#Demri Lara Parrott Murphy

[littlequeenies]

New! Modeling shot of Demri with a note on the back:

“To Linda, thank you for being you! Love, Demri. P.S. Leave for 10 days again & not tell me – you die!!!”

Shared kindly by Linda Ode, posting with her permission. Unknown photographer. Very special thanks to Memories of Demri on instagram for allow us to use the pictures and give us the information!

Thank you both Linda and Memories of Demri! We think this photo is from from the same modelling session, hopefully one day we'll know all the details!

[modelartist-demri]

NEW ENTRY ON MY BLOG!

On October 29, 1996, Demri passed away of acute intoxication caused by the combined effects of opiate, meprobamate, and butalbital when she was only 27. 

Demri and Layne in the Spring of 1990 by Krista Kay.

Her last few years, since around Thanksgiving 1993, her health began taking a turn for the worse. She told her mother she had been having fevers in excess of a hundred degrees. Austin told Demri the next time it happened, she should go to the hospital. The first of many hospitalizations happened shortly after. “She came in to the hospital for the first time at the end of November of ‘93. She was in until January of ‘94. She got out and was back in in March of ‘94 and at that time put on life support,” Austin recalled. “When she would be in, she would come in to the emergency room. They would admit her up into a medicine floor; then she’d go from the medicine floor to the Intensive Care Unit and life support, and then she wouldn’t die. So she’d go back to the medicine floor – she’d be on IV and antibiotics for a month. This went on and on and on. She had her lungs operated on twice. She had her heart operated on twice [she had a heart valve repaired and another replaced and the pacemaker implanted age 26]. She suffered miserably.” [1]

Jacque: “She was very sick in the end. She’d had open heart surgery and had nerve damage to her feet which were mostly numb. She had no body fat at all, and was cold all the time. Often the car’s heater would be on full blast, even on a nice day, everyone would be sweating and she’d be shivering and wearing a sweater.” [2]

According to Amber Ferrano, Dave Navarro was the one who brought up the endocarditis . They had the doctors check and found it on the back of Demri’s heart valve.

Demri with Dave Navarro ca. 1994 in a medical facility.

Amber Ferrano: “Dave was my go-to person as someone who had kicked to help Layne and Demri when various things came up with them regarding drugs because they had used with him in the past when Jane’s Addiction came through town and now clean. Dave was their inspiration. He was in AA, and though they didn’t believe in AA they loved him, he was non-jugemental and kind. They really wanted to show him they could get clean. Bob Timmins helped too. They thought if lifers could get clean because of him there was hope. 

Dave was the one who brought up the endocarditis, asking if that is what she had. It was the first time we heard of it. All those times in the hospital. They ended up finding it on the back of her heart valve.”

While in the ICU, Austin said Demri was conscious but intubated – she had a tube inserted down her throat to help her breathe, which she despised. She would tell her mother, “I hate being fucking intubated. I can’t talk, and these people come and they ask me these fucking questions, and I can’t fucking talk, and I feel like a fucking fish in a fucking fishbowl.” She communicated by writing on a small blackboard with a piece of chalk. [1]

Despite the multiple hospitalizations and brushes with death, Demri continued using drugs. She had seemingly accepted that her addiction was going to kill her. 

Amber Ferrano: “I brought mortuary books in to Demri at the hospital when Layne got back from New York in April of 1996. I, of course, shocked Demri and said I thought we could go coffin shopping. Of course when Layne got there she told on me. When she first saw them she was balling saying she didn’t want to die. Layne talked about all the issues. I said you have to be clean to fix those issues and they get less and less. The thing with them was people waiting outside their home with drugs as a way to befriend them or mailing it to them. It killed Layne when he got letters about people using. He didn’t write to glorify it, it was cathartic to work his way through it."

Barbara Dearaujo: “She was in and out of the hospital for months at a time before she actually passed away. I would go visit her and she had all the nurses going crazy. She put up all her drawings and flowers all over the walls and did things she wasn’t supposed to do like take off with her IV and go out and smoke. She was a wild child... My heart goes out to her mom. She was a good mother and she tried so hard to help Demri, but Demri was her own woman and she lived in the extreme always. She was a broken child. Grasping for something to relieve some deep pain that no one but her knew.”

One of the last photos of Demri alive, as far as her mum knew. Demri and her mum Kathleen on September 1996. Kathleen sent this photo to Memories of Demri instagram (no longer exists).

