There's something about the intimate relationship between a YouTuber and their audience that
always makes their deaths a shock.
Many YouTubers both young and old are taken too soon; here are a few YouTube stars you
may not have realized are gone.
Will Norton
In May 2011 a devastating tornado swept through the city of Joplin, Missouri, reducing homes
to rubble and taking the lives of 158 people, including popular YouTuber Will Norton.
The witty 18-year-old was in the middle of his high school graduation when the weather
outside started to turn, and after accepting his diploma he and his father Mark headed
for home as fast as they could.
Sadly, they didn't get there quick enough.
The powerful winds flipped the vehicle onto its side, breaking Will's seat belt and leaving
him dangerously exposed.
Despite his father's attempts to hold onto him, Will was sucked through the sunroof of
his vehicle.
His body was later discovered in a nearby pond, concealed by debris.
His aunt Tracey Presslor later said at a press conference,
"At least we know that he wasn't out there suffering.
Knowing that he was gone right away was really a blessing for us."
Sophie Anderson
British YouTuber Sophie Anderson, aka Sophie Emma Rose to her subscribers, ran her channel
from the sunny beaches of Phuket in southern Thailand, giving parenting advice that sometimes
proved controversial.
The 41-year-old was 6 months pregnant when the scooter she was on collided with an 18-wheeler
truck, killing her and her unborn child.
29-year-old boyfriend Danny Glass said in a 2017 Facebook post,
"I am in total shock as I've lost the most precious person I had ever connected with."
"My brain keeps going into denial.
I am distraught.
She was also pregnant, so I lost my child too."
Tamisha Ridge
YouTube DIY fashion icon Tamisha Ridge was attracting millions of viewers to her DIYMeesha
channel when she was murdered by a bitter ex-boyfriend with a history of violence.
In May 2014, the 31-year-old mother was found in her home with a fatal gunshot wound to
the head, inflicted by a man with five previous convictions for domestic abuse against multiple
women dating back to 2002.
A stint behind bars did nothing to break his pattern of violence towards women, as he would
later murder Ridge, a bubbly fashionista and mother of three.
Caleb LeBlanc
Described by The Guardian as an "online middle-class version of the Kardashians," the LeBlanc family,
who use the name Bratayley online, has over 4.9 million subscribers, and their vlogs used
to focus on the three Bratayley children: Annie, Hayley and Caleb.
That all changed on October 1, 2015 when his parents revealed a family tragedy on their
Instagram, saying
"Yesterday at 7:08PM Caleb Logan Bratayley passed away of natural causes.
This has come as a shock to all of us.
Words cannot describe how much we will miss him.
His incredibly funny, loving and wonderful spirit made us all fall in love with him as
a YouTuber, friend, brother and son."
The following day, the last video Caleb recorded was posted, entitled "Dear Future Self."
As the 13-year-old's fans began the grieving process, conspiracy theorists started to spread
stories of foul play.
In the end, local police were forced to release a statement confirming that there were no
"suspicious factors" in Caleb's death and that no criminal investigations were underway.
Connie Kin
The haul videos that Connie Kin did for the WhatsUpMoms page made her famous among mothers
on the internet.
The parenting channel has over 1.7 million subscribers, but it lost one of its most popular
contributors back in 2013 when Kin passed away after giving birth to her second child,
Ella.
According to her husband Andrew, the bubbly vlogger was taken by "an infection as a complication
from childbirth."
He continued:
"I treasure all of these videos and comments because I know Nathan and Ella will always
be just a click away from seeing their mom smiling and caring about them, and a click
away from understanding all the people she touched."
Tameka Moore
Known to YouTube as Meechy Monroe, Tameka Moore's channel featured hairstyle tips and
tutorials.
She started out in the fall of 2010 and by early 2014, she was attracting viewers in
the millions, but her life and online career were turned upside down later that year.
Shortly before her 29th birthday, Moore began to notice one side of her face was drooping
and she was having trouble with her speech.
The doctors had bad news — she had suffered three strokes.
After performing some exploratory surgery, they diagnosed her with an extremely rare
form of brain cancer, and knowing the treatment would make her hair fall out, she voluntarily
shaved her head and donated it to Locks of Love.
Moore told People,
"I cried.
It was very difficult because my hair was so much a part of my personality."
"I was calm, but worried.
These thoughts kept going through my head: 'Will I make it?
I have to keep faith!'"
The Chicago-based vlogger bravely fought cancer before finally succumbing to it in June 2017,
aged just 32.
Justin Carmical
Gamer Justin Carmical was part of the first generation of YouTube gamers, well known for
his enthusiastic "You Can Play This" series, in which he would import video games from
Japan and teach people how to play them without knowing the language.
Off camera, he was having suicidal thoughts, and he acted on them in January 2014.
His wife Jenny wrote on Facebook,
"It is with a very sad heart that I must confirm my husband, Justin Carmical [...] died on
Thursday, January 23rd."
"You all made him so happy, every time he was recognized from his videos, it made him
giddy with joy."
Peter Oakley
Affectionately known to his subscribers as the granddad of the internet, Peter Oakley
made his first contribution to YouTube back in 2006 when he posted a fuzzy video entitled
"First Try."
The British vlogger asked the YouTube community for help and advice in shaping his channel
Geriatric1927, and word of the chatty pensioner soon spread, with more than 3 million people
watching his debut video.
After feedback, Oakley decided to use the video sharing platform to tell his story,
taking his viewers on journeys into his childhood in wartime Britain, but people also tuned
in to hear his gripes about the modern world.
He told The Independent,
"There are millions of people without grandparents who find small comfort in old, simple, stories."
"I have had my 15 minutes of fame, and enjoyed every minute of it."
In February 2014, a notice appeared on Oakley's website, confirming what his subscribers had
feared when they hadn't heard from him in a while, which read,
"Peter has just been transferred to a nursing care facility, he has cancer which is apparently
too far advanced for treatment and he is not expected to pull through."
He signed off his final video with some typically British stiff upper-lip:
"So in conclusion I would say my possibly my final goodbye… so goodbye."