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Police: BMX Rider Dave Mirra Dies At 41 Of Apparent Suicide

A veteran BMX rider who brought the sport to North Carolina has died. Authoritiess believe Dave Mirra committed suicide.

Greenville police said Thursday night that Mirra's body was found earlier in the day with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. They say he had been visiting friends in the area.

Mirra was an accomplished BMX rider and one of the most decorated athletes in X Games history. He also hosted MTV's "Real World/Road Rules Challenge", and two video games carried his name.

Mirra moved to the eastern North Carolina city of Greenvillle in the 1990s and helped turn the area into a mecca for fellow BMX riders.

Mayor Allen Thomas called Mirra "a great friend and wonderful human being."

Mirra is survived by a wife and two children. He was 41.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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