Chris Cornell

On May 18, 2017, Chris Cornell died at the age of 52 by suicide from hanging.

What Happened?
Around 12:15 a.m. on May 18, 2017, Cornell was found unconscious by his bodyguard in the bathroom of his hotel room, 1136, at the MGM Grand in Detroit, Michigan, after performing at a show with Soundgarden at the Fox Theatre on May 17. He was lying on the floor with an exercise band around his neck and blood in his mouth. An MGM medic and EMS personnel were unable to revive Cornell. Cornell was pronounced dead by a doctor at 1:30 a.m. He was 52 years old. The cause of death was officially ruled a suicide by hanging. Police ruled out foul play by reviewing a hotel surveillance video, which showed nobody entering or exiting the suite after Cornell's bodyguard left at around 11:35 p.m.

On June 2, 2017, the Wayne County Medical Examiner released its autopsy and toxicology report in the death of Cornell. The medical examiner confirmed that the cause of death was hanging and the manner of death was ruled as suicide, adding that Cornell's injuries were all "consistent with hanging, partially suspended by the resistance exercise band," and that "drugs did not contribute" to the cause of death. Only prescription medications in therapeutic doses were found in Cornell's system: the sedative Butalbital (5.4 mcg/mL), commonly prescribed for the treatment of headache; four doses (41 ng/mL) of the anti-anxiety medication lorazepam (also known as Ativan); the decongestant pseudoephedrine (170 ng/mL) and its metabolite norpseudoephedrine (10 ng/mL); caffeine (from No-Doz tablets that Cornell had ingested); and naloxone (used to reverse opioid overdoses), which was reportedly administered by emergency personnel upon their arrival at the scene. No pills were found in Cornell's stomach. Cornell's widow stated that the Ativan was prescribed to him in 2016 as a sleep aid. Photos from Cornell's hotel room showed that his prescription for Ativan was "1 tablet every 12 hours."

Cornell's widow contacted insurance lawyer Kirk Pasich within a few minutes after her husband's death. Pasich became the spokesperson for the widow and blamed Ativan for the singer's death, stating that Cornell would not intentionally take his own life. Cornell's widow said, "When we spoke after the show, I noticed he was slurring his words; he was different. When he told me he may have taken an extra Ativan or two, I contacted security and asked that they check on him."

Aftermath
Three weeks after his death, the music video for Cornell's single "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart" was removed from YouTube. Released in September 2015, the video depicted the singer as a death row prisoner in the Old West who survived a hanging. Cornell's son, Christopher, also appeared in the video.

Cornell publicly talked about his struggle with depression, isolation and suicidal thoughts several times throughout his life. Following Cornell's death, his older brother, Peter Cornell, started a campaign to raise awareness on depression and suicide prevention. A few days later, Peter revealed that he was being bullied and threatened to change the narrative of this awareness message, and that this bullying was coming from a place he could never have imagined. In October 2017, Peter reacted to criticism thrown at him on social media by his brother's mother-in-law. He talked about the stigma surrounding mental illness and the addiction narrative being spun by his brother's widow and her family to explain Cornell's death, stating, "And there is that word again. Stigma. Somehow it's "sexy" to be an addict (of which I am also familiar), but let's not talk about mental illness. Stigma. There are those who re-victimize and bully us. Taunt and demand us to re-live and tell the details of our painful upbringing. To what end? It doesn't erase the damage done. It doesn't turn back the hands of time. We are survivors."

On July 11, 2017, the Detroit Police Department released the full police report on Cornell's death, along with photographs from Cornell's hotel room and the 911 call from the MGM Grand Detroit from the night of Cornell's death. The call was made by a hotel employee at 12:56 a.m., reporting "a nonresponsive guest... inside of Room 1136." According to the report, Martin Kirsten (Cornell's bodyguard) was at the singer's hotel room at 11:30 p.m. to help him with his computer. It also says that Cornell's wife, Vicky, talked to her husband at 11:35 p.m. Alarmed by what she heard, Vicky phoned Kirsten to ask him to check on her husband "because he did not sound like he was OK." According to Vicky, Cornell kept saying, "I am just tired," and hung up the phone. A call from Vicky's at 12:15 a.m. prompted Kirsten to go to Cornell's suite to check on him. Unable to enter the room because of the interior latch, Kirsten returned to his room and called hotel security. Security refused to assist.

Kirsten told police that he went to Cornell's room at around 12:15 a.m., but could not access the locked room. He then had a telephone conversation with Vicky, who instructed him to kick the door open as the hotel staff refused to do it. Kirsten told police in a signed statement that he kicked the bedroom door 6-7 times before it opened, then went inside and the bathroom door was partially opened and he could see Cornell's feet. Kirsten said that Vicky was on the phone with him the whole time asking for updates. Kirsten said in his statement that he loosened the band around Cornell's neck, then tried to resuscitate him by compressing his chest. Medical personnel arrived at 12:56 a.m. and tried to resuscitate Cornell, only to no success. Cornell was pronounced dead at around 1:30 a.m., an hour and 15 minutes after his bodyguard was first contacted by Cornell's wife. It is unknown how long it took for the bodyguard to gain entry to the hotel room and find Cornell.

Questioned by The Detroit News why it took 41 minutes to get a medical team to the scene after the bodyguard found Cornell lying on the floor, police insisted that there were no gaps. Investigators looked at the length of the phone call between Cornell and his wife, and the calls the bodyguard made to security and checked video surveillance footage from the hotel hallway, and determined the timeline was accurate, and the bodyguard's story checked out.

On November 1, 2018, Vicky Cornell and her children filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court, claiming that Dr. Robert Koblin "negligently and repeatedly" prescribed "dangerous mind-altering controlled substances to Chris Cornell which impaired Mr. Cornell's cognition, clouded his judgment, and caused him to engage in dangerous impulsive behaviors that he was unable to control, costing him his life." The suit claims Koblin prescribed Lorazepam over a period of 20 months without seeing Cornell. In his motion for dismissal, Koblin denied all accusations of negligence and said that Cornell was well aware of the risks inherent to the medication, which he was taking to treat anxiety. Koblin ordered Cornell the first prescription of Lorazepam in September 2015. Koblin insisted that he did everything within his power to help Cornell, and that extant malpractice law should shield him from being sued.