Chris Cornell The Tragedy Of Room 1136 , Photo’s of The Room, Statements from The Bodyguard Who Found Him And The Police Who Did Investigation

This is the door of room 1136 behind which tragic Chris Cornell spent the last few anguished minutes of his life alone, before committing suicide.

The room remains sealed off and has been listed by staff at the MGM Grand as ‘unavailable’ for booking.

The frame and door panel have been hastily repaired after they were damaged by Cornell’s bodyguard Martin Kirsten, who kicked his way in, to go to the Soundgarden singer’s aid.

The door is normally opened with a digital key card and there was confusion as Kirsten frantically tried to gain entry as hotel staff refused him access without authorization.

 

He found him dead on a bathroom floor of the $600-a-night room with a red exercise band around his neck after having to break through a second locked door.

It was 12.05am, around 45 minutes after he had left a concert hall having performed to a sell-out crowd.

Police have declared it a suicide by hanging, but the singer’s grieving widow believes the pills played a major part in ending the 52-year-old’s life.

Autopsy reports have yet to be finalized and laboratory tests are being sought by the medical examiner.

Kirsten, former boyfriend of supermodel Heidi Klum, gave Cornell two of the anti-anxiety pills after the rocker’s concert Wednesday night in Detroit, according to a police report.

Cornell’s attorney said that the grunge icon had a prescription for the medication.

Just 45 minutes later, Cornell’s wife Vicky called Kirsten in a panic, asking the bodyguard to check on her husband because ‘he did not sound like he [was] okay’.

Cornell’s widow said his death was ‘inexplicable’, suggesting that it was an overdose of Ativan that caused him to kill himself. Ativan is an anti-anxiety medication that has the serious side effect of causing users to have suicidal thoughts.

Kirsten served as Klum’s bodyguard before the two started dating in 2012. They broke up 18 months later, with sources telling RadarOnline at the time that Kirstein was ‘sick of being a house husband’.

Vicky says the Soundgarden frontman admitted to taking ‘an extra Ativan or two’. The anti-anxiety medication can cause suicidal thoughts. Pictured above in 2014

Heidi Klum’s ex-boyfriend Martin Kirsten (ex-couple pictured right, in 2013) is the bodyguard who gave Chris Cornell (left) two Ativan pills just before his suicide and later found his body

Chris Cornell’s wife Vicky (couple pictured above in April) said she spoke to the rocker on the phone just before he committed suicide early Thursday morning. He started to slur his words and said he may have taken ‘an extra Ativan or two’

Chris Cornell’s wife Vicky said she spoke to the rocker on the phone just before he committed suicide early Thursday morning. He started to slur his words and said he may have taken ‘an extra Ativan or two’

Vicky called Kirsten around 12:15am Thursday to check in on her husband at his MGM Grand hotel room in Detroit.

‘Chris’ death is a loss that escapes words and has created an emptiness in my heart that will never be filled. As anyone who knew him commented, Chris as a devoted father and husband. He was my best friend,’ Vicky wrote in a statement released through her attorney on Friday.

Vicky said that she spoke to her husband before and after the Detroit show, and he said nothing to suggest that he was going to take his own life.

‘His world revolved around his family first and, of course, his music second. He flew home for Mother’s Day to spend time with our family. He flew out mid-day Wednesday, the day of the show, after spending time with the children. When we spoke before the show, we discussed plans for a vacation over Memorial Day and other things we wanted to do,’ she said.

What happened is inexplicable and I am hopeful that further medical reports will provide additional details. I know that he loved our children and he would not hurt them by intentionally taking his own life. ‘

But she says she noticed a change after the show, when he started to slur his words.

‘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,’ she continued.

‘What happened is inexplicable and I am hopeful that further medical reports will provide additional details. I know that he loved our children and he would not hurt them by intentionally taking his own life,’ she said.

Chris, who famously sang the song, You Know My Name, for the James Bond film Casino Royale, was married to Vicky Karayiannis for 13 years, and they are parents to Toni, 12, and Christopher, 11.

Cornell was previously married to Susan Silver, with which he fathered daughter Lillian Jean, 17.

It has since been revealed that it was his bodyguard, Kirsten, who gave Cornell the two pills.

According to a police report, Kirsten came to Cornell’s room to fix his computer after the concert. At around 11:30pm, he gave Cornell two Ativan pills, which Cornell reportedly had a prescription for to treat anxiety.

In a police report, it was revealed that the bodyguard gave Cornell two Ativan, which Cornell had a prescription for, around 11:30pm on Wednesday

Ativan is a brand of the drug lorazepam, which is used to treat anxiety as well as seizures.

It works by boosting a natural chemical in the body that produces a calming effect.

Some of the side effects include drowsiness, dizziness, loss of coordination, headache, nausea, blurred vision, changes in sexual interest/ability, constipation, heartburn and change in appetite.

The drug has also been known to cause serious side effects, but they are rare. Those side effects include hallucinations, depression, thoughts of suicide, slurred speech, vision changes, unusual weakness, trouble walking, memory problems and infection.

