That’s me in the Demon Hunter shirt with Nick Hippa guitarist for As I Lay Dying.
Tim Lambesis was arrested in a Barnes N Noble on May 7th 2013 at 2:00pm on Vista Way in Oceanside, California. He had just returned from touring all over the world including including China, South Korea, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. The Grammy-winning Christian metal titans were set to tour with Killswitch Engage on May 30th, and As I Lay Dying won Loudwire’s Deathmatch Hall of Fame Award recently, on April 2nd, for getting four consecutive wins when pitted against other bands including Killswitch. All seemed to be looking up… Now this.
Tim Lambesis signing my brother’s guitar as seen in the above pic. It’s also signed by Demon Hunter, Becoming the Archetype, Haste the Day, The Showdown, Living Sacrifice and Norma Jean.
Here is the official As I Lay Dying Police press release from the San Diego Sheriff’s Office:
“Murder for Hire Plot Foiled – Lead Singer for As I Lay Dying Arrested: Tim Lambesis, lead singer and co-founder for the heavy metal band “As I Lay Dying”, was arrested without incident today, May 7 2013 at 2:00pm in a retail business on Vista Way in Oceanside. Lambesis is charged with “Solicitation of Another to Commit Murder.” Information came to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Dept. on May 2nd that Lambesis was soliciting another individual to kill his estranged wife, who resides in Encinitas. The Encinitas Detectives, The San Diego Fugitive Task Force and the Sheriff’s Special Investigation Division investigators immediately initiated an investigation. The investigation culminated this afternoon, when Lambesis solicited an undercover detective to kill his wife. He was then arrested, transported to the Encinitas Station, and booked into the Vista Detention Facility.”
Tim Lambesis with my friend from the above photo.
Here is the official statement from As I Lay Dying (excluding Tim, naturally), who have not given any more details than this short statement, via label Metal Blade Records.
As I Lay Dying Official Band Statement On Tim’s Arrest:
“To our fans,
As we post this, the legal process is taking its course and we have no more information than you do. There are many unanswered questions, and the situation will become clearer in the coming days and weeks. We’ll keep you informed as best we can. Our thoughts right now are with Tim, his family, and with everyone else affected by this terrible situation – and with our fans, whom we love and draw strength from. Thank you for understanding, and as always, for your support of As I Lay Dying.”
– Jordan Mancino, Nick Hipa, Phil Sgrosso and Josh Gilbert
Once again, this time with Nick. Whom they were squealing over.
Tim Lambesis appeared in court today, May 9th 2013 at 1:30PM for his arraignment, where he will be read his charges of: “Solicitation to Commit Murder” and “Conspiracy To Commit Crime”. Reportedly he will be facing 20 years to life if convicted. Considering that he solicited an undercover cop, it’s expected that he will be fully convicted and found guilty based on the evidence. Of course he is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and no specific details are known about the situation.
Tim Lambesis, 32 years of age, married his wife Meggan Murphy in 2004, and she divorced him in September of 2012. Some reports say he wanted the divorce and asked for it, not her. They have three adopted children, ages 4, 8 and 10 (two girls and a boy), from Ethiopia. Tim had said this about his kids in an interview with Loudwire earlier this year, “My kids are adopted and I’ve visited their country – they’re from Ethiopia and that was eye opening to what the world is really like, at least a third of the world. I think that just influences my entire world view even if I’m not necessarily writing a song about humanitarian work, I’m writing a song about what truly makes us happy in life and those types of think that have been influenced by my experiences.”
In the divorce papers filed, his wife describes recent alarming changes in Tim’s behavior and lack of parenting as reasons for the divorce. This included Tim Lambesis becoming “obsessed with body building”, spending “thousands of dollars on tattoos”, and often being distracted by other things when he was supposed to be looking after the kids; including often texting, talking on the phone and napping. He even fell asleep while they were at the beach on one occassion so say the papers. She also stated that his intense touring schedule meant he only spent 10 hours per week with the kids and was gone for months on tour. Although he saw the kids less after they split up and were no longer living together. The couple split amicably and agreed to private mediation to get child custody figured out. She also claimed however that he twice went to visit a girlfriend across the country.
However, as always in these cases, all of this is only one side of the story, and relationships are often complicated and full of issues, especially for someone as busy as Tim. However that is IN NO WAY any excuse for what Tim has now done. Some say he could be suffering from side-effects of steroids and too much protein intake, which can cause “rage” in certain individuals. And Tim buffed up quickly and become obsessed with protein (as he talks about in his workout videos you can see online) and working out. Could that have messed with his head? Or was a lethal cocktail of protein/steroids, touring, stress, legal battles with his ex-wife and the kids, and burnout from constant across the world touring. But who knows, this is all speculation.
