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Neil Hope, who played Wheels, was found dead in 2007, but was just confirmed to be him in January, and the news released recently.


https://www.thestar.com/entertainmen...star_web_ymbii

Police have confirmed to the Star that Hope was found dead on Nov. 25, 2007 in a Hamilton rooming house. That shocking revelation was made known to friends and family only this January — and became public Thursday.
He was 35.

Little is known about how the intensely private Hope came to a sudden end, alone and unnoticed. “Everybody falls on hard times,” Boulard said. “Neil had a hard life.”
The star’s struggles with his parents’ alcoholism — his father eventually died of cirrhosis of the liver — were well documented in interviews.
Boulard said Hope’s brother Danny and his wife, Tracy, began hearing rumours of his death two or three years ago but they brushed it off. But two years went by and no one had heard from him. “That’s when we started to worry,” she said.
Boulard said she lost touch with Hope in 2002, but remained in contact with his family through Facebook. When they hadn’t heard from Hope, they called her. Finally they contacted the police in Hamilton.

His legacy showed on social media sites Thursday, as fans expressed shock at the sudden news of Hope’s death.
“Neil Hope,” “RIP Wheels” and “Zit Remedy” (the fictional band of which Hope’s character was a member) were all trending on Twitter in Canada Thursday.
On a Facebook page dedicated to getting Hope to join the social networking site, Tracy Northrup Hope, his sister-in-law, wrote in January: “RIP You will always be in our hearts and always remembered. Now we all can be at peace. We miss you soo much !!!!xoxox.”