Feb. 24, 2026

"GAVE HIS SON A GUN: THE COLIN GRAY TRIAL, AMERICAN IDOL PASTOR'S 911 CALL & KURT COBAIN'S 'MURDER'"

"GAVE HIS SON A GUN: THE COLIN GRAY TRIAL, AMERICAN IDOL PASTOR'S 911 CALL & KURT COBAIN'S 'MURDER'"
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Reid Carter continues coverage of the Colin Gray trial in Winder, Georgia - the father accused of enabling the Apalachee High School massacre. Days three through five revealed the horrifying forensic details: 36 shots fired, 103 total cartridges carried by his 14-year-old son, and the medical examiner testifying no victim could have survived even steps from a hospital. Colt Gray's grandmother drops a bombshell question the boy asked before the shooting. Plus: Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn, a music pastor and worship leader, is charged with murdering his teacher wife Ashley in their Ohio home while their children slept. And forensic scientists say Kurt Cobain was murdered.

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WEBVTT

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Caalarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Reed Carter Tuesday, February

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twenty fourth, twenty twenty six. Last week we brought you

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the first two days of the Colin Gray trial in

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winder Georgia, the father of Appalachi High School shooter, Colt Gray,

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facing two counts of second degree murder and two counts

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of involuntary manslaughter for giving his fourteen year old son

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an assault style rifle and ignoring every warning sign that

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child was planning a massacre. Days three, four and five

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filled in the picture, and it is ugly forensic testimony

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about what one hundred three cartridges due to a school hallway,

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a medical examiner saying none of the four victims could

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have survived their wounds even if it happened on the

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steps of a hospital, and Colt Gray's maternal grandmother on

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the stand revealing that before the shooting, her grandson asked

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her a question that should haunt everyone who let this happen.

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That's the main event today. Then. Caleb Flynn, thirty nine

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years old. You might remember him from American Idol in

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twenty thirteen, music pastor worship leader devoted Christian at two

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thirty in the morning on February sixteenth, he called nine

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to one one from his Tip City, Ohio home, hyperventilating,

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said someone broke in and shot his wife, Ashley, twice

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in the head. Police say he did it, charged with murder,

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and finally, a peer reviewed forensic paper just published in

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the International Journal of Forensic Science says Kurt Cobain didn't

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kill himself, says he was overdosed on heroin by an

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assailant and then shot. The Seattle Police Department isn't interested.

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We are. I'm Reed Carter. Today a father's trial, a

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pastor's nine one one call, and a thirty one year

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old murder mystery. This is celebrity trials. Let's go back

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to Barrow County, Georgia. Winder Barrow County Courthouse the trial

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of Colin Gray, fifty four years old, accused of giving

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his son the weapon used to kill four people at

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Appalachi High School on September fourth. Di Vituxtoshi Divdesmitchetri. We

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covered days one and two. Last week, opening statements, survivor

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testimony from the students and teachers in the classrooms the moment.

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Colt Gray, just fourteen years old, only in his fifth

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day at a new school, walked out of a bathroom

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in yellow work gloves, carrying an AR style rifle concealed

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inside a rolled up poster board. Day three picked up

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with the forensic reconstruction of what happened. Next. Zay Zeen,

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now eighteen years old and graduated from Appalachi, took the stand.

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He was a student there that morning. He described seeing

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a white male with blondish hair carrying what appeared to

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be an AR style weapon. Colt Gray pointed the gun

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directly at him. Zaye ran. His teacher wouldn't open the

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classroom door to let him back in, following lockdown protocol,

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and told him to hide in the bathroom instead. He did.

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He told the court he was prepared to defend himself

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if it came to that. De Martin, the assistant principal,

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testified next. On the morning of the shooting, Colt's first

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period teacher, Suzanne Harris, had already emailed the school with

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concerns about this student. He'd asked her whether the school

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held active shooter drills. He had a heavy, awkward looking

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backpack that alone should have set off alarms. And then

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the detail that absolutely floors you Colt's mother, Marcy Gray,

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called the school four minutes before her son stood up

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from his desk to leave class. She was worried about

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his emotional well being, and she told them he had

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access to firearms. Four minutes later, Colt left his second

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period algebra class, supposedly to go to the counseling office.

