Lawsuit Claiming Kurt Cobain Was Murdered and Demanding Release of Death Photos Dismissed by Judge

More than twenty years after his death, conspiracy theories claiming Kurt Cobain was murdered sadly still persist. A fervent perpetuator of such theories is Seattle's own Richard Lee — host of the local public access show Now See It Person To Person: Kurt Cobain Was Murdered. In the decades since Cobain's death was ruled a suicide, Lee hasn't wavered in the slightest from his assertion that Cobain was murdered as part of a larger conspiracy involving numerous government officials.

In 2014, Lee filed suit against the city of Seattle claiming that photos and other documents were being intentionally withheld that would "prove" his theory. On Friday, King County Superior Court Judge Theresa Doyle ruled that Lee "improperly served his lawsuit to the city by not delivering it to the mayor, city manager, or city clerk." Citing procedural grounds, the lawsuit was dismissed "with prejudice" — meaning Lee will be unable to file an additional lawsuit related to the same request for sensitive documents, according toThe Seattle Times. However, Lee can — and, according to him, most likely will — submit new requests for the release of the documents in question.

Both Courtney Love and daughter Frances Bean Cobain asked the city to dismiss the lawsuit, stating with urgency that the release of such photos would cause grave emotional distress for the Cobain family and should thus remain private. "Coping with even the possibility that those photographs could be made public is very difficult," Frances said in a statement. "Further sensationalizing it through the release of these pictures would cause us indescribable pain."