Shotgun used in Kurt Cobain’s death was destroyed at his family’s request — as leaked emails expose how police incinerated the central piece of evidence

The shotgun found at Kurt Cobain‘s death scene was destroyed in 2022 at the request of his family, according to leaked emails and police records that have renewed questions about the physical evidence surrounding the Nirvana frontman’s death.

The Remington Model 11 20-gauge shotgun remained in Seattle Police Department custody for 28 years before officials authorized its destruction.

According to emails and police records obtained by the Daily Mail, Seattle police Capt. James Britt told Sgt. John Crumb, in a June 29, 2022 email that “the family wishes for the shotgun to be destroyed in accordance with state law.”

A separate police report shows that the weapon was destroyed on September 27, 2022, apparently as part of the department’s gun-burning process.

However, documents do not identify which member of Cobain’s family made the request, why they wanted the weapon destroyed, or who held legal ownership of it.

The revelation matters because the shotgun remains an important physical object tied to the case of Cobain’s death.

Cobain died at age 27 in April 1994 after investigators found him with a fatal gunshot wound at his Seattle home.

His death was ruled a suicide and though the Seattle police have maintained the conclusion for decades, theories about a homicide causing Cobain’s demise have never disappeared.

These theories have pointed to questions about the weapon’s reported position, the spent shell casing and the lack of identifiable fingerprints found at the scene.

Now that the shotgun is destroyed, investigators cannot subject it to new forensic testing.

The original evidence file also contains a detail that has drawn attention over the years. Later accounts have described the shotgun as lying across Cobain’s chest, resting in his arms or positioned between his legs.

However, the original police file states that officers found the weapon in his left hand.

Cobain’s friend Dylan Carlson purchased the shotgun shortly before his death. Police later cataloged the weapon by its serial number, 1088925.

The evidence file also documented two unspent shells inside the shotgun and one spent shell on the floor near Cobain’s body. Police found 22 additional rounds nearby.

Gary Cobain, Kurt’s uncle, has previously questioned the official ruling and told The Daily Mail that he believes his nephew was murdered, but law enforcement does not accept this theory.

Seattle police revisited the case in 2014 after discovering undeveloped rolls of film from the death scene. Investigators developed the photographs and concluded that they contained nothing that changed the determination that Cobain died by suicide.

The department later released a photograph of the shotgun in 2016, but by 2022, the physical evidence itself was gone.

An SPD spokesperson told the outlet, “The Seattle Police Department has closed this case.”