Storage Wars auctioneer Dan Dotson was heartbroken after learning of his costar Darrell Sheets’ death at age 67.
“Maybe if I’d been a better friend, I could’ve helped him,” Dotson, 63, told TMZ on Friday, July 10. “Seems he was going through a lot we didn’t know about.
Us Weekly confirmed in April that Sheets died by apparent suicide.
“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 in a statement at the time. “Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones during this difficult time.”
Sheets, who is survived by his two children and multiple grandchildren, was honored at a celebration of life memorial last month. Dotson told TMZ on Friday that he attended the service, alongside multiple former Storage Wars cast members and showrunners.
Dan’s wife, Laura Dotson, previously told Us Weekly that Brandon delivered a moving eulogy to his father at the service.
“He was like a pillar. [He was] stellar, he was strong. He reminds me of his father so much,” Laura, 58, exclusively told Us in June. “He has a lot of the same anecdotes and funny things that he does. He also says, ‘That’s the wow factor, baby,’ and when he does that it sounds just like Darrell in the room.”
She added at the time, “He got to talk about him being a wonderful father, grandfather and friend, and how much Darrell really helped him through his life, becoming the man that he is, and the father that he is.”
According to Laura, Sheets’ siblings and other relatives gathered to pay tribute to the late TV star’s legacy.
“All of Darrell’s sisters were there, [his] brothers were there, family members were there, his cousins were there and they all kind of look like him. His friends look like him,” Laura recalled, adding that Sheets’ ex-wife, Kimber Wuerfel, also made an appearance. “Everybody was so concerned for her and her health, but she looked strong. She was just attending to everybody, and just full of love and stories, and saying, ‘Share, share the story of Darrell,’ and [it was] bringing her comfort I could see, so that was really, really wonderful.”
Laura continued, “Everybody would be hugging and praying and lifting Darrell up again, and then they would start laughing at something somebody would say, so it was tears of joy and happiness, and [they were] talking about, ‘We know that Darrell is with God. We know he’s in heaven,’ and just the feeling that you know that they know that he’s there, so they can have peace.”
Dan’s comments about Sheets’ death come one day after Us obtained emergency dispatch audio pertaining to the circumstances of the TV star’s death. Police were first alerted to distress at Sheets’ Lake Havasu City, Arizona, home on April 22 during a 911 call.
“The male was pronounced deceased on scene, and the Lake Havasu City Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Unit was notified and responded to the scene to assume the investigation,” a police spokesperson told Us at the time.
Us learned that Sheets had been a victim of cyberbullying, which he wrote about in his apparent suicide note revealed in a new police report obtained by Us on Wednesday, July 8.
Following news of his death, a police spokesperson confirmed that investigators were “aware of the cyberbullying accusations involved in this incident and these claims are a part of the active investigation.”
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