ABC/Randy HolmesChris Cornell‘s widow Vicky Cornell has criticized Detroit’s Wayne County medical examiner for conducting what she believes is a “botched investigation” into her husband’s death.
Speaking with The Detroit News, Vicky says that the medical examiner’s ruling of suicide by hanging, as well as the 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 says. “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 maintains that Chris, who struggled with addiction throughout his life, was impaired by drugs at the time of his death, particularly the anti-anxiety drug Ativan, which lists “thoughts of suicide” as a side effect. She believes the medical examiner’s ruling that drugs didn’t have a role in Chris’ death is “completely misleading.”
That confusion has led to an onslaught of online harassment toward her and her family, Vicky says.
“The poor choice of phrasing has misled the public to believing he was of sound mind and body,” Vicky says. “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.”
A spokesperson for the medical examiner declined to comment to The Detroit News.
Chris Cornell died May 18, 2017. A public vigil will be held at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles this Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of his death.
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