Donald John: “I was very close with Demri Parrott, knew her during her last year of life. I met her at the hospital through a friend and became very close to her. I used to visit her a lot while in the hospital, and we had some very deep spiritual conversations about everything, including her relationship with Layne from the start to the end. She even gave me a pair of sunglasses that was his. I used to read books to her and let her borrow a lot of my books, especially art books, to keep her busy. I used to hold her while she cried and watched her while she slept. I used to go outside with her when she wanted to smoke and when she was feeling better to walk, and met her mother. I even got to check out her mother’s home which had a lot of pictures of Demri of her modeling days and stuff. Sometimes on her breaks she would come to my apartment that was like 5 min walk away from the hospital. She would come over and we would do heroin together and paint pictures with my art supplies, sitting Indian style on the floor listening to music. Then when she was released from the hospital she stayed with me for a while in my place and even slept in the same bed with me, we never had sexual relations but were deep friends and something more. She and Layne at the time were pretty much over even though he visited her while in the hospital. Sometimes we would cuddle in bed and she was so skinny. When she would leave to do her errands around town she would sometimes come back with gifts, like one time I got a cool wallet from her and a necklace with an angel on it – at the time I had my first tattoo of an angel on my forearm. When me and Demri first met I was just smoking heroin, then I started shooting and when she found out she was very upset. Time had passed and I saw her frequently. Then I found out about her death.” [2]

The other of the last photos of Demri alive, as far as her mum knew. Demri and her mum Kathleen on September 1996. Kathleen sent this photo to Memories of Demri instagram (no longer exists).

Ryan Kalsbeck:“Demri was staying for a bit with me at my old apartment off 45th and Lake City Way, we had been friends for years by this point but her addiction was sad for me to see. We had long serious conversations about a lot of things. Personal, to say the least. But she always carried her Leather Modeling Portfolio with her everywhere she would go or where she was staying, but she made me promise to please hold on to this portfolio for her and don’t let anyone around it or in it and she would eventually have a solid place to bring it to and for safe keeping. I never let one picture wander off into anyone ever. I promised Demri I would guard it and I knew how important this was to her fading life. She was so afraid of loosing this or someone stealing it, probably swiping rare as f*ck photos of her and Layne, stacks of the two in different vintage clothing. But I had her portfolio in my possession for at least 1 year, and one day like normal she left my apartment and I was still sleeping. Said, ‘I’ll see you at the Off Ramp later tonight.’ I wasn’t surprised to not run into her that night, and this was one of the last times of her disappearing, no one hearing from her for months at a time. But she always popped up at someone’s place eventually. The story is deep, and thick, and personal for me to speak of.”

Terri Brannon: “Last time I saw her, I went over to Carolina Court to say goodbye because I was moving back to Arkansas. I had a very sad feeling when I hugged her. I knew in my heart I’d never see her again. She was so full of life back then. A wild gypsy child. Reminded me of myself many years before. It’s been years and years, but you never forget Demri. She is unforgettable.” [2]

Demri's graveyard at Miller-Woodlawn Memorial Park, Bremerton, Washington, USA 

During her final days, Demri was staying with an older man named Tom, the father of a friend of hers, at his place in Bothell. According to Amber Ferrano, he was a drug dealer, Demri was staying with him because he had klonopin so she wouldn’t have seizures. Demri had lived something of a nomadic existence, staying with different people for periods of a few days to a few weeks at a time. Toward the end of her life, it became very difficult for her to find a place to stay. 

On the afternoon of October 28, 1996, Tom drove Demri into Seattle. She told him she wanted a few things from a Fred Meyer grocery store. When he arrived at the store, Demri was unconscious, and he couldn’t wake her. He went into the store to pick up her things, leaving the car engine running so she wouldn’t get cold. He came out of the store, drove home, and still couldn’t wake her. He left her in the car unconscious so he could do his laundry. He eventually realized something was seriously wrong. 

Demri was eventually brought in to the emergency room at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland at 7:30 P.M. – two and a half hours after she first lost consciousness. Her mother got a phone call from the hospital, telling her Demri was there. 

Kathleen asked the doctors if Demri could hear her. The doctors told her they thought she could. She clutched Demri’s hand and said, “Dem, if you have a choice to stay or to go, you don’t have to stay for me anymore.” During previous hospitalizations, she had always told her to fight, to to survive. This time was different. [1]

Jack Plasky: “The first time I met Layne was when he came by my studio after Demri passed. We hung out for about six or seven hours. We went through Demri’s pictures. We did not talk much, it was more like sharing with me his pain. He was not a rock god that day, just a regular person who wanted to share the loss with each other. We had a very strong bond based on our love and caring for Demri, and her feelings for us. I got a strong true feeling from him when he looked at Demri’s pictures, that life held nothing for him anymore.”

