Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

The first is the claim that Mike told the band and management during the Brazil trip in January 1993 that he was taking time off from the band and leaving of his own accord. Multiple sources, including Mike himself, have said on the record that Mike was fired.

The second major inaccuracy deals with Demri’s death. One paragraph makes the following unsourced assertion: “In Seattle, with doctors, a counselor and John Starr by her side—Demri passed away.” After reading this, Kathleen Austin angrily denied it. “This is bullshit. Demri died at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, and there were two people there—me and my sister. And that’s the only people that were there. This is a lie, an out-and-out lie.” Demri’s death certificate confirms she died at Evergreen.3

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On May 5, 2003, Mike and John Starr boarded Southwest Airlines flight 584 from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, Utah. Mike spent nearly half an hour in the bathroom before returning to his seat. Shortly after, a flight attendant saw the elder Starr trying to inject his son with a needle. The attendants eventually informed the pilot, who asked the tower to contact local law enforcement. Two Salt Lake City police officers boarded the flight as soon as it pulled into the gate and escorted the Starrs to the airport police station.

Upon arrival at the station, both Starrs gave police consent to search their luggage. Police found heroin and drug paraphernalia. They were arrested and taken to Salt Lake County Jail. Mike was charged with having drug paraphernalia for personal use, disorderly conduct, and possession of a controlled substance. A local bail bonds agency put up $10,650 for his bail. Mike and his defense attorney decided to plead guilty to unlawful possession of a controlled substance for the heroin charge. His lawyer, the prosecutor, and the judge all signed off on the deal. Mike, however, didn’t show up for sentencing on August 25, 2003. A judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest, setting bail at $20,000. This bench warrant would come back to haunt him several years later.4

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In the summer of 2009, a woman walked into Bass Northwest and approached Evan Sheeley. “I’ve got somebody that wants to talk to you real bad. Do you mind if I bring him in?” she asked him. It was Mike. Sheeley hadn’t spoken to him in years because Mike forgot to acknowledge or credit him for his work in the liner notes for Dirt. According to Sheeley, “He came in and said, ‘I’m really sorry for what I did.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He says, ‘Well, I didn’t give you credit.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I know. That’s fine; I accept your apology. What are you really here for?’

“He was trying to figure out how to get money from Alice in Chains. He felt they owed him millions of dollars. And I had to remind Mike that he did not really contribute a lot to the songwriting process and that he needed to go back and check his records, because he had probably sold maybe his rights to certain things for money back in the day.”

Sheeley encouraged Mike to move on with his life. The two took a picture together before Mike left. That was the last time Sheeley saw him. Mike went to California to film the VH1 reality show Celebrity Rehab shortly after.

In early 2010, Mike reentered the public eye as the third season of Celebrity Rehab aired. According to Mike’s official biography for the show, he had already been to rehab thirty times. The guilt of his last meeting with Layne still weighed on him seven years later.

Reminiscing about his Brazil overdose, Mike told Dr. Drew Pinsky that “I let him [Layne] die, too, and he saved my life. Isn’t that terrible? On my birthday.” During a voice-over narration, Pinsky described Starr as being “clearly haunted by very intense feelings surrounding the death of his friend Layne Staley” and added that that threatened his sobriety and needed to be addressed in treatment. With encouragement from Pinsky, Mike finally told Nancy Layne McCallum of his feelings about the last time he saw Layne.

He looked her in the eye and said, “I wish I would have known he was dying. I wish I would have called 911. He told me that if I did, he would never talk to me again, but there’s no excuse. I should have done that anyways. I wish I wouldn’t have been high on benzodiazepam and wouldn’t have just walked out the door.”

“Did you see Layne die?” McCallum asked.

“No, I didn’t see Layne die,” Mike answered.

“He was agitated because I was too high. He used to get mad at me when I took them. He’d be like, ‘You’re an idiot on these pills.’ And then I got mad at him, and I said, ‘Fine, I’ll just leave.’ And his last words to me were, ‘Not like this—don’t leave like this.’ I just left him sitting there. His last words to me were, ‘Not like this.’ I can’t believe that. I’m so ashamed of that.”

“You know, Mike, he could have called 911,” McCallum answered.

“He would not call 911.”

“I know.”