What Happened To Todd Kochutin? The Deadliest Catch Star’s Tragic Death Explained

What Happened To Todd Kochutin? The Deadliest Catch Star’s Tragic Death Explained

Todd Kochutin was a crab fisherman occasionally featured on Deadliest Catch, but suddenly, he stopped appearing, which had some fans wondering where he went. Since its premiere in June 2005, there have been 20 seasons and counting of Deadliest Catch with a rotating gang of crabbers, boats, and captains. While some people only appear for a season, others like Sig Hansen, Jake Anderson, and Keith Colburn have been with the show for years. There have been plenty of unplanned departures from the series over the years as well.

While some may claim Deadliest Catch isn’t the most realistic Discovery Channel reality series, there are parts of it that can not be faked. These are real, employed men, who are going out into the violent and unpredictable Bering Strait, and there have been plenty of close calls on the show and even a few deaths. Todd Kochutin was a crab fisherman who appeared in a handful of episodes. A capable and dependable crabber, Todd first appeared in season 16 then off and on throughout the seasons, first on F/V Tempo Sea and then on F/V Patricia Lee.

Todd Kochutin Died Of Fatal Injuries Aboard The Patricia Lee In 2021

Kochutin’s Fate Was Not Totally Revealed Until Late 2021

Todd Kochutin passed away in February 2021, at the age of 30, on-board the F/V Patricia Lee, in the middle of filming for Deadliest Catch. His obituary only stated that he had passed away due to, “injuries sustained while on board F/V Patricia Lee” (via Obituaries). The full extent of what happened wasn’t revealed until October 2021, when Discovery UK released a 10-minute video of the moment of Kochutin’s passing. In the video, captains can be seen receiving the call that someone on board the Patricia Lee had been seriously injured, requiring a medivac.

The other boats soon learn that the victim is Todd Kochutin and, despite their best hopes, they quickly hear he has passed away. It’s a solemn and real moment in Deadliest Catch as the captains and crabbers quietly contemplate his death. As more information comes out, they learn Kochutin was hit with a crab pot, which are the large cages the crabbers use to haul up the crabs, and which can weigh upwards of 800 pounds. Kochutin died soon after the call came in that he was injured, suggesting his wounds were critical.

What Kochutin’s Deadliest Catch Co-Stars Have Said About His Passing

Kochutin Was A Friend To Many, Not Just His Crewmates

The immediate reactions to his death in the Discovery UK clip revealed just how highly people thought of Todd Kochutin. One of his friends on the Patricia Lee said, “I can’t keep losing friends.” When the news initially came out over the radio saying someone had been injured, Captain “Wild Bill” Wichrowski of the Summer Bay said, “I hope it’s not Todd.” It takes a special kind of person to make that impression on a captain who doesn’t even sail his boat.

In an interview with OPB, Captain Rip Carlton of the Patricia Lee was asked about Kochutin’s passing and said,

“And Todd was one of my favorite guys. He worked with us for a while, five years, he was part of our family… No matter what you try to do, Mother Nature will throw you a curveball and we got one and we did some soul searching and we knew that Todd would have wanted us to keep going and that’s what we did.”

Todd Kochutin clearly left a mark on everyone who met him, and his passing seemed to affect his crewmates and the other crabbers equally. Deadliest Catch has plenty of manufactured drama, but when something real like this happens, it’s a shocking reminder that the work on these boats is inherently dangerous and that the title of the series is not hyperbole.