Lauded Rocker Chris Cornell Killed Himself By Hanging

DETROIT – Chris Cornell, one of the most lauded and respected contemporary lead singers in rock music with his bands Soundgarden and Audioslave, hanged himself Wednesday in a Detroit hotel room, according to the city’s medical examiner. He was 52. The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office said Thursday it completed the preliminary autopsy on Cornell, but that “a full autopsy report has not yet been completed.” A police spokesman told two Detroit newspapers that the singer was found with a band around his neck. Cornell’s death stunned his family and his die-hard fans, who Cornell just performed for hours earlier at a show in Detroit.