Music | Pop Culture

Family Sues Doctors and Pharmacy In The Wrongful Death Of "3 Doors Down" Guitarist

I remember going into my room, closing the door, and blasting "Kryponite" when I just didn't want to think about anything other than the beat. 3 Doors Down had that sound that really resonated with most of us in the 90s, and even now you can't help but turn it up when it comes on your playlist.

In 2016, we were saddened to learn that lead guitar and backup vocalist, Matt Roberts, had died of an apparent overdose in a hotel outside of Milwaukee.

The musician, who left the band in 2012, was only 38-years-old at the time of his passing and the situation surrounding his death left many people wondering what happened.

Roberts, along with singer Brad Arnold and bassist Todd Harrell formed 3 Doors Down in 1996. Four years later, the band's hit song "Kryptonite", which was co-written by Roberts, skyrocketed to number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The band later released a string of top songs of the 90s, also written by Roberts and the other members, including, "Be Like That", "Here Without You" and "When I'm Gone".

Roberts decided to leave the band in 2012, saying that their heavy schedule was contributing to several health issues for him.

"3 Doors Down will always have a special place in my heart and it saddens me to take this time off,” Roberts said at the time. "But my health has to be my first priority."

Roberts had been rehearsing for a fundraising concert for veterans when he and his father went back to their hotel. Hours later, police were called about a man who was "either asleep or passed out in the hallway of his hotel."

"I was wakened at 8:50 this morning by some detectives beating on my door. 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 [died] last night,'" Matt's father Darrell Roberts told CNN.

An autopsy later revealed that his cause of death was an apparent drug overdose.

"I know he had [a] prescription drug addiction," his father said. "He suffered greatly from anxiety; 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."

Later it was revealed that Dr. Richard Snellgrove was indicted for unlawfully prescribing drugs in connection with the singer's death.

Investigators filed a federal complaint stating, "Dr. Snellgrove prescribed Controlled Substances to Matthew Roberts for no legitimate medical purposes."

The doctor was charged with distributing and dispensing Lorazepam, Hydorcodone, Methadone and Fentanyl to Roberts.

"There's no satisfaction in seeing a doctor arrested," Darrell told Fox 6 News upon learning of the arrest. "I don't have any bitterness, no anger, nothing like that towards the doctor, but I'm also aware this is a serious issue in the medical community all over the United States."

Now a new law suit issued by the family claims that it was the doctor and pharmacy that were responsible for Roberts's death.

What do you think? Should the doctor and pharmacy be responsible for the singer's death?

Source: Rolling Stone / Rolling Stone / TMZ