Allow Me To Explain This Bizarre Murder Conspiracy That Involves Ross Butler & Courtney Love

I just have to warn you that after reading this, you will only marginally better understand why 13 Reasons Why actor Ross Butler has been accused of conspiring to murder Courtney Love's daughter's ex-husband. Butler recently denied allegations that he and others broke into Frances Bean Cobain’s ex-husband, Isaiah Silva's, house on June 3, 2016 to steal the guitar Kurt Cobain played on 1993’s MTV Unplugged and, later, murder Silva. Silva claims the group was unsuccessful because a visiting friend left the house during the break-in to call 911, and the LAPD intervened.

There is...a lot to unpack here. It's frankly wild that all these people are in the same sentence, let alone a sentence about an alleged murder plot, so I'll try to break this down the best I can.

First, there's Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. She's kind of peripheral to this story but the context you need to know is that she was married Isaiah Silva. They split in 2017. Apparently a contentious part of that split was who got custody of Cobain's 959 D-18E Martin guitar. Silva won ownership of the guitar, claiming Kurt Cobain gave it to him as a gift.

Then, there's Ross Butler, Sam Lutfi, Yan Yukhtman, Michael Schenk, and John Nazarian, who are all accused of either conspiring to murder Silva or of entering Silva's house. Butler is an actor on 13 Reasons Why. He also briefly appeared in Riverdale.

Butler and Lufti are friends, according to an interview in Vulture. Lutfi is Britney Spears' former manager, and Courtney Love's current manager. He introduced Butler to Love, and they became friends.

As for the rest of the people named, it's unclear. Reports conflict as to how many people allegedly broke into the house, and who those specific people were, but Butler has confirmed that he and Lutfi were present that night.

Silva claims that at least two men broke into his house, beat him up, took his phone, put him in a car, and attempted to drive away. However, they were stopped by Silva's friend, who had blocked the exit with their own car. Silva claims he was threatened into telling police it was a prank, but then later filed a suit, saying he believed he would have been murdered at a secondary location had his friend not stopped the car.

Court documents obtained by The Blast say that Butler confirmed he was at Silva's home with Lutfi because they were worried about Cobain and Silva when they stopped responding to texts.

“I never entered into a conspiracy or otherwise agreed to commit any crime against Silva,” the docs read. “I never conspired with anyone else to murder or kidnap Silva … or take possession of a guitar that Silva claims Ms. Cobain gave to him as a gift.”

Butler has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed, and Refinery29 has reached out to Butler for comment.

The next hearing is scheduled for December 7.