Darrell Sheets' Storage Wars rival calls him 'family' after shock death as his depression struggles resurface

Storage Wars star Darrell Sheets received an emotional tribute from his former rival on the show after his apparent suicide Wednesday at the age of 67.

The Lake Havasu City Police Department indicated in a press release that Sheets died of 'what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.' 

Weeks before he was found dead, Sheets had been posting to Facebook about a 'cyber bully stalker' he accused of impersonating him and 'harassing' small businesses, as well as of having 'extorted money' from several people.

In the wake of Sheets' death, his friend and Storage Wars co-star Rene Nezhoda urged law enforcement to look into the 'cyberbullying,' and a police spokesman confirmed the 'cyberbullying allegations' were part of the investigation.

Now Dave Hester, who famously locked horns with Sheets as they competed against each other on the A&E reality show, has offered his own homage.

'You know, Darrell was part of the Storage Wars family. He was a big part of the show for a long time, and Storage Wars has a big family and they’re still going and they’ll keep going, and we’ll stick together,' said Hester, 61, in an Instagram video.

Sheets shot to fame on Storage Wars in 2010 and remained on the hit A&E show throughout the first 15 seasons until his departure in 2023.

Since then, he had been living in Lake Havasu City in Arizona, where he ran an antique shop called Havasu Show Me Your Junk.

Hester, who is still on the show, remarked: 'We’ll all love Darrell Sheets. Even though he wasn’t actively filming at the time, you know, he’s always there. Some of my best battles were with him, but again, those will just be good memories.'

He wished Sheets' family 'the best,' sharing his hopes that 'everybody’s where they need to be at peace and stuff' and that Sheets is 'in a better place.'

Alluding to the claims of 'cyberbullying,' he said: 'I don't even know how that exists because I turn that type of stuff off, but I'm sure it's out there, and if it's happening or did happen I hope that it's taken care of the way it should be.'

Hester's post came the same day it emerged that this Saturday's episode of Storage Wars will feature an in memoriam card honoring Sheets, via TMZ. 

Sheets had laid bare his struggles with depression in a newly unearthed Instagram post he had uploaded in June 2018, during his years on Storage Wars.

'Depression is the Devil s way of attacking us , it knows no mercy , it takes our smiles it comes and goes , it ruins our relationships , it takes away our happiness , it leads to suicide in some cases , it destroys all thoughts of positivity , it is a 24/7 battle and allows no rest for the suffering,' Sheets wrote.

'It’s a very real deal . So please next time someone tells you they have Depression, be kind and know that they spend every minute they have breathing , suffering !!!'

This year, on March 9, Sheets posted to Facebook claiming he had been 'hacked by a very evil person' who was uploading 'posts' from an account pretending to be him.

Insisting that he was 'not gay' and had 'made no post about any children’s arcade owner,' Sheets wrote that his purported tormentor had 'ruined' him to the point that 'people are showing up to my work and wanting to harm me.'

Two days later, Sheets posted to Facebook for the last time in his life, painting a chilling picture of an online campaign he said had stretched over a three-year span.

Sheets claimed he had fallen prey to a 'cyber bully stalker' who hid behind hundreds of 'spoof numbers' as well as a variety of online aliases. 

He asserted that his alleged 'stalker' had 'been going after other small businesses in town and harassing them using my name.' Sheets maintained: 'It is not me !'

In his final public plea for help, Sheets said his accused cyberbully had 'extorted money from many people in this town acting like a handyman.'

Sheets added that 'the things he says are very damaging,' and explained that he was posting about the crisis in case 'anything happens to me.' 

Six weeks later, police arrived at his Lake Havasu home at 2am and found his body.

His death prompted a devastated Instagram video from Rene Nezhoda, who had been his rival on 10 seasons of Storage Wars from 2014 to 2023. 

'I know a lot of you guys think we hated each other because we competed a lot on the show, and you know, we had our moments, we had our run-ins,' he said.

'But that's because we were both competitors, right? We were both competitors. We're the biggest threat out there. So deep down me and Darrell were friends. We talked every now and then,' Nezhoda shared.

He praised Sheets as 'a very hard worker that cared more than anyone I've probably ever met about their family,' and made a point of noting the particular regard Sheets held for his son Brandon and granddaughter Zoie.

Nezhoda then said that 'Darrell would want something positive out of this,' before asserting someone had been 'really, really tormenting him lately and cyberbullying.'

The reality star offered a message to viewers: 'Guys, just 'cause you watch us on television, doesn't mean you know us. It doesn't mean you know what we're about. Also it doesn't entitle you to bully somebody. That's not us. That's anybody. That's any athlete. That's anybody. You shouldn't cyberbully at all.

'As a matter of fact, if you have somebody in your life that thinks it's funny to cyberbully other people - may that be a celebrity, athlete or a little girl at school or a schoolmate - slap 'em in the back of the head,' Nezhoda said.

'Make 'em become a better human being, because you never know what demons somebody faces and what they go through and what you might push 'em through.'

He then said that Sheets had 'been posting a lot' about the person who had allegedly been 'cyberbullying and tormenting him.'

Nezhoda expressed hopes that 'law enforcement' would 'look into' the matter 'and it's not just a pass. Because it's just not right, guys. Be better.'

The Lake Havasu City Police Department's public information officer, Sergeant Kyle Ridgeway, confirmed: 'We are aware of these cyberbullying accusations and that is a part of the active investigation,' via Page Six.