Reports that Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington was murdered contrary to reports that the singer committed suicide have been dismissed as fake news after it was found that most of the claims of the article circulating online have not been substantiated. While the article quickly became widely circulated and Conspiracy theories gained ground online, official sources never made any statement to support murder speculations.
Conspiracy theory
It came as a shock to the music industry when Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington was found hanging in his home in Palos Verdes Estates at around 9 am last Thursday.
The coroner’s office has ruled the shocking death as an apparent suicide and the world mourned the loss of a talented music icon.
However, a day after the news of Bennington’s suicide, the website yournewswire.com posted an article purporting that the Linkin Park frontman’s death was being investigated as a murder and not suicide. The article further suggested a connection to the death of Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell last year. Cornell, a good friend of Bennington, also committed suicide last year by hanging himself using an exercise resistance band in his hotel room.
What’s more, the report suggested that the murder may have been committed by a child pedophile ring who wanted to silence both Cornell and Bennington about their knowledge about a syndicate dealing in the illegal trade.
Both artists were active in their advocacy to stop child exploitation in recent years. The article claimed that police are not ruling out murder and claimed that a police source is investigating who is behind the deaths of the two music superstars.
Dubious source
While on paper, it seems that the claims on the Chester Bennington article could hold some water, the writer has been tracked down by Daily Mail and interviewed on his source for the murder claims.
According to the news outfit, the writer Baxter Dmitry maintained that the claims he made on his article were not dismissed by the coroner’s office as untrue. The writer said the claims of murder were made by members of the Linkin Park frontman’s family and friends, and even members of the police. However, the site maintained that they have found nothing and no one to substantiate the writer’s claims.
The website in which Dmitry has been writing for has also been known for publishing eye catching and sensational news, not at all of which have been proven true. CBS has earlier called out Yournewswire for publishing a fabricated investigation on former First Lady Michelle Obama. Politifact, a watchdog organization, has also dismissed the site as a purveyor of fake news.
Without any official announcement from Chester Bennington’s family or the police in charge of the actual investigation of the case, netizens are being warned against playing party to the spread of false information and are being advised to maintain their vigilance on the articles that they share. Bennington’s murder news has reportedly been shared 780,000 times.
