Bob Bryar, the musician and recording engineer who served as My Chemical Romance’s longest-serving drummer, has died. He was 44.

The double-platinum artist was found badly decomposed in his Tennessee home on Tuesday after he was last seen alive on November 4, law enforcement sources told TMZ.

Bryar’s cause of death is currently under investigation, but foul play is not suspected as all of his weapons were found undamaged.

Bryar was born in Chicago on December 31, 1979 and began playing drums at a young age. He performed with his school marching band before studying sound engineering at the University of Floriday.

While touring as a sound engineer for The Used in 2004, he met and became friends with the members of My Chemical Romance (MCR), who were also touring. Bryar replaced MCR drummer Matt Pelissier shortly after the release of their second studio album Cheers to Sweet Revenge in June 2004 and appeared in many of the album’s accompanying videos.

Bryar appeared on the band’s last two albums, The Black Parade (2006) and Danger Days: The real lives of the fabulous spoilsports (2010) and the compilation album Conventional Weapons (2013) and left the group in 2010. MCR eventually disbanded in 2013.

“I left a very good tour gig where I was the tour manager and was responsible for the sound. I left that job to join a band that was dirty, had shoddy equipment, had a broken down, smoking death trap van, and was poor. They smelled bad too,” Bryar told Alternative Press in 2016. “I was very happy about the offer. Long before we recorded “Welcome to the Black Parade,” I knew (MCR) was something special and I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted to help develop the band and be able to shred with them every night.”

He added: “I think my last big memory was performing (a sold-out show at) MSG at the end of the tour. “I never thought this would ever happen to me and I still can’t believe it really was like that.”

After touring behind the scenes with several other bands, Bryar moved into real estate in 2014 and finally retired from the drumming business in 2021.

“I close the book permanently when I play the drums. I have too many wrist problems, I’m too old, too fat and it’s time for something new,” he wrote on Twitter at the time, selling his drum kit to support the Williamson County Animal Control and Adoption Center in Franklin, Tennessee.

Bryar was active in dog rescue charities. His two dogs were recovered by animal control after his body was discovered.