Pitchfork

[Posted Monday, January 5th, 2004 04:00:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Chris Leslie-Hynan and Will Bryant report:
The exact cause of Elliott Smith's October 21st death remains inconclusive, according to a statement released December 30th by the Los Angeles county coroner's office following an autopsy and extensive toxicology tests. Though Smith's death was initially and uniformly assumed to be a suicide, coroner's spokesman David Campbell said that the singer's injuries "could have been inflicted by the decedent himself or by another person. The coroner was unable to determine which occurred... due to incomplete knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the death."

Among the new items of information in the coroner's report, Smith died due to two "penetrating stab wounds" to the chest, contradicting earlier reports that he had suffered only a single, fatal wound. The case was initially reported to the Los Angeles Police Department as an "attempted suicide," but an LAPD spokesman said that detectives would reinvestigate the case following the autopsy report. According to a web exclusive published by the L.A. Weekly, the coroner also found prescribed levels of antidepressant and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder medications in Smith's system, including clonazepam, mirtazapine, atomozetine and amphetamine (though the report is clear that the last item is a byproduct of Smith's body having metabolized other drugs). The coroner's spokesman also noted that toxicology reports found no alcohol or illegal substances in Smith's system.

In an October L.A. Weekly report, journalist Christine Pelisek disclosed that Smith's girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba, was reportedly in another room at the time of the incident and, upon discovering the singer, removed a steak knife from Smith's chest. The Weekly also reported that LAPD homicide investigators took a Post-It note found at the scene as evidence.

Producer Larry Crane, whose Portland studio Smith helped to construct, reported on his Tape Op message board that he had made plans to help mix Smith's still-unfinished album in mid-November, only to be informed of the singer's death a week later. "I hadn't talked to Elliott in over a year," Crane wrote in October. "His girlfriend Jennifer called me last week and asked if I'd like to come to L.A. and help mix and finish [Smith's album]. I said yes, or course, and chatted with Elliott for the first time in ages... It seems surreal that he would call me to finish an album and then a week later kill himself. I talked to Jennifer this morning, who was obviously shattered and in tears, and she said, 'I don't understand, he was so healthy.'"

Smith's official website, Sweet Adeline, recently reported on the progress the singer had made on his unfinished album, including three tracks Smith completed just one week before his death-- "Memory Lane," "Stickman," and "King's Crossing." The last of these, an older song which dates back to at least 1999, reads almost like a suicide note in and of itself, with lines like "I can't prepare for death any more than I already have" and a reference to his recording career as "the method acting that pays my bills." The site also posted three images of Smith in the studio, reportedly taken in the week before the singer's death.

"There [are] tons of songs that only need to be mixed or just need one more track of vocals or bass or keyboards," webmaster Charlie Ramirez reported in late November. As previously reported, Smith's unreleased recordings are now the property of the singer's family, who will decide when and if the recordings are released.

Last month, memorial benefits were held in Nashville, Boston, Baltimore, and Grand Rapids, MI with proceeds benefiting the Elliott Smith Memorial Fund, a charity fund for abused children. Smith's friend and recording partner, Mary Lou Lord, helped organize the Boston event.