Deadliest Catch star Blake Painter is dead, Us Weekly can confirm. The reality star was only 38 years old.
A law enforcement source tells RadarOnline that Painter’s body was found in his home on Friday, May 25, in Oregon, after a friend of the expert crab fisherman’s notified police when he did not hear from him for days and became concerned.
The police officers obtained entry to Painter’s house and determined when the body was found that he had been dead for several days. Though substances — including prescription pills — were found in Painter’s home, a cause of death has not yet been revealed, according to TMZ. The site reports that no foul play is suspected but police are testing the substances that were found on site of his death.
An autopsy and toxicology test will be done in the coming days to determine Painter’s official cause of death.
Painter was best known for his role during the second and third season of the Discovery Channel show. He was captain of the F/V Maverick and was featured on multiple episodes before he voluntarily quit following season 3 in 2007.
According to The Daily Astorian — a local Oregon news site — Painter was involved in a horrific car crash in June 2016 as he was towing a boat behind his pickup truck. The outlet reported that “emergency responders used the Jaws of Life to remove him from the pickup truck.”
Painter isn’t the first cast member of the hit show to be found dead suddenly. Tony Lara was pronounced dead in 2015 after suffering a heart attack at the age of 50. Lara manned the crab fishing boat Cornelia Marie and passed in his sleep at his Sturgis, South Dakota, home.
