As suspected, Buckwild star Shain Gandee died from carbon monoxide poisoning along with his uncle David Gandee and friend Donald Robert Myers, a West Virginia sheriff confirmed on Tuesday, April 2. Shain was 21, his uncle was 48, and Myers was 27; all three deaths have been ruled as accidental.
The bodies of the three men were discovered Monday in a 1984 Ford Bronco, which had been firmly wedged into a bed of deep mud in Kanawha County, WV. Kanawha County Commission Cpl. B.D. Humphreys explained that the vehicle's muffler was below the surface of the mud, causing the gas to leak back into the car.
Filming of season two of the hit MTV reality show — following a fun-loving group of teens and twentysomethings in rural West Virginia — has been suspended. The bodies of all three men have been released to local funeral homes.
Despite Shain Gandee's reality TV fame, his loved ones are struggling to raise funds for funeral expenses, according to TMZ.
"I know the strain they are going through," his cousin, Ashley Gandee, told the site. "It's hard to provide a proper burial. It's already tough with the loss of family members … expenses are tough as well." To that end, Ashley is organizing a "mud run" (an off-road trucking event) to help raise cash for the burial.