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He didn't. He went to the bathroom. He stayed there

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for thirty two minutes. The school was already searching for him.

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They had a name confusion problem. Another student was also

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named Colton Gray also went by Colt. It slowed them down.

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At ten twenty two in the morning, he walked back

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into that hallway. The forensic testimony in day three was

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methodical and devastating. GBI crime scene specialist Daniella Stewart showed

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the jury a video scan of the school, the entire

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crime scene captured and preserved. The stocking cap Colt had

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in his backpack was found in the men's bathroom. The

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poster board he'd wrapped around the gun barrel was recovered

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on the ground in the hallway. Then GBI firearms examiner

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Sarah van Holm testified about the weapon and the ammunition

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thirty six cartridge casings were recovered from the scene, meaning

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Colt Gray fired at least thirty six shots. There were

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sixty seven unused cartridges also recovered. He could have fired

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sixty seven more. He brought one hundred and three cartridges

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to school that morning one hundred and three. The rifle itself,

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a modified AR fifteen style Big sour M four hundred,

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cost approximately one thousand dollars. It had a vertical foregrip

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and sights added after purchase. Required seven point twenty five

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pounds of trigger pressure to fire, the equivalent of lifting

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a gallon of milk. A fourteen year old doing it

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over and over, and then Doctor Samantha Maddox, the GBI

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medical examiner, took the stand. Mason Shermerhorn fourteen years old,

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shot three times in the head, and Torso Christian Angelo

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fourteen years old, shot once, but the bullet passed through

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both of his arms and then into his chest. He

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was trying to protect himself trying to block the shot.

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Christina Eremi fifty three years old, teacher, shot once. The

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bullet struck her. Aorda Richard Aspinwall thirty nine years old,

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teacher coach, shot three times. Doctor Maddox described all four

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injuries as catastrophic, and then she said something that will

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stay with you. She testified that none of the victims

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would have survived their wounds even if those injuries had

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occurred just outside the hospital. None of them. There was

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nothing anyone could have done to save them. Once Colt

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Gray pulled that trigger. Nothing. Day four moved the focus

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from the school itself to the question at the center

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of this trial, what did Colin Gray know and when

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did he know it? The prosecution brought a parade of

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witnesses through social services, school systems, and law enforcement to

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build the case that Colin wasn't just negligent, he was actively,

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repeatedly warned and repeatedly looked away. A school employee testified

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that back in twenty twenty one, Colt had used a

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school computer to search the terms abuse and how to

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kill my Dad. The school sent a resource officer to

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the home. They spoke with Marci, They did not contact

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Colin directly. A DFCS caseworker testified that a case was

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opened in September twenty twenty one after Marci struck Colt.

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Marcie told the caseworker she would get Colt into counseling.

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Colin was aware the case had been opened. He took

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Colt back to North Georgia and told the caseworker he

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would get his son counseling. He did not get his

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son counseling. A witness from a ministry in Barrow County

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testified there are no records of Colin Gray ever seeking

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counseling for Colt. In October twenty twenty three. A mental

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health therapist testified she received an inquiry about counseling for

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Colt in August twenty twenty four, just weeks before the shooting.

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She spoke to Colin Gray once the appointment was never

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set up. She never heard from him again. One of

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the most significant witnesses on Day four was Dan Miller

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of the Jackson County Sheriff's Office. In May twenty twenty three,

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the FBI received a tip about a discord user making

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school shooting threats. The tip traced back to Colt Gray's address.

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Law enforcement visited Colin Gray's home. Colt claimed his discord

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account had been hacked. The officer told Colin as a

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matter of standard protocol, to secure the weapons in the home.

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The next month, June twenty twenty three, a DFCS caseworker

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visited the home. Colin Gray did not tell her about

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the school shooting threat that had been investigated the month before.

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A Child Protective Services investigator also did a home safety assessment.

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Colin Gray did not tell her about the other DFCS cases.

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Colin Gray's body camera footage from the day of the

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shooting was played in court. He's at home when police arrive.

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He can be heard saying he knew something had happened,

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that his daughter had texted him. He told officers he

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was hoping to God that his son hadn't done anything,

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and then he told them Colt was in counseling. He

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was not. Day five Friday, the jury saw photographs of

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Colt Gray's bedroom and the shrine Nicholas Cruz, the Parkland shooter.

