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Darrell Sheets died by suicide on April 22, and since then, tributes have poured in from his Storage Wars family and fans. Now, his co-star, Dave Hester, has opened up about this tragic passing and explained how he was with some of his friends and colleagues from the reality TV show when he found out about what happened.
Hester learned about Sheets’ death because a news outlet reached out to him to discuss “very bad news about somebody close to [him].” He happened to be with Brandi Passante from Storage Wars when all this happened, and he explained how he learned about it during an interview with Extra:
They had some very bad news about somebody close to me. I just happened to be greenscreening [with the cast] that day, and I reached out and I said, ‘Has anybody in the Storage Wars family died or something?’ Because I was at the green screen and nobody knew anything about it. Five minutes later, somebody got a phone call. Brandi walked into the lunch room and said Darrell’s passed away. After that, the phone was ringing off the hook.
Along with Hester’s words about Sheets’ passing, many other cast members paid tribute. This included Brandi Passante. She took to Instagram, writing about how this news put her at “a loss for words.” She explained that she’s lost family members “to similar situations,” and she’s been through a lot as her ex Jarrod Schulz was charged with domestic violence in 2021. In her message about Sheets, she urged people to “reach out for help” if they need it, and reiterated that “there is always help.”
This kind of statement goes along with the message Sheets himself posted a few years ago about his own battle with depression. In the Instagram post, he explained that if people know others who are dealing with depression, they should “be kind.”
Now, when asked about Sheets’ death by suicide and how he’s processing it, Hester explained his thoughts on waiting to find out more about what happened:
You know, as you get older you know that things happen in life. You don’t know why people do what they do. I’ll just wait and see what it actually turns out to be, because we don’t know if he was sick, if he was in pain, we don’t know any of those things. People could be going through stuff that nobody knows what’s happening.
Hester also didn’t comment much on the cyberbullying claims surrounding Sheets’ death. At the moment, there’s an investigation going on into said claims. Meanwhile, Hester did reiterate how important the support of the Stroage Wars family is.
The tributes also paid homage to Sheets’ legacy on the show. While Hester hadn’t personally seen his co-star in a few months, he explained how they maintained their friendship and how meaningful their history on Stroage Wars is to him:
Storage Wars has been going on for 17 seasons. Darrell, me were at the very beginning of it. And we worked together for probably 100 episodes. We were rivals, but we respected each other.
You can stream select seasons of Storage Wars on AETV, Tubi, The Roku Channel or with a Hulu subscription to see Dave, Brandi, Darrell, and more together. While a new season of the series has been airing on the 2026 TV schedule and Passante has been in every season, Hester hasn’t regularly appeared since Season 11 (though he was in two episodes of Season 16). Meanwhile, Sheets took three seasons off after Season 11, but did return for a few episodes in Seasons 14 and 15.
So, it’s been a while since either of them played a major role in the series. However, clearly, this cast has remained close and in contact. Plus, their impact and legacy on Storage Wars are unquestionable. Their “competition and rivalry” was also prominent on the show, and while they had that energy on screen, they respected each other a lot, with Hester saying Sheets “brought out the best” in him.
We here at CinemaBlend continue to send out thoughts and condolences to Sheets’ family and loved ones.
You can find resources on the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at 800-273-8255.