`Buckwild` star Shain Gandee found dead in West Virginia

USPA News - A cast member of MTV reality show "Buckwild" that follows a group of nine young friends was among three people who were found dead in rural West Virginia on Monday after being reported missing following a late-night session at a local bar, police said. Shain Gandee, 21, was found dead along with two other men in a 1984 Ford Bronco in a wooded area near Sissonville in Kanawha County, about 6.3 miles (10 kilometers) north of Charleston.

They were found by one of Shain`s friends who was searching the area`s trails and ridges after the men were reported missing. Corporal B. D. Humphreys of the Kanawha County Sheriff`s Office said the SUV sat unevenly, but upright, and was partially submerged in deep mud. "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," he said. "The muffler of the vehicle was completely below the surface of the mud." Humphreys said the vehicle was found next to a ridge-top trail in a section which is passable for four-wheel drive vehicles, but the SUV itself was in a mud pit next to it. "The Bronco was removed from the mud pit by a bull-dozer," he said, adding that the area is roughly one mile (1.6 kilometer) from Shain`s residence. The bodies were identified as Shain, who was seated in the driver`s seat, his uncle David and 27-year-old Donald Robert Myers. Their bodies were later removed from the vehicle and taken to the Office of the Medical Examiner, where autopsies will be performed on Tuesday to determine their cause of deaths, although no foul play is suspected. Shain and his uncle had been last seen at around 3 a.m. local time on Sunday at Larry`s Bar in Sissonville, where they said they were going four-wheeling in Shain`s SUV. Family members spent most of Sunday trying to locate or contact the two men before calling 911 to report them missing, after which a public appeal was issued. An MTV spokesperson said the cable television channel was "shocked and saddened" by the news. "We are waiting for more information but at this time, our main concern is for the Gandee family and their friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with them," the spokesperson said in a statement. "Shain had a magnetic personality, with a passion for life that touched everyone he met and we will miss him dearly." "Buckwild" debuted on January 3 and follows nine young, adventurous West Virginian friends as they find their own ways to have fun. An MTV press release issued last year described Shain as sociable and loyal, having done numerous jobs from coal mining to being a garbage man. It said he loved mudding, hunting and four-wheeling.