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February twenty eighteen, seventeine students and staff murdered at Marjorie

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Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Colt Gray had a

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shrine to Nicholas Cruz next to his computer, multiple photographs,

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a deliberate, organized tribute to one of the deadliest school

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shooters in American history. This shrine was in the bedroom

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in a home. Colin Gray lived in in a house

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where he was, by his own defense attorney's argument, a

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full time father trying to help his struggling son. Colt's

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maternal grandmother, Debbie pul Haemis, took the stand. She described

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Colt's chaotic upbringing. Colin and Marcie moved back and forth

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between North and South Georgia multiple times between twenty twenty

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and twenty twenty four. Marci had documented drug problems and

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legal issues. Colt was bounced between households, between school systems

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fourteen different schools over his academic career, with his eighth

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grade year effectively missing from the record entirely, no evidence

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of homeschooling, no enrollment anywhere, just gone and then pull

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Hamos Toda described a moment that stopped the courtroom. After

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a panic attack at school, Colt Gray asked his grandmother

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a question if I do something terrible, would you still

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love me? That question was asked before September fourth, twenty

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twenty four. A fourteen year old child with a shrine

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to a mass murderer in his bedroom, a history of threats,

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cutting himself, breaking windows, hearing voices, asked his grandmother if

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she would still love him if he did something terrible.

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Marcy Gray was scheduled to testify after her mother, but

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she was late to the courthouse. She went briefly missing.

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The judge released the jury early for the weekend while

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the parties waited for her. Day six continues today, we'll

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bring you updates. Richard Aspenwall was thirty nine years old.

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He was a teacher, a coach, a man who walked

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towards students to protect them and was shot three times

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for it. He should be in a classroom right now.

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Christina Hearramie was fifty three years old, a teacher who

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looked out from her classroom and was shot once, one

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bullet through the aorda. She should be grading papers right now.

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Mason Shermerhorn was fourteen years old. Christian Angulo was fourteen

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years old. They were in their first weeks of high school.

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They should be in class right now. Rest in peace

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to all four. We'll be right back with the American

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idol contestant now charged with murdering his wife while their

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children slept in the next room. Welcome back to celebrity trials.

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I'm reed Carter February sixteenth, twenty twenty six two thirty

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in the morning. Tip City, Ohio, a small town about

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twenty miles north of Dayton. A nine to one to

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one operator picks up a call. There's a man on

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the line. He is hyperventilating, sobbing, barely getting words out.

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Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god. Somebody

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broke into my home and shot my wife. The dispatcher

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asks if the intruder is still inside. He doesn't know.

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Please hurry, please, please hurry. Asked what he can see,

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the man says, my wife. She's got two shots to

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her head. There is blood everywhere. Oh my god, Oh

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my god, Oh my god. Officers arrived at the home

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and found Ashley Flynn, thirty seven years old, dead in

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the master bedroom, two gunshot wounds to the head. The

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man on the phone was Caleb Flynn, thirty nine years old,

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the husband and now the defendant. Prosecutors alleged that Caleb

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Flynn shot his wife himself and then called nine to

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one one to stage a break in scenario. Some of

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you may know the name Caleb Flynn appeared on American

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Idol in twenty thirteen. He made it through a auditions,

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talking about his faith and his family, spoke about how

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much he loved his wife. I absolutely love the Lord.

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I love my wife more than anything. She is very,

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very pretty. I love her. That's him on national television

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over a decade ago. After the show, Caleb became a

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music pastor and worship leader at Christian Life Center in

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Butler Township, Ohio. A figure of the faith community, a

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family man, Ashley Flynn was a beloved figure two. A

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graduate of Tippecanu High School and Lee University, she coached

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girls volleyball at Tippecanu Middle School, worked as a substitute

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teacher for Tip City Schools, taught at LifeWise Academy, a

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nonprofit providing Bible based education to public school students. Her

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district described her as someone known for her beautiful smile, warmth, kindness,

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and the positive impact she had on so many both

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in and out of the classroom and on the court.

