In 2010, Michael Hastings discussed his story about Petraeus on the TODAY show.

Michael Hastings, the journalist best known for the 2010 Rolling Stone story that led to the resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, died Tuesday in a car crash in Los Angeles, his employers at BuzzFeed and Rolling Stone announced.

He was 33.

In 2008, Hastings reflected on the death of his fiancée.

"We are shocked and devastated by the news that Michael Hastings is gone," BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith said in a statement Tuesday evening. "Michael was a great, fearless journalist with an incredible instinct for the story, and a gift for finding ways to make his readers care about anything he covered from wars to politicians."

Fellow reporters and others Hastings came across throughout his career took to Twitter to pay respects and remember the man known for his confident and fearless style.

Three years ago, Hasting's work became the focal point of Washington when Rolling Stone published his piece "Runaway General," which featured McChrystal, then head of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, critiquing how President Obama and his administration were conducting the war.

Days after the article was published McChrystal went to the White House to hand the president his resignation.

Michael Hastings joins 'Morning Joe' to discuss his latest e-book on Obama's final campaign.

Hastings also wrote two books, "The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan," which was based on his time with McChrystal and military leaders in Afghanistan, and "I Lost My Love in Baghdad: A Modern War Story," the story of how his then-fiance was killed by a car bombing while serving as an aide worker in Iraq.

He is survived by his wife, Elise.