Kosary Funeral Home

Melanie Tomas stood next to Joey Kovar’s coffin, refusing to leave his side, until the last of approximately 1,000 mourners finally left the Kosary Funeral Home in Evergreen Park, Ill., at 11 p.m. Even now, more than two weeks after the wake for her off-and-on boyfriend – a reality star from MTV’s The Real World: Hollywood in 2008 – Tomas, 24, is struggling to make sense out of his sudden death at age 29. “Joe was in the best mind frame and direction of his life,” Tomas, who is the mother of Kovar’s 2-year-old daughter Maira, tells PEOPLE. “That is why this is still such a shock. Never had I seen him so dedicated to his sobriety, religion, family and friends.” Kovar was pronounced dead on the morning of Aug. 17 in the home of Stacey Achterhof, a pal who reportedly found him with blood coming out of his nose and ears. An autopsy was inconclusive and a final cause of death is pending the results of toxicology tests. No foul play is suspected. Although the Chicago-area native had long battled drug and alcohol abuse – he was also a cast member on season 3 of VH1’s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew – friends and family thought that he had tamed his demons. Brother Mourns“Joe’s final days were peaceful,” his brother David Kovar tells PEOPLE. “He had become such a happy person. I had not once worried that he was using again. I’m still very unsure of what exactly happened. I try not to think about it because I feel like it will eat me alive if I do.” David and his brother consistently maintained an upbeat relationship – Joey was there for David when he told his family he was gay – but over the last two years, the pair became especially close. “Something just clicked,” David says. “I had never felt so close to my brother in my life. We were always [contacting] each other to make sure we told each other we loved each other.” Other friends and family members describe Joey as a loving father – he also has a 3-year-old boy with another former girlfriend – who regularly attended church, remained close to his grandparents and kept in top physical shape thr... (People Magazine)