A disturbed Soundgarden fan was arrested on Friday after being accused of stalking Chris Cornell and his family for months.
Jessica Leigh Robbins, 32, is said to have forced the frontman and his wife to move their two children from school after they became convinced she planned to hurt them.
It’s believed she tried to enter their Miami, Florida, home last year after a seven-hour drive in an attempt to speak to Cornell. She’d previously claimed to be the mother of one of his kids and is thought to have falsely reported the singer’s wife for child abuse.
Administrators of the band’s website also reported strings of suspicious comments, up to 100 a day, posted under 37 different usernames but believed to come from the same source. One example, discussing Cornell’s wife, said: I’m done playing games with her – she is not going to be able to hurt him ever again by the time I’m done with her.”
Robbins, who’s thought to suffer from bipolar disorder, was arrested in Tampa following an FBI investigation. At a summary hearing, Special Agent Bradford Price stated the Cornells were living “in fear of death or serious bodily injury.”
Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson ordered her to refrain from making contact with Cornell, his family or the band, to stay offline, and to stay at least 1000 feet away from the Florida State Fairgrounds, where Soundgarden will play on August 11. She was released on $50,000 bail but ordered to wear an ankle monitor.
The singer told investigators he’d met Robbins in the mid-2000s at a fan event, when she ran towards him and asked whether a document she’d sent him had been helpful. He hadn’t understood what she was talking about, but reported that her manner had worried him.
Earlier this year criminal charges were brought against a woman accused of sending death threats to Cornell via Twitter. He applied for a restraining order against a man in 2007 who, he said, left him “harassed, stalked and spied on.”
Soundgarden are currently touring the US in a double-header with Nine Inch Nails, although they’re opening every show ahead of Trent Reznor’s sets.
