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Tests on Musician's Death Inconclusive
12/30/2003 11:31 PM, AP
Tests to determine whether an Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter was murdered or committed suicide were inconclusive, a coroner's spokesman said Tuesday.
Elliott Smith , 34, died in a hospital on Oct. 21 after his live-in girlfriend found him in their apartment with a stab wound to the chest. Initial reports indicated the reclusive Smith had stabbed himself, said coroner's spokesman David Campbell .
But an investigation into his death and an examination of his body were unable to determine if the wound was self-inflicted or if Smith was the victim of an attack.
"The coroner's examination determined either scenario was possible," Campbell said.
The Los Angeles Police Department continues to investigate Smith's death, said Officer Jason Lee , a police spokesman.
Smith, who earned a 1998 Academy Award nomination for his song "Miss Misery" from the film "Good Will Hunting," performed it at that year's awards show. The song lost to "My Heart Will Go On" from the film "Titanic."
Campbell said tests showed no illegal drugs in Smith's body at the time of his death.
Friends said Smith had become reclusive in recent years, and the singer-songwriter himself said he never sought fame and had at one time struggled with alcoholism.
Smith was a favorite of rock music critics who admired his often dark, seemingly confessional songs, but he enjoyed only modest commercial success.
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