Alice in Chains bassist Starr found dead

Former Alice in Chains bassist Mike Starr, who appeared on VH1's "Celebrity Rehab" in 2009, was found dead at his Salt Lake City home Tuesday. He was 44.

A spokesman for the Salt Lake City Police Department told the news agency Reuters that officers responded to a call about a possible body at the residence in the afternoon. "There is nothing to indicate that this was foul play by another individual," the spokesman said.

The medical examiner is expected to do an autopsy Wednesday, but toxicology results could take up to two months.

"It's a terrible shock and tragedy," Starr's father told TMZ.com, which first reported the news. There was no immediate comment from Alice in Chains, and no mention of the death on the band's website as of last night.

The musician's death, the cause of which was unknown last night, happened less than a month after he was arrested on suspicion of drug possession. Police found he was in possession of six Xanax pills and six pills of Opana, a painkiller.

Starr was a founding member of the Seattle-based, grunge-inflected heavy-metal band Alice in Chains. He appeared on the group's debut album, "Facelift," which spawned the hit "Man in the Box"; on the follow-up EP, "Sap"; and on the band's second album, "Dirt," released in September 1992 to good reviews. Following its release, Starr left the band was replaced by Mike Inez.

Afterward, Starr joined former Black Sabbath singer Ray Gillen in the band Sun Red Sun. The group's eponymous debut album, released in 1995, came two years after Gillen's death from AIDS-related complications

Starr was treated by Dr. Drew Pinsky for an alleged heroin addiction on the third season of "Celebrity Rehab" and progressed to the spin off show "Sober House." He returned to "Celebrity Rehab" for a fourth-season episode, celebrating more than six months of sobriety.

This is the second time tragedy has struck Alice in Chains. Another original member, singer Layne Staley, died from a cocaine overdose in 2002.