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BUZZ OSBORNE We’d kicked out Lori before because she had a whole bunch of troubles. Joe Preston was in the band for about a year, and then Lori came back in for a few months maybe, but she never was on the Atlantic contract. Lori’s on Houdini a little bit, but it’s mostly me and Dale; the credits on that record are all wrong, it’s nonsense.

I broke up with Lori in ’92, I think, for good. Because it wasn’t really working, and I was just over it. What was interesting was, when I was done with the relationship with Lori, her dad called me. After having absolutely no interest in what I was doing for years, us being signed to Atlantic somehow legitimized the whole thing in his mind. He said that he didn’t see any reason why his daughter couldn’t still be in the band. He became really nasty.

And I was like, “Forget it, Charlie! Forget it. It’s not gonna happen. You had your chance, fucker, and good-bye!”

Was I afraid of him? Of course, I was. I was thinking, This may be the biggest mistake I’ve made in my life. I mean, her dad told me stories about strangling Japanese soldiers on the beaches in World War Two. With his bare hands.

But I’ve never been a pussy. I’d made up my mind, and I wasn’t about to let that kind of thing stand in my way.

STEVE MORIARTY Mia just had a way of connecting with the audience. I always knew when we got up there to play, no matter how dead the audience was or where anyone was in the bar or how big the place was, by about the third or fourth song, everybody in the place would be really close to the stage. She had a way of engaging everybody, bringing them forward to the stage to be part of what’s going on. It was wild. She would get on her knees and sing to people individually, practically. And it wasn’t showy, it wasn’t any kind of performance at all, it was just her being her amplified self. People would just be watching her, everybody staring at her and listening for every word that would come out of her mouth.

VALERIE AGNEW We had all been together in L.A. The Gits were down there to talk to Tim Sommer from Atlantic, who was our A&R guy. We had already signed with Atlantic; I’m not sure if the paperwork was finalized, but we’d made the decision. Mia had just done a couple of solo shows down there, which she was really psyched about.

When we were down in L.A., it was the anniversary of Stefanie’s death. I remember me, Selene, Liz, and Mia hanging out in the bathroom at the Hyatt on Sunset smoking pot and drinking a toast to Stef. Mia had a lot of encouraging words. And when we came back to Seattle, we were in the Comet and that came up again, so we had a round and did another toast to Stef. And then Mia left the bar, and that was the last time we saw her.

ELIZABETH DAVIS-SIMPSON 7 Year Bitch was about to go on tour with the Gits, and I remember Mia and the rest of the band were there. We’re excited about the tour. We’re drinking, having a good time …

STEVE MORIARTY We had six months of touring planned, in Europe and the U.S. and Canada. We were supposed to tour with L7 and 7 Year Bitch, all together. The pope was visiting the U.S., and we were going to play all the cities the same day that he was visiting them and have a pro-choice, anti-pope tour.

I went home at about 9 or 10 from the Comet, and Mia was just getting there. I was tired. Had to be in the studio the next day. I said, “Don’t stay out too late. I gotta go. Okay, bye.” And, yeah, that was it. And then the next day, when she was supposed to show up in the studio, she wasn’t there.

VALERIE AGNEW I remember Steve calling me and one of Mia’s best friends called, looking for her, and they were like, “Piecora’s called”—Mia also worked there—“she didn’t show up at Piecora’s.” I was like, What the hell? No way, this can’t be happening again! Mia’s not using drugs. Immediately the thought went to that, of course. And then Mia’s roommate called me and told me that they had found her and that she had been strangled, and that