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A go fund me for her daughters raised more than

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one hundred thousand dollars in a single day. Their two

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children were sleeping in nearby rooms when this happened two

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thirty in the morning. Here's what investigators say. They found

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two shell casings near the foot of the bed, the

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center console of Caleb's twenty twenty four Ford pickup truck

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was open and that is where he told police he

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kept his handgun. And in the garage a large refrigerator

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had been positioned directly in front of the garage's side door.

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In order for an intruder to enter through that door,

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they would have had to push that refrigerator aside. They

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didn't because there was no intruder. Caleb Flynn has been

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charged with murder, two counts of felonious assault with a

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deadly weapon, and two counts of tampering with evidence. His

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bond was set at two million dollars. He was booked

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into Miami County Jail on Thursday evening and was due

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back in court for a preliminary hearing. Police Chief Greg

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Adkins pushed back on reports circulating online that a suspect

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had confessed. The Flynn family is coping with an unam

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imaginable loss and the department will not try this case

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in the media. This matter will be resolved through the

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judicial process and adjudicated in a court of law. The FBI,

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Miami County Sheriff's Office, and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation

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are all assisting with what they describe as a complex investigation.

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Complex is the right word, because whatever this is staging, premeditation,

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or something, investigators are still unraveling. It happened in a

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house with sleeping children, in the middle of the night,

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in a home that the entire community trusted belonged to

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a godly, loving family. We will track this case as

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it develops. Ashley Flynn was thirty seven years old. A teacher,

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a coach, a mother, the kind of person who gave

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Bible lessons to public school kids and could make a

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gym full of middle school volleyball players believe in themselves.

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She should be planning her spring season right now. She

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should be home with her daughters. Rest in peace, Ashley

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coming up. A peer reviewed forensic paper says Kurt Cobain

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was murdered, the evidence, the experts, and why Seattle police

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still aren't interested. Welcome back to celebrity trials. I'm reed Carter,

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April fifth, nineteen ninety four, Seattle, Washington. The greenhouse above

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the garage at Kurt Cobain's Lake Washington home. The lead

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singer of Nirvana is found dead by an electrician who

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came to install a security system. Shotgun wound to the

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head Remington Model eleven twenty gage. He is twenty seven

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years old. The King County Medical Examiner rules it a suicide.

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The case is closed for thirty one years. It stays

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closed now. A peer reviewed forensic paper published in the

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International Journal of Forensic Science is arguing that Kurt Cobain

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was murdered. That someone or multiple people forced a heroin

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overdose on him to render him unconscious, then shot him,

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placed the gun in his arms, and left behind a

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forged suicide note. The paper was produced by an unofficial,

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private sector forensic team. The lead analyst is Brian Burnett,

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a specialist with decades of experience. He's known for work

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on the marine Colonel James Sabocase and others where his

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forensic reconstructions challenged official findings. Independent researcher Michelle Wilkins worked

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with the team and has spoken publicly about their conclusions.

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Burnett reportedly said, after just three days reviewing the evidence,

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this is a homicide. We've got to do something about this.

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The paper presents ten points of evidence. Let me walk

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you through the most compelling ones. First, the organ damage.

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Cobain's autopsy showed fluid in the lung bleeding in the eyes,

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and necrosis tissue death in the brain and liver. According

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to the forensic team, those specific injuries don't happen in

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an instantaneous gun shot death. They happen in a prolonged

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overdose where oxygen slowly stops reaching the organs, the brain

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and liver starve. The necrosis of the brain and liver

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happens in an overdose, Wilkins said, it doesn't happen in

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a shotgun death. Second, the blood spatter, or the lack

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of it. In shotgun suicides, the hands and surrounding area

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are covered in blood. The forensic team says Cobaine's left

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hand was unusually inexplicably clean. Their theory his left hand

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was placed on the weapon after death to create the

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appearance he held it, which is why there's no spatter.

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The hand wasn't there when the gun fired. Third, the

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shell casing. The team replicated the weapon. They found that

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if a person's hand is positioned on the forward barrel

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the way Cobain's hand was described in the police report,

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the gun wouldn't eject a shell at all. Yet a

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shell was found at the scene, and it was found

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in the opposite direction from where physics says it should

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have ejected. Fourth, the gun itself. The shotgun Cobain allegedly used,

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weighed six pounds, it had a long barrel. The team

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argues it would be extraordinarily difficult for a person in

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a heroin induced coma, which the toxicology suggests he was,

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to hold that weapon in position and reach the trigger.

