, and the pen used to write the suicide

note for fingerprints.

There were no legible prints on any of them.

I think it's clear that anyone who is familiar with firearms

and their use would know that as they

hold a weapon, that frequently that weapon

will move in their hand.

Additionally, when that weapon is discharged,

that caused a jerking motion which causes the hands to move

over the surface of the weapon.

And all of those factors could cause

any fingerprints that may have been left on the weapon

to be unusable.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Item number

four, the alleged suicide note.

Tom Grant believes it was actually a retirement

letter to Cobain's fans.

There were rumors that Cobain was feeling burned out

and was planning to adopt a lower profile.

He had recently pulled out of the annual Lollapalooza tour,

a decision which some speculate could

have cost Cobain and others involved millions of dollars.

This is a copy of the note that has been widely circulated.

Tom Grant suggests that only the last four

lines indicate suicide.

They read, please keep going, Courtney--

for Frances, for her life which will

be so much happier without me.

I love you.

I love you.

Curiously, these lines are written

in much larger characters than the rest of the note.

"Unsolved Mysteries" asked handwriting expert Marcel

Matley to compare a copy of Cobain's alleged suicide note

with copies of two pages of lyrics handwritten by Cobain.

Matley believes the bulk of the note was written by Cobain,

but finds the last four lines questionable.

As to the last four lines, there

are more than a dozen differences that should give us

pause and we would have to reasonably explain

these differences before we can conclude

that the same person wrote the four lines that

wrote the body of it.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): Handwriting expert Reginald

Alton of Oxford University also compared

copies of Cobain's handwriting to a copy of the note.

In a five-page written report, Alton pointed out more

than a dozen discrepancies.

Alton believes the bulk of the suicide note

was written by Cobain, but raises

questions about the first line and the last four lines.

His report concludes, quote, "There

are many indications that there may have

been a second hand at work."

Alton cautions, however, that the copies are not good enough

to make any firm pronouncement.

We did take the note from the scene

and have it examined at the Washington State Crime Lab

and their handwriting analyst has

indicated that it is her belief that this note

was written by Mr. Cobain.

TOM GRANT: Kurt Cobain had made an important decision

in his life.

He wanted out of the entertainment business.

He didn't want to tour anymore, he

didn't want to perform anymore.

He wanted to be left alone.

He never liked that aspect of being a performer.

This decision that he had made was going to affect

a lot of other people.

He was no longer the money machine that he once was.

Now Cobain was worth more dead than he was alive.

ROBERT STACK (VOICEOVER): But who would

have wanted Kurt Cobain dead?

Could it have been a mysterious user of his credit card?

To the same person add critical lines to Cobain's

alleged suicide note?

For now, those questions remain unanswered.

Despite the controversy, the Seattle Police

are confident they made the correct ruling.

They consider the case closed.

Tom Grant does not.

He believes the investigation should be reopened

and the inconsistencies resolved once and for all.

On our next "Unsolved Mysteries," in 1994,

fragments of a giant comet set off

a series of cataclysmic explosions

on the planet Jupiter.

Is there more destruction lurking in the night sky?

Will Earth be the next target?

Also, the crash of a presidential helicopter

in Maryland prompts speculation that the craft was downed

by friendly fire in the form of an

experimental top secret weapon.

Join me next time for another intriguing edition

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music playing]