Darrell Sheets’ cellphone will be analyzed by police after the Storage Wars star made allegations he was cyberbullied in the time leading up to his death
“The Lake Havasu City Police Department has received confirmation from the Mohave County Medical Examiner’s Office that the manner of death in the investigation involving Darrell Sheets has been ruled a suicide, pending the completion of toxicology results,” the Lake Havasu City police department said in a statement to Us Weekly on Tuesday, May 5. “Our agency continues to actively investigate allegations of cyberbullying associated with this case.”
The statement continued, “The Criminal Investigations Unit has submitted Darrell Sheets’ cellular phone for forensic analysis and is currently awaiting the results. This investigative step is essential to advancing the case.”
The police noted that “additional information will be released as it becomes available.”
Sheets, who was best known as “The Gambler” on Storage Wars from 2010 to 2023, died last month in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, at age 67.
“We are saddened by the passing of a beloved member of our Storage Wars family, Darrell ‘The Gambler’ Sheets,” a spokesperson for A&E told Us at the time. “Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
Earlier on Monday, Us confirmed that Sheets’ official cause of death has been ruled suicide. The full autopsy report has yet to be released.
Shortly after news broke of Sheets’ death, his Storage Wars costar and onscreen rival Rene Nezhoda claimed that Sheets was a victim of cyberbullying.
“Just cause you watch us on television doesn’t mean you know us … it doesn’t mean you know what we’re about. Also it doesn’t entitle you to bully somebody,” he claimed to TMZ. “You shouldn’t cyberbully at all.”
Nezhoda, 49, later told Us Weekly exclusively that Sheets “withdrew from social media” in the final weeks of his life due to the alleged harassment.
“He was impersonating him with phone calls, messages, emails, websites … He flat out said, ‘I’m gonna ruin you.’ I mean, all you have to do is go to Darrell’s last few messages on Facebook,” he claimed. “He even said, I think on March 9, ‘Hey guys, I’m happy. Everything is great — if anything happens to me, look at these people. These are the people.’ And then he posted a bunch of messages [about it]. And a month later we find him dead.”
Sheets opened up about struggling with depression in the years before his death.
“Depression is the Devil’s way of attacking us,” the reality star wrote via Instagram in June 2018. “It knows no mercy, it takes our smiles it comes and goes, it ruins our relationships, it takes away our happiness, it leads to suicide in some cases, it destroys all thoughts of positivity, it is a 24/7 battle and allows no rest for the suffering.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
