More Details Emerge In Death Of Former 3 DOORS DOWN Guitarist MATT ROBERTS

August 21, 2016

Former 3 DOORS DOWN guitarist Matt Roberts has died of an apparent overdose. He was 38 years old.

According to the musician's father, Matt's death was caused by accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

Darrell Roberts was on the road with his son in West Bend, Wisconsin, where Matt was scheduled to perform at a charity event for veterans. The guitarist rehearsed until 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 20 before he went back to his hotel room.

"We go up to our room, we got adjoining rooms and — he was always looking after me as his dad — so my key didn't work and he went and came back in just a few minutes and got me a new key," Darrell told CNN. He opened the door for me and he said 'just make sure you open the adjoining room in case you need anything.' He was always looking out for me," Darrell said.

Darrell said he learned of his son's death several hours later.

"I was wakened at 8:50 [Saturday] morning by some detectives beating on my door," he said. "It's always scary as a parent. They were in suits and that's when they told me. They asked me if Matt Roberts was your son, I said yes, and they said 'we have bad news to tell you, Matt deceased last night.'"

Matt had struggled with an addiction to prescription medication but Darrell thought he had overcome it.

Darrell said: "I know he had prescription drug addiction. He suffered greatly from anxiety. It's crazy as a performer; he never liked crowds or liked places he didn't know about as a baby, as a child, and this was his way of dealing with it and me and him talked about it often. I thought he had beaten it all."

West Bend police released the following statement yesterday regarding Matt Roberts's passing:

"On Saturday, August 20, 2016 at 7:03 a.m. a citizen called West Bend Police and reported a man was either asleep or passed out in the hallway at the Hampton Inn, 1975 S. 18th St. West Bend Police and Fire Departments responded and found the man was deceased. Emergency responders attempted to revive the man, but were unable to.

"There were no signs of trauma on the body, and the cause of death is unknown at this time. An autopsy is scheduled for Sunday, August 21st.

"The man was identified as Matthew Roberts, age 38. Roberts was the former lead guitarist for the band 3 DOORS DOWN. He was in West Bend to perform at a benefit concert."

A founding member of 3 DOORS DOWN, Matt left the band in 2012 to concentrate on his health after experiencing circulation problems that were exacerbated by the group's heavy touring schedule. He was replaced by Chet Roberts.

The two other original members of 3 DOORS DOWN, Brad Arnold and Todd Harrell, have not yet publicly commented on Matt's death.

On Saturday, August 20, 2016 at 7:03 a.m. a citizen called West Bend Police and reported a man was either asleep or...

Posted by West Bend Police Department on Saturday, August 20, 2016

Find more on 3 doors down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).