Ariel Layton: “Demri used to spend a lot of time with my girlfriend, Jana. She actually passed away in my friend Tom’s truck. I also ended up couch-surfing at Buddah’s around the same time as Layne shortly after she passed. He had photos of her everywhere, it was very sad.” 

Kathleen Austin: “Derek loved Dem so much and nothing she did would ever change that. He spoke at her funeral, ‘If my sister got on the ferry in Seattle, she knew everyone on the boat by the time it reached Bremerton’.”

Clay: “Demri, it’s been 13 years [March, 2009] since you went to be with Jesus and I still miss you so much sweetie. I’m so glad we got to share all the time with each other before you left us. When we prayed and talked about Heaven and The Lord, it still makes me think about how I look forward to seeing you again and being with you forever. I hope all the world knows you are with Christ now and your faith in Him, so they can have the same hope we shared. I’ll always treasure your Bible your grandma gave me, until we are together again. Love you always, Clay.”

Brochure from Demri’s memorial service, which was held on November 2, 1996. Shared by Marisi Sojit and posted by “Comunidad Alice in Chains Chile” Facebook group. Found via Instagram: memoriesofdemri (no longer exists)

Carolyn Hart Gutierrez: “She was one of the most amazingly trusting, compassionate, openhearted persons I’ve ever known, albeit briefly. We went to the same high school, and she was a friend of my younger sister. I have often thought about her over the years. It broke my heart to hear that she was gone from this Earth. I always imagined that she grew up and became a happy little momma who would teach her children to believe in magic and that if you wish on a star your wish will come true, and to dance in the rain. That’s what I believe. Demri may be gone, but she is never forgotten.” [2]

Krisha Augerot: "She was like the sweetest, cutest, tiny hippie chick – just adorable and gorgeous. Never would I have ever imagined what happened to her happening". 

Mara Whelan: “My dear soul sister, she extracted the truly beautiful parts of my soul and made me unafraid. She brought light into the depths of darkness from within. She loved all my ugliness and glorified my uniqueness.

Demri and I lived together, slept together as sister spoons, hitchhiked all up and down the coast and back and forth to Seattle from Everett a million times. We lived in Seattle together in multiple places. When we didn’t live together, even when the drugs came into play, we never lost each other.

She was the most beautiful soul that ever existed. What I would do to feel her hand in mine again.”

Barbara Dearaujo: “Demri was an artist herself, a model and someone who could always make you laugh. She was the type of person who when she entered a room full of people all eyes would be on her. She sucked the energy from the room and then blasted it back out at you and made you laugh and smile. She was so different than everyone else and everyone knew it who met her. Geeky, funny, caring, talented and unique girl who could of owned the world if she had not got caught up in what was going on around her. She was a star in her own right.”

*All the information has been collected from the "Memories of Demri" document shared on google drive*

Sources cited:

[1] Alice in Chains: The Untold Story by David de Sola

[2] Instagram: memoriesofdemri (no longer exists)

*VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO LITTLE QUEENIES AND MEMORIES OF DEMRI*

Some great Demri sites you MUST check: 

Little Queenies tumblr blog - Demri info

Little Queenies' collection of Demri's photos hosted at Google Photos

Memories of Demri document hosted on Google Drive

Videos of Demri hosted on Google Drive

World of Demri on Instagram

World of Demri substack blog

Demri L. Parrott on facebook

Demri L. Parrott on Instagram

Demri Lara Parrott on Instagram

Demri Parrott Legacy on Instagram

Beautiful Demri Blogspot

[modelartist-demri]

Above is the only studio album by the American rock band Mad Season, released on March 14, 1995.

The album's gloomy, black and white cover art featuring a couple tongue-kissing was illustrated by Layne Staley. The drawing was based upon a photograph of Staley and his ex-fiancée, Demri Lara Parrott, taken by Krista Kay in 1991.

