'BUCKWILD' cast member Shain Gandee, two others found dead
SISSONVILLE, W.Va. - The Kanawha County, W.Va., Sheriff's Office has identified the third person whose body was found inside a disabled Ford Bronco stranded in a mud pit along with that of MTV reality series “Buckwild” star Shain Gandee and his uncle.
Donald Robert Myers, 27, who also lived in the area around Sissonville in Kanawha County, was found along with Gandee, 21, and his uncle, David Gandee, 48, who were previously identified.
The sheriff's office said the vehicle and bodies were found by one of Shain Gandee's friends who was searching the trails and ridges in the wooded area near Shain's home looking for him. Shain and David Gandee had last been seen at a bar in Sissonville about 3 a.m. Monday. They had indicated they intended to take the four-wheel drive vehicle for some off-road riding, but had not indicated where to family members who asked the sheriff's office to issue a missing persons alert early today.
When found, the Ford Bronco sat unevenly and partially submerged in deep mud, but was upright. Mud was covering the lower part of the passenger side door of the vehicle, but the driver's side of the vehicle was above the mud. The muffler of the vehicle was completely below the surface of the mud, the sheriff's office said.
The body of Shain Gandee was seated in the driver's seat of the Bronco, the sheriff's office said.
The Bronco was found next to a ridge-top trail that extends through the woods about one mile from Shain Gandee's residence near Thaxton Hollow in Sissonville. Although that section of the trail was passable for four-wheel drive vehicles, the Bronco had somehow ended up in a mud pit next to the trail, the sheriff's office reported.
A bulldozer had to be used to remove the Bronco from the mud. The bodies of the three men were then removed from the vehicle and taken to the county medical examiner's office, where autopsies will be performed to help determine the cause of death, the sheriff's office said.
Toxicology tests will likely be necessary to determine what levels of alcohol and/or drugs may have been in the bodies of the three men, as well as whether the submerged muffler may have forced carbon monoxide back up the tail pipe toward the passenger compartment.
