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Blake Painter, ‘Deadliest Catch’ skipper, found dead in home

Capt. Rick Quashnick, right, shares a laugh with boat engineer Blake Painter, left, as family and close friends gather at Quashnick’s Warrenton, Ore., house to watch the Discovery Channel series “The Deadliest Catch” on April 18, 2006. Painter, an Astoria fisherman, has died. He was 38. (Lori Assa / Daily Astorian)
Associated Press

ASTORIA, Ore. – Blake Painter, an Oregon fisherman featured on the television series “The Deadliest Catch,” has died. He was 38.

Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin said Tuesday that Painter had been found in his Astoria home May 25 by a friend who visited after being unable to reach him.

Bergin said a cause of death would not be released until a toxicology report had been completed, but there was no apparent evidence of foul play.

Painter rose to prominence after appearing on early seasons of the Discovery Channel series, which chronicles the lives and work of fishermen in Alaskan waters, with an eye to the hazards of the profession.