This article covers sensitive topics that may be disturbing to some viewers. Reader discretion advised.

Chris Cornell—singer and songwriter for Audioslave and Soundgarden—and Chester Bennington—singer and songwriter for Linkin Park—were best friends. Unfortunately, they both passed away in 2017 just 64 days apart, seemingly by suicide.

However, many, including myself, speculate that one, if not both, of them were murdered.

I personally believe the theory that Cornell was murdered, and after his best friend died, Bennington committed suicide.

Cornell was found on the floor of his hotel room by his bodyguard, Martin Kirsten, on May 18, 2017, after his final concert with Soundgarden. Kirsten reportedly had to “kick in two hotel doors” in order to get to Cornell’s body. He was found with a red exercise band wrapped around his neck, blood running down his lips, and, according to the paramedics who arrived on scene, a “laceration to back of skull [and] minor bleeding noted upon crew arrival.”

Strangely, the gash that paramedics reported to dispatch is not mentioned anywhere on Cornell’s official autopsy report.

Not only was Kirsten the last person to see Cornell alive, but he had also previously given Cornell a higher dosage of Ativan than he usually took. Lorazepam, or Ativan, is an anti-anxiety medication that has side effects of confusion, dizziness, and suicidal ideation.

While that does support the idea that Cornell committed suicide, the fact that the gash wasn’t mentioned in his full autopsy report and that he was working with others on a documentary that was planned to expose child predators and exploitation leads me to believe he may have been murdered.

Vicky Cornell, Chris’s wife, strongly believes he didn’t commit suicide. In an interview, she mentions that you can clearly see the gash on Cornell’s head in pictures and video footage taken on scene.

Furthermore, the documentary, The Silent Children, was abandoned after Cornell and Bennington’s deaths. Could this have been related to them being silenced?

While I strongly believe Cornell was murdered, I think Bennington’s case is a different story.

Chester Bennington was found on Cornell’s 53rd birthday, July 20, 2017. He was found by his housekeeper in his home, located in Palos Verdes Estates, California. Bennington was hanging from his bedroom door by a black Hugo Boss leather belt.

According to Bennington’s wife, Talinda, he had a long, hard past of depression, sexual abuse, previous suicide attempts, drug addiction, alcoholism, anxiety, and suicidal ideation.

Bennington told his friends and family a month before his death that he had been sober for six months and had been in an outpatient treatment program.

Despite what he had told his friends, his autopsy toxicology report says otherwise. The test for alcohol came back positive, and a test for MDMA, or ecstasy, came back as “presumptive positive,” but was later proven negative after further testing.

Alcohol was also found in his bedroom, as was a prescription bottle of Ambien, which was not found in his system, according to the toxicology report.

Bennington began showing early signs of suicidal ideation shortly after Cornell’s death. On his Instagram, he posted a farewell note to Cornell that read, [Talinda] told me my friend had just passed away. Thoughts of you flooded my mind, and I wept. I can’t imagine a world without you in it.”

Both cases have since been closed, and we may never truly know what happened on those horrific nights. Even still, we lost two incredibly talented musicians, but we will be forever reminded of them through the music they left behind.

If you are struggling with your own mental health, don’t hesitate to reach out to Colorado Crisis Services or call 988 for mental health emergencies.