Famous, rich and all alone

Much is being said these days about the death of Layne Staley and his wasted brilliance as writer and lead singer of Alice in Chains.

But the saddest words came Sunday from the King County Medical Examiner's Office, which said that Staley, 34, had been dead for two weeks before his body was found.

Two weeks. That's a notable amount of time for any of us. Time enough for a trip out of town and a few days to get back to life as we knew it. Time enough for five or six or eight people to pick up the phone, to stop by and see if you want to get some Thai food, see some music.

Staley was different from the rest of us, though, because he was famous.

And Staley was different in that he was an admitted heroin addict. He wrote about it in songs, talked about it in interviews. Rolling Stone put him on the cover, his face next to the words "Needle and the Damage Done."

So it was probably not unusual for those around him when Staley dropped out of sight for a week, and then another. They figured he would be back.

And now that he isn't, well, that may not be a big shock, either.

Still, it breaks your heart. Two weeks gone. Just 34. And so good at what he did.

"It's a shame to see someone give their life over to heroin," said Ron Jackson, executive director of Evergreen Treatment Services in Seattle, where 900 heroin addicts currently get outpatient treatment.

Jackson floated a few theories, based on his 30 years of work and what he has read about Staley's death (the body was surrounded by drug paraphernalia):

Staley could have been shooting up with someone, who left after the alleged overdose, for fear of being implicated. Or Staley could have shrouded his drug use by telling people he was going away.

Or maybe Staley's only friends were addicts, too.

"You end up being socially isolated," Jackson said. "It's not unlikely that the person will go for a while without being discovered."

A posting on the Alice In Chains Web site touched on this: "The reason nobody missed him was that nobody was his friend," read the post, allegedly from a Portland radio personality who knew Staley. "He would go months without leaving his house. ... So him not showing his face for two weeks was nothing unusual. Bottom line ... Nobody cared anymore."

Staley's wealth may also have played a part in his late discovery, Jackson said. Since he had the money to buy quantities of drugs, he didn't need to go out as often.

But the distinctions end there.

"This is just a very familiar drug death," Jackson said. "A man, dying alone with injection equipment."

Opiates like heroin were involved in 45 percent of King County's drug deaths in 2000, said Brad Gill of the Medical Examiner's Office. That's 105 of 234 deaths. Just under half.

So Staley wasn't alone in his addiction. He just died that way.

"Sleep well Layne," another fan wrote. "You are finally cured, baby."

Reach Nicole Brodeur at 206-464-2334 or at nbrodeur@seattletimes.com.

She wishes his parents peace.