I didn’t know her very well, I had met her only once and talked to her a few times on the phone, but I felt very sad when I learnt she had passed away at 34. I met Abigail Russell about a year ago, she had contacted me through Facebook after reading a few of my posts about Elliott Smith. We exchanged numbers and even met at a coffee shop, Abigail had a lot to tell me, she had been in rehab with Elliott, had met him quite a few times and was missing him greatly.
What I liked about Abigail was that she didn’t make a big deal of her friendship with Elliott, ‘I can’t tell I was a close friend’ she told me, she was not trying to impress me. She was a very sweet woman who has had her fair share of problems with drugs, she had also told me she had been abused as a child, and so could totally relate to Elliott. She was talking about Elliott with such passion, such animation, still looking heartbroken about what happened to him so many years ago. She had contacted me to go on the record, after hesitating for years and years.
Abigail was a musician, she had never made a living out of it, but she had been around many musicians a long time and she wanted to tell me what she knew about Jennifer Chiba, whom she had befriended since 1999. I can’t really say here what she told me, this is not the point of this post, but I admired right away her courage to come forward, when so many people prefer to not get involved. She was willing to help me, even tell her story to the police, at least this is what she told me last time we talked on the phone.
Today, I discovered she died of an overdose on September 4th, just 2 days after our phone conversation. I just read some comments posted on her Facebook page, and they are only confirming what I thought about her, friends mention her ‘big heart’, her ‘generosity’ and her ‘infinitely boundless compassion, zest for helping people and animals and brilliant soul’. Even Bobby Hecksher of the Warlocks left a long and touching comment there.
One of her friends called me to tell that Abigail wanted me to know. I am very touched she thought about me before dying, I am very touched she considered me as a friend even thought we had only met once. Truth and justice were very important for Abigail, and her last thoughts were about her will to bring justice. This can only reinforce me in my convictions since Abigail had a huge heart. Rest in Peace Abigail Russell, I still owe you a coffee.
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