💬 Amber Ferrano: “I remember when Layne and Demri were staying with Fabiola she gave him the pen and ink that started him on his path to drawing. I also remember when he reluctantly showed Demri and I his first drawing. He didn’t realize he was good. It didn’t help his second drawing was the one of him and Demri. She wondered why he made them look their ugliest instead of their best then used it on an ‘Above’ album cover. She hated that Layne drew her this way. I reminded Demri she set up the photoshoot which gave him the idea. She laughed. Many of those ideas were hers but the crown of thorns and Jesus pose were his. When Demri invited me over for dinner (that meant I was the cook and there was virtually nothing in the house) and to watch the ‘Again’ he had just got the footage of, she was telling me everything that was his idea in it. He was shy about it as if not sure it was any good. He was one of the most talented people I ever met and the most humble about it. After we watched it he and Demri went in to jump up and down on the bed of his first ‘grown up place’ while I figured out dinner.”

"Again" is an Alice in Chains song, the third single and sixth track from their self-titled 1995 album. "Again" made its radio debut in February 1996, and the music video was released in March 1996. It is the final Alice in Chains music video that Layne Staley filmed with the band.

💬 Kathleen Austin, Demri’s mom: “I am always taken somewhat aback when people reference them as “broke up”. Although they weren’t “together” their bond was always strong. People don’t know or remember Dem was in the hospital the majority of 1994-1996, and Layne was always there. He would ride his Harley to my apartment, a block from the hospital, and I would take him inside (the hospital) where he would spend the night. I worked there and had a badge to gain access after visiting hours were over.”

Text from @memoriesofdemri instagram

Above

[demrilparrott]

[littlequeenies]

January 1992 - Demri Parrott and some friends pictured by Cliff Feulner for the Spanish edition of Penthouse magazine, OUR SCANS.

TEAMWORK! Lovely Ana from Memories of Demri on ig found out that Cliff Feulner's photos were in some Spanish editions of the Penthouse magazine and I bought them but we didn't know if she was there or not... My sister received the magazines and Demri was there!

If she knew that today, people from different countries (Spain and Belarus) and different generations did this teamwork to share her photos and stories, Demri would be THRILLED!!

Ana, I am so happy we did this together!!!

Please, credit her or us when re-posting.

Enjoy!

[modelartist-demri]

August 1991 - Demri's "Emotion" shots, by Alison Dyer at Dyer's home in Los Angeles.

Demri had the intention of using these photos for her acting portfolio.

💬 Amber Ferrano: “Demri was interested in a lot of things. Being in the hospital a lot she liked to read and watch a channel called AMC that was black and white movies from 40’s to 60’s. Her dream job was to be a soap opera actress and to play twins (evil and good) to be able to show her range...

I think she was one of the ones wanting to get her GED. I had a library card and she was there. She loved the idea of getting a degree. Her dream job was to be an actress or continue modeling as an adult woman...

Demri did not hold grudges ‘cause she got that humans aren’t perfect. Demri had a huge heart, a huge conscience and a soul. If she hurt you in any way, I promise you, she did feel bad and was thinking of a way to make it up to you. She knew she wasn’t perfect. She thought once she made it big as an actress she would make everything right. She would have done anything for a friend or a family member or a stranger even if it was bad for her."

Text from @memoriesofdemri instagram, photos can be found on instagram, tumblr, facebook...

[modelartist-demri]

Demri and Mara were soul sisters, according to Mara.

💬 Mara Whelan: “We have a moon that my kids know as a Demri moon – when it’s just a sliver of a fingernail of a crescent. That was her favorite time of the moon.”

 “She was the most beautiful soul that ever existed. What I would do to feel her hand in mine again.”

“Layne got Sadie as a kitten from me. He always wanted to have a baby girl with Demri and name her Sadie. When Demri found out he had named his kitten that she was furious because that name was supposed to be reserved for the daughter that clearly they would never had. I am glad he didn’t wait to use the name.”

Text from @memoriesofdemri instagram

Demri and her friend Mara, photographed by Randy E. Hall

[shannendoherty-fans]

I was tagged by lovely Tina Aumont to name 5 celeb crushes! ✨💫 Thank you!! 💝

1. Shannen Doherty 🍀

2. Lee Starkey 🦇

3. Demri Parrott 🌹

4. Drew Barrymore 🦄

5. Andrea Corr 🎶

[demrilparrott]

[littlequeenies]

Demri could communicate and socialize beyond her years. As a three-year-old, Demri was tested by experts at the University of Washington, who told her parents she had the vocabulary of a high school senior, but her exceptional language skills weren’t always well received by adults or other children.

– Alice in Chains: The Untold Story by David de Sola

Little Demri Parrott in the 1970s, shared by her cousin Kaytie Lee on instagram

[modelartist-demri]

At the Volunteer Park and Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle. Pictured by Ed Chalfa.

Demri & Pony at the cemetery photoshoot, ‘91.

