Matt Roberts, the former guitarist and backup vocalist for 3 Doors Down, was found dead inside a hotel in Milwaukee on Saturday. His father Darrell Roberts, who was traveling with him, said he was informed of his son's death by detectives who arrived on the scene.
According to Darrell, he and Matt went to Milwaukee over the weekend because his son was scheduled to perform at the Rockin' For Heroes charity event for war veterans. Matt rehearsed until 1 a.m. on Saturday night before his gig. At around 9 a.m. on that day, Darrell said detectives knocked on his door to inform him that his son has died.
"I was awakened at 8:50 this morning by some detectives beating on my door," he told CNN. "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,'" he added.
According to police reports, Matt was found lying in the hallway of the hotel. Witnesses first thought he just passed out or fell asleep but upon checking on him, they discovered that he was already dead.
Investigators have not yet determined the exact cause of death but according to Darrell, his son may have died due to drug overdose, TMZ reported. He said that Matt previously struggled with an addiction to prescription pills for anxiety issues.
"I know he had prescription drug addiction," he said according to CNN. "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."
As noted by Rolling Stone, Matt was with 3 Doors Down from 1996 to 2012. As a founding member of the band, he helped Brad Arnold write some of the group's hits such as "Kryptonite," "Here Without You" and "When I'm Gone." He left the group in May 2012 due to health issues.
