Dave Navarro recalls his mother getting murdered when he was 15

Guitarist Dave Navarro talked about when his mother was getting murdered when he was only 15 years old.

Read what he told Yahoo:

“Trauma sufferers tend to reach for drugs. I can tell you for sure, suffering a massive trauma as a child, drugs were the natural option.

“I was 15 years old when that happened, when my mother was killed. And just naturally, I started finding myself gravitating towards drinking, and smoking weed, and the occasional line of coke, and some psychedelics.

“And then, before I knew it, by the time I was 17, 18 years old, I was a full-blown heroin addict. And I stayed that way for many, many years… I don’t know that I would’ve turned into the drug addict that I became, had that [murder] not happened. I don’t know, I can’t read the future – perhaps I would have. Some say that alcoholism is a genetic thing, and then there are some that say it derives from trauma. I’m not a doctor, I’m not a medical expert, but in my own experience, it definitely came from trauma.”

Navarro’s mother’s killer, her ex-boyfriend John Riccardi, was ultimately apprehended eight years after the murder. Although Dave said the arrest “alleviated some fear, because having your mother’s killer on the loose is a terrifying thing,” it didn’t exactly provide closure. He said:

“You can’t really find closure on the death of a loved one like that. The fear subsided, and yet I was still deeply invested in my drug addiction.

“I felt isolated and alone, and the drugs made me feel included, and made me feel OK. I can tell you that when my mom died, I didn’t have a support system. I didn’t have a therapist. I didn’t have a psychiatrist. I didn’t have friends who could understand. And I always felt kind of like the odd man out, because I had this horrific trauma, this bag of bricks that I was carrying around with me, that my friends didn’t.

“In 1983, those types of things weren’t talked about as often, freely. And so, for whatever reason, I never did talk about it. And I wish I had. And I guess the message we’re saying here is, it’s not too late to get in and see someone. Sometimes, when it comes to trauma, telling your story in a linear fashion really helps alleviate some of the suffering.”

In 2015, Navarro released a documentary about his mother’s murder titled “Mourning Son.”

See the trailer below: