In the months after his September 2008 plane crash, Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein suffered terrifying nightmares that he was being chased by a man with a blowtorch. The fiery accident, which killed four people, left the DJ and his pal Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker with second- and third-degree burns.

The pair were taken to a burns center in Georgia where Adam was put into a medically induced coma to have skin grafts. After almost a decade of sobriety, the former addict was given strong drugs to ease the pain, and his descent back into his own personal hell began again.

On August 28, less than a year after the accident, the 36-year-old was found dead in his New York apartment. His partially clad body was reportedly found surrounded by prescription pills, a bag of crack cocaine and a pipe.

A disc jockey friend tells Betty Confidential, "Adam was a wonderful human being who struggled with many addictions, which he was fighting and winning! He was clean and sober for nearly 10 years. He was committed to helping other people get clean and he used his experiences to show them it could be done."

"But after the plane crash, everything changed. He had to take the medicine for the pain and suddenly he was hooked again, depressed and facing horrendous survivor's guilt. He fought against taking the medication, but the surgeries for his burns were painful and soon it overwhelmed him. Recently he was trying to stop taking the drugs, but then he'd succumb more."

The pal says because the in-demand DJ was working so much and flying around the country for gigs, his friends thought Adam was doing okay. "But it seems that he was just going through the motions and I wish someone could have stepped in to help him. He was the first to help his friends, but he never asked for help. He would do anything for people. I wish we could have done something for him."

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