Alice in Chains: The Untold Story

That same summer, Brooke Bangart—one of Mike’s childhood friends—was checking in to a San Diego hotel with Melinda and Mike. There was a large grand piano inside, and she heard Lionel Richie’s “Hello” on the piano. It was Mike. At the time, she thought, “I know that’s him. We’re gonna get kicked out of here for sure,” Bangart said at his memorial service.10

In late 2010 or early 2011, Mike moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, to start a band with Travis Meeks, the former singer from Days of the New. On the night of February 17, 2011, Mike was riding in the passenger seat of a van being driven by Meeks, which got pulled over by a Salt Lake City police cruiser for a traffic violation—Meeks had driven over the median when making a turn, and Mike wasn’t wearing his seat belt. Buttino was surprised to hear Mike wasn’t buckled up. “That was the thing that Mike always criticized me the most on, wearing my seat belt.”

“Hey, Officer, have you heard of Alice in Chains? I used to be the [bass] guitarist for them. We are down here in Utah, me and Travis, putting together a new band,” Mike said, according to the police report. The officer ran a background check on Meeks and Mike. While he was getting the information from dispatch, his partner handed him a bottle with pills that Mike was taking, later identified as six Opana pills and six alprazolam pills.11

Meeks was issued a traffic citation for driving on a suspended license and released. The officer discovered Mike’s bench warrant from 2003. He was arrested and taken to Salt Lake County Jail. He was let go on prefile release for the new charges, on the condition that he show up in court for a hearing. Someone paid the twenty-thousand-dollar bail on the bench warrant.12

In late February or early March, Mike had a phone conversation with Nancy Layne McCallum. As she recalled during his memorial service, “He’s turned the corner. He wasn’t obsessing on old stuff. He was really positive and happy, and I know that he was one rung higher in his ladder to heaven.”13

On March 7, Travis Meeks; his wife, Micaela; and Mike drove to Orem, Utah, to pick up a methadone prescription. Mike made several phone calls during the course of the day. He called Melinda’s fiancé, Chris Jurebie, and left him a voice message. His final words on the recording were: “You’re my little brother. I love you; we’re brothers for life.”14

At some point, he left a thirty-five-second voice mail for a drug dealer asking for marijuana, which was later posted on the Web site TMZ.15

The Meekses were up all that night packing to leave for a road trip the next day. At around midnight, Micaela went upstairs to use the bathroom next to Mike’s bedroom. She saw him listening to music and trying to go to sleep.

According to the police report, Travis tried to wake Mike up between 5:00 and 7:00 A.M. the next morning to leave for the trip. He was described as “sleepy but responding to Travis.” That was the last time anybody saw him alive. A driver was supposed to pick them up that morning but didn’t show up. They never left for the trip and fell asleep instead. Micaela estimates that she and Travis slept from 8:00 A.M. until 1:00 P.M. At some point in the early afternoon, the Meekses found Mike, wearing a T-shirt and gym shorts, lying in his bed near a laptop computer, unresponsive. They called Spencer Roddan, the owner of the house. Roddan arrived a few minutes later, and at 1:42 P.M. he dialed 911.16

Salt Lake City police and fire department personnel arrived shortly after. Fire personnel concluded he was dead and there was nothing more they could do. He was forty-four years old. The police officers interviewed Mike’s housemates. Travis Meeks told them Mike was a recovering addict but speculated the pressure to get back into music and go on the road may have been too much for him. He also said Mike had been using benzos—mixing methadone and diazepam. Roddan told police Mike was using Percocet, methadone, and, according to the police report, “others including one [Roddan] described as Opana, a hard opiate.” Officials also found empty prescription pill bottles in Mike’s name and unidentified white pills.17

One of the officers called Gayle Starr to inform her of her son’s death. She told the officer that Mike had had “very high anxiety and back problems” but was not aware of any other health issues. She also said he’d had a drug problem for years.18

Alice in Chains posted a statement on its Web site that read, “Jerry and Sean are mourning the loss of their friend and ask that the media respect their privacy—and the privacy of the Starr family—during this difficult time. Their thoughts & prayers are with the Starr family.” On his public Facebook page, Mike Inez wrote, “R.I.P. Michael Christopher Starr. I’m gonna play your great bass lines with integrity and truth. You kicked ass. Period.”