I am completely broken apart by this story and my heart is truly wounded. Tim Lambesis, as others have stated, was one of the most down to earth and nicest guys you’d ever meet. And one of the most genuine personalities in metal. This news is shocking, disturbing, and sad beyond belief. Although I am not a HUGE fan of As I Lay Dying, I have been following the band since their debut album Frail Words Collapse, which I listened to online back in the day. That lead me to purchasing Shadows Are Security the day it came out, and I’ve been a fan ever since. I often listen to their songs and videos, although I did not get around to purchasing neither The Powerless Rise, Decas or Awakened (yet). For some odd reason, even though I listened to some of those albums online and several of my friends and brothers raved about The Powerless Rise when it came out. I love all the lyric videos for Awakened and all the songs I’ve heard so far. I remain a fan of the band although I don’t count them among my top favorites (which belongs to Demon Hunter, Becoming the Archetype and The Showdown. Most of my favorite bands are from Solid State, not Metal Blade or any other label and are more blatantly Christian and outspoken in their faith).
But even more than that, I respected and loved Tim Lambesis so much as the frontman and vocalist for the person he is. I saw the band in concert, and met with Tim and Nick outside the tour bus here in Phoenix, Arizona. I got my picture taken with Tim and Nick, Tim signed my brother’s bass guitar and we talked with them and they were very friendly. We were star struck. I feel like I know them after seeing so many interviews, seeing them in person, taking photos with them and watching the DVD documentary for “This Is Who We Are” with all my friends (all of the ones seen in the photos above).
Here are some of my comments in the aftermath of this HORRIBLE tragedy.
Comment #1: Oh no…. Holy crap. Pray that something is amiss here… Tim Lambesis, lead singer of As I Lay Dying, has just been charged and arrested for allegedly putting a hit out on his wife. :( Very, very tragic. Let’s hope his wife is okay, and pray for Tim. He’s gonna need it if this proves out to be true…. I hope to God this isn’t true.
Comment #2: It’s true, here is the official press release from the San Diego Sheriff’s office (website: http://www.sdsheriff.net/). Scroll down and click on “Murder for Hire Plot Foiled (Posted: 5/7/2013 5:00:49 PM)” and the PDF will download. I’ll type it out here I guess:
“Murder for Hire Plot Foiled – Lead Singer for As I Lay Dying Arrested: Tim Lambesis, lead singer and co-founder for the heavy metal band “As I Lay Dying”, was arrested without incident today, May 7 2013 at 2:00pm in a retail business on Vista Way in Oceanside. Lambesis is charged with “Solicitation of Another to Commit Murder.” Information came to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Dept. on May 2nd that Lambesis was soliciting another individual to kill his estranged wife, who resides in Encinitas. The Encinitas Detectives, The San Diego Fugitive Task Force and the Sheriff’s Special Investigation Division investigators immediately initiated an investigation. The investigation culminated this afternoon, when Lambesis solicited an undercover detective to kill his wife. He was then arrested, transported to the Encinitas Station, and booked into the Vista Detention Facility.”
:( Can’t believe it. So tragic. Pray for everyone involved.
Comment #3: Thank you guys for issuing an official statement. All I hope now is that we will actually hear from Tim himself, and get some kind of explanation. Even if it is true, I want to hear from him, so we can begin the healing process and the process of supporting him through this. In all of this we must not forget the victim as well and Tim’s family. And we must continue to pray for and support the band. I plan on writing Tim in prisonl, and I hope this is a life-changing event for the better. Even though he made the most tragic of mistakes that he can’t come back from, God can and will use this to change him for the better. Darkness took it’s hold this time and he gave into it’s power to destroy and consume. But it won’t win again after he’s done. At least that’s my prayer. All of us can give into that darkness and ruin our lives, people do it all the time. And it’s not rare for great men to fall and give into it. Now all we can do is hope, pray and support Tim and the band. I hope you guys, Nick, Jordan, Phil and Josh will continue the band and find someone to replace Tim. It’s sad, tragic, heartwrenching and will not be the same, since Tim WAS the band. But band’s often replace lead singers. Look at Killswitch Engage. You can come back from this if you desire too. However given the circumstances, I wouldn’t be surprised if any of you never want to play music again following this heartbreaking event. But you have my back and my support if you do. To Tim and the guys, Godspeed. Your true fans are behind you 100%, and Tim we forgive you. You must now pay the piper, but we’ll be rooting for your recovery. You’re in my prayers.
Here is one of the last interviews Tim Lambesis gave before his arrest from February of 2013. Ironically he talks about very dark subjects, including horror movies.
Their newest album, Awakened, was a lot darker than previous albums and a lot more personal. If you listen to it in retrospect, Tim often talks about his demons and a darkside, and some of the lyrics are really prophetic. One of the most prophetic and telling is the song “Cauterize”. It’s main chorus goes like this,
“I’m caught between the feeling. Of being pulled apart. Or stuffed into a cell.” – Wow.
At the bridge things get even deeper down the rabbit hole, when Tim says, “And now I am a patient on the table.” The song goes on to say, speaking to God, “I’ll give you the knife… Cut away as you see fit. Just promise me the patience. To wait for me to heal.” Followed by the chorus again, “I’m caught between the feeling. Of being pulled apart. Or stuffed into a cell.”
*sigh* Pray faithful soldiers. PRAY!
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