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‘Deadliest Catch’ Star Blake Painter, 38, Has Been Found Dead In His Home

By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published on: 06:07 PST, May 29, 2018

There’s some sad news for Deadliest Catch fans. Thirty-eight-year-old Blake Painter, one of the featured fishermen on the show, has been found dead in his Oregon home.

The Daily Mail was the first to break the story about the Deadliest Catch star, who had been deceased for a few days before police found his body after being sent to his home to do a wellness check.

There is no reported cause of death, as of this writing. However, prescription pills have been found on the scene.

Law enforcement in the area has released a statement saying that they don’t suspect foul play at this time, but they aren’t ruling out the possibility of suicide. An autopsy was immediately ordered on the body.

Police discovered Painter’s body because a friend of Painter’s called the police because he hadn’t heard from his friend in a few days.

When they went to the house, they discovered his body, which was in a state of decomposition.

Painter was heavily featured on the second and third seasons of Deadliest Catch, where he commanded the F/V Maverick, a crabbing vessel.

As beloved as he was, however, Painter was not without his problems.

In January of this year, he made the headlines of his hometown paper, The Daily Astorian, because he was arrested after police caught him smoking heroin while behind the wheel of his car.

At the time, he was also charged with unlawful possession of heroin, tampering with physical evidence, and reckless driving.

This isn’t the first time that a star of Deadliest Catch has passed away.

Phil Harris, one of the most popular fishermen on the show, died of a massive stroke while offloading his catch in 2010. Justin Tennison, a 33-year-old fisherman who was also very popular on the show, died in 2011 due to complications from sleep apnea. And, most recently, Tony Lara — who was sent in to help Josh Harris out as captain of the Cornelia Marie after Capt. Phil Harris died — died at a private residence in Sturgis, South Dakota.

In 2016, Sig Hansen suffered a major heart attack, and his condition was touch and go for some time, but he ultimately pulled through and survived. Doctors blame the severe conditions — severe weather, severe physical exertion, and severe sleep deprivation — for the fishermen featured on Deadliest Catch suffering from a variety of ailments.

Our thoughts are with Blake Painter’s family, and the rest of the cast of Deadliest Catch, during what is undoubtedly a difficult time.

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