Another ‘Deadliest Catch’ Death — Tony Lara Dies In Sleep Three Weeks After Producer Killed
A mere three weeks after a Deadliest Catch producer was killed in front of his home, Tony Lara, a captain of the Cornelia Marie, died over the weekend.
Lara was attending the Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota at the time of his death, E! Online reported.
Tony died at a private home. He was only 50.
Though officials don’t yet know what caused Tony’s death, TMZ is reporting that Lara died in his sleep. However, that hasn’t been verified by authorities.
The Meade County Sheriff’s Department is awaiting autopsy results to determine cause of death.
Friends and fans took to Twitter to express their grief over Lara’s sudden death, including the Cornelia Marie‘s current captain, Casey McManus.
Still in shock over losing Capt #TonyLara @alaskatuff #RIP my friend You had a heart of gold #CorneliaMarie #DeadliestCatch @DeadliestCatch
— Capt. Casey McManus (@McManus_Casey) August 9, 2015
And, of course, the Discovery Channel expressed their condolences to Tony’s family, as well.
Yesterday we lost a member of the Catch Family. May you RIP Captain Tony Lara! pic.twitter.com/swLleyVUlr
— Deadliest Catch (@DeadliestCatch) August 9, 2015
According to his bio on the channel’s website, which airs Deadliest Catch, Lara ran his own freighting business and was a vet in the crabbing business. He worked on the boat for 10 years and then ran it during salmon tendering. He’s credited with knowing the “Cornelia Marie inside and out,” and helped build the boat when it was first outfitted for crabbing.
Tony was also a friend of Phil Harris, another captain who died young and whose illness and demise was captured on the popular reality show in 2010. He had a stroke during filming, was hospitalized in Alaska, and died of an intracranial hemorrhage after waking from an induced coma, apparently recovered.
The show seems to have bad luck, as Tony Lara’s death is — counting Harris’ — the third to plague the show, and the second in less than a month.
In July, 25-year-old former associate producer Joe McMahon was shot dead outside his home in California, the New York Daily News reported.
His body was found in the street and the man who killed him, Brandon Rafiepour, 24, later found dead. He’d killed himself in his car in Los Angeles.
According to a previous Inquisitr report, Joe had been shot multiple times. A motive hasn’t yet been reported in the press, but the men were said to know each other.
[Photo Courtesy YouTube Screengrab]