The risk of serious side effects increases if the user consumes alcohol, pain killers, cough medicine or other various over-the-counter and prescription drugs while on the medication.

Five minutes later, Cornell called his wife and that’s when Vicky started to grow concerned because he was slurring his words.

Vicky told police that her husband sounded ‘groggy and just kept saying, “I am just tired”‘ before he eventually hung up the phone.

At around 12:15pm, Vicky called Kirsten and asked him to go check on her husband ‘to see if he is alright because he did not sound like he is okay’.

Kirsten walked to the room and knocked but got no answer – so he tried to get hotel management to open the door.

The hotel would not open the door for Kirsten since he was not registered to the room, so instead he kicked the door down himself. He found the door to the bathroom was also locked, so he kicked that door down as well.

Inside, he found Cornell slumped on the bathroom floor ‘with blood running from his mouth’ and a band around his neck.

Paramedics tried to resuscitate Cornell to no avail. At 1:30am, Cornell was officially pronounced dead by a doctor who was brought to the scene.

His death has since been categorized a suicide, but his family believes it’s too early to say for sure.

‘The family believes that if Chris took his life, he did not know what he was doing, and that drugs or other substances may have affected his actions,’ the family’s attorney Kirk Pasich said in a statement.

He added: ‘Without the results of toxicology tests, we do not know what was going on with Chris — or if any substances contributed to his demise. Chris, a recovering addict, had a prescription for Ativan and may have taken more Ativan than recommended dosages. The family believes that if Chris took his life, he did not know what he was doing, and that drugs or other substances may have affected his actions.’

In her statement on Friday, Vicky said thank you to all the fans that had voiced their support since the suicide.

‘The outpouring of love and support from his fans, friends and family means so much more to us than anyone can know. Thank you for that, and for understanding how difficult this is for us,’ Vicky said.

It was also revealed by DailyMail.com on Thursday that Cornell had been acting ‘absolutely normally’ when he left the Detroit show Wednesday night.

The 52-year-old told fans ‘I love you’ as he was escorted from the front of the Motor City’s Fox Theatre from a door near the main box office.

He wished them luck, posed for selfie photographs and told some he would see them in Columbus, Ohio – where his band were due to perform Friday night.

Still clothed in his performance t-shirt and jeans, he emerged from the Fox Theater 25 minutes after coming off stage at around 11pm with band mates including co-founder Kim Thayll.

The band were escorted out of the Fox Theater after their sell out concert at around 11.25pm

The group were whisked off together to the MGM Grand Hotel in a mini-bus.

The hotel is behind the theatre and around half-a-mile away.

Cornell gave no clue of his torment and appeared ‘absolutely normal’ said a member of his security team.

He seemed happy and glad to meet fans.

The continuing police investigation will focus on what happened in the hour after the show ended and who he spoke with.

The autopsy is incomplete and tests on Cornell, who was a reformed drug abuser, may be carried out to see if narcotics played a part in his death.

Police spokesman Michael Woody told DailyMail.com: ‘We are doing everything to look into this death.

‘There is absolutely no motive at this stage for this suicide. But we hope to be able to bring closure for his family and his fans as soon as possible.’

He said Cornell had left no suicide note, but would not comment on questions of whether any drugs were found next to Cornell’s body or in his room.

Hours before his death, Cornell posted a link to his band’s performance of By Crooked Steps, with the lyrics ‘I’m the shape of the hole inside your heart.’

The song, which also features the lyrics, ‘not looking for a brighter side… I don’t care if you want to cry’ was unusually dark for Soundgarden with drummer Matt Cameron once remarking on how it was such a ‘serious’ song.

Lyrics also include ‘I’m a ghost and a healer’ and ‘When blood is raining down, it cuts a deep deep river, ‘ it continues.

He also chose a dark song to end his gig with on Wednesday.

Devastated fans have shared the band’s set list online, writing that the final song of the night was their song, Slaves And Bulldozers.

Chris Cornell talked about his passion for music shortly before his death

The Grammy award-winning, Golden Globe nominated singer also started the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation to support children facing poverty and abuse.

He told Details magazine in 2012: ‘When I met my wife Vicky’s family, I had to go out of my way to convince them – to show them – that I wasn’t anything like their idea of a musician.’

He was part of the same Seattle grunge rock music scene as Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, and in 2015, footage emerged of Cobain doing an impression of him.

He told Shaun Keaveny during an interview with BBC Radio 6 in 2012 that having Nirvana and Pearl Jam as friends when Soundgarden were making it big really helped him.

He said: ‘It was an exciting time. We had people we could talk to about this insane experience. It was happening to a few of us. People we had known for a long time.

‘It was all new to us. We didn’t know what to make of it. It helped to have some friends going through the same craziness.’

Many of the great grunge icons from that 90s scene have since died from drug overdoses or, in the case of Cobain, a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

In 2001, Cornell joined members of Rage Against The Machine to form Audioslave, which earned acclaim with its self-titled album that earned three-platinum status.

Cornell also had an extensive solo career as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, composer and lyricist and worked with various other musicians over three decades in the music business.

For confidential support call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255

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