Today In Alternative Music History: April 5, 2002

Today marks the 8th anniversary of the death of Layne Stayley. He was the frontman for the grunge band Alice In Chains. Layne died of a drug overdose in his home.
On April 19, 2002, Layne's mother placed a call with 911 to say "she hadn't heard from… [Staley] in about two weeks."Staley was found dead in his home after his mother and stepfather went to his condo with the police. As reported by Rick Anderson of the Seattle Weekly, his body was surrounded by various drug possessions and paraphernalia: "When police kicked in the door to Layne Staley's University District apartment on April 20, there, on a couch, lit by a flickering TV, next to several spray-paint cans on the floor, not far from a small stash of cocaine, near two crack pipes on the coffee table, reposed the remains of the rock musician." The article also stated that the 6'1" Staley weighed just 86 pounds when his body was discovered. The autopsy report later concluded that Staley had died after injecting a mixture of heroin and cocaine known as a "speedball". The coroner suspects that Stayley died on April 5.