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."