[modelartist-demri]

Spring 1990 Demri and Layne by Krista Kay.

Some of the photos come from the book "The Dark Room".

Demri painted the blue bubbles and did some art in some of the photos.

As for what Demri is wearing in photo 3, Krista remembers: “The dress was Demri's. Actually, it was more of a brocade white top, I think. The veil was mine. I can't remember what Layne said, but it got him a momentary stern look from Demri and he deserved it. I love his smile here.”

About the last photo, Krista says: "A close-up of a Demri & Layne contact sheet printed in 1990. Dusty, faded, poor exposure, Layne blurred, the beast to her beauty, and Demri lit up in a lost moment. For me, it was always Demri & Layne, not Layne & Demri. They were a pair but Demri would richocet energy and the spotlight always seemed to find her while Layne was introverted, watchful. I want to share a brief glimpse of a treasured soul on the day we lost her. Hopefully, she gained peace on this day. By the way, I always forget the significance of October 29th until I see the IG reminders. ♡" [October 29, 1996 is when Demri died, aged 27, because of an overdose after being clean for years.]

[demri-parrott-staley-blog]

[demrilparrott]

📸: Jack Plasky.

[modelartist-demri]

Fabiola remembers:  “It was her who brought us to this location for a shoot. She wanted farmlands and horses, and piggies, and dirt roads aligned with wild flowers. Her vision totally. Her memories of her childhood.“ 

Memories thanks to Memories of Demri on instagram

Demri Parrott and her friend Fabiola Gonzalez photographed by cliff feulner, 1992

[littlequeenies]

In that 1989 Demri pic with Layne and friends on the lake, are there other Alice in Chains members there? Are Jerry or Mike in the photo? I think Fabiola is there and Krisha (Jerry's girlfriend at the time) said she was there. I think I don't see Sean, but I wonder if the lad next to Layne, or the one in front of Dem (holding the bongo) is Jerry. Thank you.

Hi there!

So we are not very familiar with the Alice in Chains members (beside Layne) so we're going to reply as best as we can.

This is the photo (posted on facebook by Fabiola long time ago):

(source)

Krisha Augerot, who was dating Jerry on and off, she said: "I was dating Jerry off and on, and hanging out with Demri. We’d all go to the beach every day during that summer at Magnuson Park ... It was a very free, loving time. In the liner notes [of Above], he said something about, ‘I’ll always remember that summer’... That really fresh, youthful time that we all had before it was all about drugs. He mentioned a few names in there – I think he mentions my name, Demri, and another girl named Fabiola, ... I know that meant a lot to him – that whole time period."

And Fabiola said: "Remembering that summer of ‘89 when we were young and innocent, and free. Layne, Demri and I walking through the long grasses on the trails of Magnuson Park, heading to meet up with El Steiner, Freedom James, Krisha, Jerry, Betzold, Dmitri and others. Demri carrying her conga drum with a scarf wrapped around it, me a bottle and a stick. Layne’s hair half in dreads and curls with his goatee braided and one of my beads dangling on the end of it. He’s wearing ripped up jean shorts and Dem and I in our bikinis. His and Demri’s chests bare and golden from the sun, sparkles in our eyes and smiles, lots of smiles. We were going to worship, have a drum circle with our friends on the shores of Lake Washington and swim in it’s waters on a hot summer day"

(Thank you to Memories of Demri for the quotes, full memories on her insta or our original post)

So according to both women, Jerry was there, but there are also many other names on the list as Fabiola says...

These are Krisha (left, unknown date) and Fabiola (right, 1993) with Demri:

I honestly cannot see them on the photo. I tought Fabiola was the one in red in the bottom, but she says she was wearing a bikini...

And this is Alice in Chains in 1989 (source) (L-R Sean Kinney, Mike Starr, Layne and Jerry), and Jerry in 1993 with sunglasses and a ponytail (source)

So yeah, the guy next to Layne with the sunglasses might could be Jerry but somehow we don't know... Jerry said he and Layne had matching tattoos because they had a very strong bond (he took care of the cat Sadie when Layne passed away) but I don't know when they got them...

According to both Krisha and Fabiola they did this the whole summer, so maybe that day they weren't there (the photo was taken by Anna Hrnjak) but maybe Jerry and even the other AIC members were there on another occasion.

As said, we are not very familiar with AIC, but there are many tumblr blogs here that are, so hopefully someone can help with that!

I know we have some photos of Demri with the whole band or with Sean, but it would be great to see her hanging with the other band members!