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Imagine he's comatose and dying, Wilkins said, and also the

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way that he would have had to hold it, it's crazy.

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Fifth the blood on his shirt. There's a large blood

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stain on the bottom of Cobain's shirt. The team says

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the only way blood gets there is if the body

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was lifted with the head facing down after death. There's

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no blood on his hand, There's no blood on the

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rest of his shirt, but there's a big blood stain

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on the bottom, suggesting the body was moved after the shooting. Sixth,

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the heroin kit next to Cobain's body was a heroin

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kit capped syringes, cotton buds, pieces of black heroine of

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roughly equal size. The police concluded he had injected himself

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with approximately three times and at a level ten times

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what a heavy user would normally take, but the kit

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was found in perfect order, capped needles, everything tidy. We're

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supposed to believe. Wilkins said, he capped the needles and

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put everything back in order after shooting up three times,

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because that's what someone does while they're dying. And seventh,

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the note. The forensic team examined Cobain's suicide note and

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believes the top portion was written by Cobain himself, but

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about quitting the band, no mention of suicide. The final

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four lines, they argue, were written by someone else. If

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you even look at the note, Wilkins said, you can

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see that the last four lines are written differently. It's bigger,

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it's more scrawly. Receipts for the gun and the shells

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were found in Cobain's pocket. The scene was immaculate to me,

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Wilkins said. It looks like someone staged a movie and

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wanted you to be absolutely certain this was a suicide.

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Now the pushback, the King County Medical Examiner's Office told

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The Daily Mail that they followed all procedures, conducted a

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full autopsy, and remain at their determination of suicide. They

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said they're open to revisiting conclusions if new evidence comes

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to light, but have seen nothing to warrant reopening the case.

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The Seattle Police Department said their detective concluded it was

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a suicide and that remains the department's position. Both declined

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to reopen. The forensic team says they're not asking for arrests.

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They're asking for transparency, for someone to look at their

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evidence and prove them wrong. If we're wrong, just prove

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it to us. That's all we ask them to do.

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Here's where I land on this. The forensic paper went

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through peer review and was published in a legitimate journal

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that matters. These aren't YouTube conspiracy theorists with a podcast.

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These are people with credentials presenting physical evidence to scientific standards.

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The questions they're raising about the blood patterns, the shell casing,

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and the organ damage are specific, technical and not easily dismissed.

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Does that mean Kurt Cobain was definitely murdered? No. Forensic

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analysis has been wrong before in both directions. The police

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investigation in nineteen ninety four was thorough by the standards

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of the time, but we looked into it thirty one

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years ago and we're comfortable. Is not the same as

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engaging with a peer reviewed forensic re examination, and the

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human cost of getting this wrong in either direction is real.

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Wilkins mentioned that in twenty twenty two, a young person

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took their own life because they believed Cobain had done

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the same. If the original ruling is wrong, the ripple

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effects go on for decades. Seattle should look at the paper.

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That's not a radical ask. Kurt Cobain was twenty seven

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years old. One of the most important voices in American

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music gone on April fifth, nineteen ninety four, Whether by

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his own hand or someone else's. The world lost something

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irreplaceable that day. That's celebrity trials for Tuesday, February twenty fourth,

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twenty twenty six. Colin Gray trial in winder Georgia. Days

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three through five, one hundred and three Cartridges brought to

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a high school four victims whose injuries were unsurvivable from

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the first second. A grandmother on the stand describing a

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boy who asked if he'd still be loved if he

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did something terrible. Day six is today. Former American Idol

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contestant Caleb Flynn charged with murdering his wife Ashley, in

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their Ohio home while their children slept near by two

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thirty in the morning, two shots to the head, a

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staged break in bond set at two million dollars, and

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forensic scientists publishing peer reviewed research say Kurt Cobain was

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murdered in nineteen ninety four. Seattle is not interested. The

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evidence says they should be. I'm reed, Carter, join us

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tomorrow for whatever breaks. This is celebrity trials.