Jennifer Chiba

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**Jennifer Chiba**
Jennifer Chiba and Elliott Smith
Born:	Unknown Unknown
Occupation:	Art Therapist, Singer

Jennifer Chiba is a musician, known for being the girlfriend of singer-songwriter Elliott Smith at the time of his death. The Los Angeles County Coroner's Office's investigation into Smith's death remains technically open, although it has not been active for several years and will likely remain this way indefinitely. Due largely to the case's inconclusive nature, speculation has arisen, particularly amongst some of Smith's fans, that Chiba may have murdered him.

1 Background
2 Musical Career
3 Elliott Smith's Death
4 Trivia
5 References

[edit] Background

[edit] Musical Career

Chiba briefly played bass for the Los Angeles based neo-psychedelic hard rock band, The Warlocks. She is now a member of a band named Hello Menno.

[edit] Elliott Smith's Death

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Chiba lived with Smith in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Following his death on 21 October 2003, she initially told LAPD detectives that during a heated fight with Smith, she locked herself inside of a bathroom. She says she then heard him scream and when she came out of the bathroom, he was standing up with a knife sticking out of his chest, which she removed. Chiba refused to talk to detectives further. Smith's autopsy report reads: Chiba's "reported removal of the knife and subsequent refusal to speak with detectives are all of concern." Initially, rumors were further fueled when Smith's name in his alleged suicide note, found at the scene, was misspelled, though this was later cleared up as a coroner's reporting mistake. The note read, I'm so sorry - love, Elliot. God forgive me.

Sean Organ, the owner of Org Records, the British label that planned to release the debut single of Chiba's band, made a statement after Smith's death in which he compared their relationship to that of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. "People described them as a Sid and Nancy couple, constantly arguing, splitting up and getting back together again. I can't really comment on it because I'm in London, they were over there in LA and I've never met them. The stories that were coming back were yes, that it was a crazed, druggy Sid and Nancy situation." ^[1]

Jennifer Chiba has publicly stated that she was in no way involved in Smith's death. "It's absolutely not my fault. I know that, and people close to Elliott know that," she says. Tired of being a "suspect in the court of public opinion" due to her silence about the situation, on January 9, 2004, Jennifer Chiba told MTV.com that she had "chosen to remain silent because I want to maintain some sense of privacy for Elliott and his family and myself in this really difficult time. If I was a suspect, I would have heard from the investigators, for one thing. Another is that his sister (Ashley Welch) and his parents and everyone close to him knows the truth, so I'm not worried about it." ^[2]

Less than a week later, Smith's family gave their own press release, effectively distancing themselves from Chiba's claims. The family's attorney, Conrad Rippy, wrote that the "family has every confidence that the ongoing investigation will determine the actual circumstances of Elliott's death. Until such time as their investigation has concluded, however, and especially in light of the recently published coroner's report, neither Elliott's family nor anyone else can claim to know 'the truth' about Elliott's death, and any statement to the contrary mischaracterizes the family's position." ^[3]

In late 2004, Jennifer Chiba filed a suit against Smith's family, stating that she and Smith were professional and personal partners (by some accounts, engaged to be married), and in turn deserved compensation for her role ^[4]. The outcome of the case is not known.

Chiba and Smith had been dating for more than a year at the time of his death. Smith, in addition to working on his sixth solo album, was also producing a single for Chiba's band, titled Happy Ending.

[edit] Trivia

Rivers Cuomo, lead singer of Weezer, stated in his interview with the CBC radio program "Definitely Not the Opera" that he dated Chiba before she dated Smith. Cuomo wrote the song "The Other Way" (which appears on Weezer's 2005 album Make Believe) for her following Smith's alleged suicide.