‘Deadliest Catch’ Star Mahlon Reyes Dead at 38

One member of the Deadliest Catch family has reportedly passed away. According to TMZ, Mahlon Reyes, who appeared as a deckhand on one of the crab fishing boats on the program, has died. Reyes was 38. His wife confirmed the news to the publication, sharing that her husband died of a heart attack.

Reyes reportedly died in his hometown of Whitefish, Montana. His wife told TMZ that he suffered a heart attack on Saturday, July 25. Reyes did survive the heart attack and was transported to a local hospital. However, he never regained consciousness after undergoing that medical emergency. Reyes’ wife said that they decided to take him off of life support on Sunday, and loved ones surrounded him at the time. His family was supposedly very caught off guard by Reyes’ massive heart attack, as he had no pre-existing health conditions that they were aware of. While his wife shared that he suffered a heart attack that ultimately led to his death, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office said that his official cause of death had not been determined yet pending autopsy and toxicology results. Reyes is survived by his wife and their four children. The 38-year-old was reportedly cremated, and his wife shared that his Deadliest Catch crew will be spreading some of his ashes in the Bering Sea.

Reyes, who last appeared on Deadliest Catch in 2015, was said to be in the recovery process from a recently torn Achilles tendon. He suffered the injury while crabbing on the boat. He was working hard to make his way back to Alaska for another crabbing season. He previously worked on two Deadliest Catch boats, the Seabrooke and Cape Caution. He once worked on the fishing team led by Captain “Wild” Bill Wichrowski. Ahead of Deadliest Catch‘s 15th season in 2019, Wichrowski opened up to PopCulture.com about the dangers of their job. More specifically, he recounted the one time that really got him choked up.

Wichrowski recalled that the 2017 season was a difficult one. Not only was it hard for the crew due to the weather conditions that they encountered, but the captain also dealt with almost losing one of the men on board, as deckhand Spencer Moore was sent overboard the Summer Bay in Season 14. “Everybody talks about the weather — there’s gonna be weather every year, but we had the one storm last year that … I hadn’t been afraid, probably, in 25 years and I was afraid and that takes a lot,” Wichrowski shared at the time. He continued to open up about the scary situation concerning Moore, explaining that he hated to even talk about it. “I get choked up talking about that. I’ve done this for 40-something years and never had a man in the water. So that was pretty hairy.”