Chris Cornell‘s widow has slammed Detroit’s Wayne County medical examiner for conducting what she says was a “botched investigation” into her husband’s death.
In an interview with The Detroit News, Vicky Cornell said that the medical examiner’s ruling that “drugs did not contribute to the cause of death” has led to “all sorts of false accusations and [has] subjected me to constant online attacks.”
“This has left me and my family still looking for answers, but at the same time, set off this whirlwind of conspiracies,” Vicky said. “Some of the people are just fans looking for answers, but some of them are conspiracy theorists who have said the most vile things to my children and me.”
Vicky said the medical examiner’s autopsy ruling that drugs didn’t play a part in her husband’s death was “completely misleading.”
“The poor choice of phrasing has misled the public to believing he was of sound mind and body,” she said. “So some conspiracy people think if Chris wasn’t impaired, he would never have killed himself, and so he must have been killed — and then they start getting into the rest of the holes.”
She added that the conspiracy theories — including accusations that she wanted to have her husband killed — and the hateful comments she has been subjected to on the Internet have taken a toll on her family.
“We’re human beings,” she said. “This is real life. We’re not characters in some film. I lost my husband. My children lost their father. We’re in a lot of pain, and we have to deal with these people coming after us. If the autopsy report was thorough, I believe some of this could have been avoided.”
Chris was found hanged in his room at the MGM Grand Detroit hotel in May 2017, following a SOUNDGARDEN show at the city’s Fox Theatre. His body was found soon after he had spoken with a “slurred” voice to Vicky by phone.
From the very beginning, his family has questioned the medical examiner’s ruling, saying that he had a prescription for Ativan and that a higher than recommended dosage may have caused him to experience suicidal thoughts.
Vicky believes that her husband was not depressed and his death was not a suicide, but was instead brought on by the effect of the Ativan.
