Casino Royale singer Chris Cornell under siege from stalkers

10-Oct-2006 • Bond News

Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell and his French wife, Vicky, are under siege from crazy stalkers who are threatening the lives of their two young children - reports NYPost.

A friend of the couple says Cornell just installed an "impenetrable" $250,000, high-tech security system in the family's $8 million Beverly Hills mansion because of increasingly bizarre and detailed death threats aimed at them and their toddlers, Toni, 2, and Chris, 10 months.

According to the friend, "The threats started coming in 2004, when Vicky was six months into her pregnancy with Toni. They usually come by e-mail or by regular mail and are explicit, referring to killing the children and Vicky and exactly how they plan on killing them. It's disgusting and terrifying. These people know where they live and how to get ahold of them."

One horrible message came from a woman who told Vicky, "You stole my baby and now [the baby] must die." The threats escalated recently, just as Cornell was about to leave home to start his worldwide promotional tour of "You Know My Name," the theme song in the latest James Bond flick, "Casino Royale" - prompting Cornell to install more than 40 video cameras, invisible laser beams, and 24-hour security guards.

The Beverly Hills police have also been notified and now "have scheduled routine drive-bys and are doing everything within their power to apprehend the predators."

A rep for the couple declined comment. But they have cause to worry.

Although Beverly Hills is one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the United States, the posh area has suffered from a surge in professional burglaries in recent years, some of which have been violent.

After Page Six reported on the crime wave, Vanity Fair's Michael Schnayerson wrote in 2005 that Beverly Hills, Bel Air and other affluent L.A. neighborhoods are "under siege by gangs of burglars who have made off with tens of millions of dollars in loot."

Cops downplayed things, saying, "Crime is not much worse than it has been in years. There are far bigger crime problems on the south side of the valley, in Encino."