Fake News: Police Did NOT Say Chester Bennington Was Murdered

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk

Fake news website YourNewsWire published an article titled "Police: Chester Bennington Was Murdered" shortly after the Linkin Park frontman was found dead after an apparent suicide. The article opens:

Police have reportedly launched a murder investigation into Chester Bennington's death with insiders believing it is "extremely likely" the Linkin Park frontman was killed in eerily similar circumstances to his close friend Chris Cornell.

FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED

Detectives are looking into whether Chester Bennington was murdered, with the death scene later arranged to resemble a suicide. They have put a team of investigators in place and are refusing to rule out a criminal homicide charge.

"Murders are sometimes made to look like suicides. We think he was murdered, we just have to find out who was behind it," said a police source.

chester.jpg

None of the police sources are actually named in the article. And there is no link or mention to any kind of an official announcement that Chester Bennington's death is being investigated as anything else than a suicide.

One name that does appear in the article is an "Investigator" named "Randy Cody" who supposedly spoke to the Detroit Free Press but whose name does not actually appear in the linked article or anywhere else on the site of that newspaper. He is supposedly investigating the earlier death of Chris Cornell but it is unclear what this has to do with Bennington's death and the article doesn't make it clear.

Investigator Randy Cody is among those questioning the suicide ruling. He points to perceived timeline gaps, forensic questions and what he says are two signs that Cornell had a head wound that was not mentioned in autopsy reports.

It looks like the Randy Cody in question is the editor of The Metal Den, a music website that has published about the investigation of the death of Chris Cornell. He is not an actual cop or FBI agent. He apparently has ran a fundraising campaign to collect $1000 to further investigate the death of Chris Cornell.

The autopsy of Bennington is scheduled to take place on friday according to Brian Elias of the coroner's office in USA Today:

The coroner's office said Thursday Bennington's death was being investigated as a possible suicide but few details were disclosed. The case is not yet officially closed, Elias said, but it is still being investigated as a suicide by hanging.

An autopsy has been scheduled for Friday, he said.

So, in summary: a site known for spreading fake news trots out an amateur investigator who is investigating a different person's death and concludes that this means the police said Chester Bennington was murdered.

That sounds like fake news to us...

Despite that the story is going viral as the Trendolizer graph at the end of this article shows. If you see any Linkin Park fans being mislead by this article, send them here for better information.

About Us

International Fact-Checking Organization Meta Third-Party Fact Checker

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

Lead Stories is a:


WhatsApp Tipline

Have a tip or a question? Chat with our friendly robots on WhatsApp!

Add our number +1 (404) 655-4223, follow this link or scan the image below with your phone:

@leadstories

Subscribe to our newsletter

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from Lead Stories LLC:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Most Read

Most Recent

Share your opinion