There's no easy way to say this, but on Friday the first of April 2011 at about 1:30 PM PST, most likely the worst day of the year for something like this, Joe Le, aka Phyre, fell into the San Gabriel river at a rope crossing.
He helped get Renegade-X on its feet back in the day as one of the early staff. His passion was mainly in 2D art, graphic design, promotional materials and wallpapers and the like. He also contributed to Reborn a few years ago before Ren-X and also to APB.
The river current was very strong and he disappeared from the view of the friends he was hiking with after only a matter of moments. It pains me to say that he is no longer among the living.
He was one of the brightest, talented, and funny individuals I have ever known, and I am going to miss him a lot. He's gone way before his time.
And no, this is not a horrible prank.