Chris Cornell's widow slams 'botched investigation' into Soundgarden singer's death

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Rocker Chris Cornell dead at 52

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Chris Cornell’s widow slammed a Michigan medical examiner Tuesday for conducting a “botched investigation” into the Soundgarden singer’s death a year ago.

The probe into her husband’s apparent suicide has left her with many questions and heartache, Vicky Cornell told The Detroit News. She said people had spurred conspiracy theories online making “all sorts of false accusations" and subjected her to online attacks.

“This has left me and my family still looking for answers, but at the same time, set off this whirlwind of conspiracies,” Cornell told newspaper. “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.”

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Vicky Cornell said the Wayne County medical examiner wrote in the autopsy report that drugs didn’t contribute to the rocker’s cause of death, which she claimed 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.”

The widow said the conspiracy theories and the hateful comments she has received from Internet users has taken a toll on her.

Vicky Cornell slammed the investigation into her husband, Chris Cornell’s death a year after he died. (Reuters)

“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.”

Vicky Cornell and her husband had two children together and were married for 13 years.

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The Soundgarden front man died in May 2017 at age 52 after he was found with a resistance band around his neck. Toxicology tests showed the presence of barbiturates, caffeine and lorazepam, also known as Ativan, for relief of anxiety. The report also lists naloxone, an anti-opioid drug, and a decongestant.

"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."

— Vicky Cornell

Vicky Cornell said the medical examiner never tested her husband’s body for Prednisone, a steroid he was prescribed. A bottle of the steroid was found in the singer’s hotel room where he was found dead.

Cornell said her husband was prescribed Ativan after he tore a muscle in his shoulder. The singer was on the drug for about a year despite it is not supposed to be taken for more than four weeks.

The barbiturates found in his system were not prescribed.

The autopsy report stated the drugs did not contribute to Cornell’s death and confirmed Cornell killed himself following a concert.

Chris Cornell’s death was ruled a suicide. (Reuters)

Vicky Cornell said she “doesn’t necessarily want the medical examiner to list drugs as the official cause of death” but would like some clarification.

She said her husband battled opioid addiction in the late 1990s and told a friend he relapsed in March 2017, just weeks before his death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.