Photo: getty
Desmond Amofah, the famous YouTuber who went by “Etika,” was found dead in New York’s East River.
By Leah Scher — Written on Jun 28, 2019
Less than a week before his unresponsive body was found in the East River, Etika was reported missing after having been last heard from on the phone on June 19th. The city’s medical examiner said Etika’s cause of death was drowning by suicide. Amid all the chaos of his tragic death, it’s easy to forget about the grieving friends and family members he left behind. Let’s give a voice to his ex-girlfriend, vlogger Christine Alice, who tweeted early Tuesday before he was found, “I refuse to give up hope.” Who is Christine Cardona?
1. Christine Cardona is a fellow gamer.
The 26-year-old goes by the name Alice Pika. She and Etika dated for roughly six years, between 2011 and 2017. She says she last saw him in April, after he posted “disturbing” tweets and sent her a series of illegible texts. “I was concerned so I went over to his house and the whole day was [spent] observing his mental state," Cardona said. Eventually Etika made her leave, but after he shared some suicidal thoughts with her, she called the police. He was subsequently hospitalized, and it wasn’t the only incident that ended like that during their relationship.
2. She was hopeful for him until the very end.
“He’s never admitted he has a problem,” she said in an interview. “He’s always seemed to deny the existence of mental health disorders. Our relationship, it wasn’t easy.” The news of his disappearance was hard enough for her to process, but she was hopeful he’d be found safe in due time. “He’s in pain but not harmed, I’m sure of it,” she tweeted. “Have faith that he’s gonna take his health seriously.” I can’t begin to imagine what the news of the death feels like for her.
3. She’s received a lot of backlash for her relationship with Etika.
Some people thought she was trying to use Etika’s name for exposure, which is absolutely absurd considering she knew him for nearly a decade, long before he got famous. Even fellow creators and gamers were accusing her of this! Nonetheless, there’s an even stronger outpouring of support for her all throughout social media.
4. She really loved and appreciated him!
After his death was confirmed, Cardona tweeted that she wants his funeral to be “as big as his personality, his heart, and his spirit. I loved him. He is finally at peace.” As @KatHeartwell put it in a tweet Cardona then re-tweeted, Cardona was incredibly selfless when it came to Etika. She put his needs first whenever she could because she wanted him to be better and do better. She saw his potential. She reached out, showed love, remained consistently committed even in his toughest moments.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Other international suicide helplines can be found at befrienders.org. You can also text TALK to 741741 for free, anonymous 24/7 crisis support in the US from the Crisis Text Line.
Leah Scher is an ENFP finishing her degree at Brandeis University. She's an alumna of the Kenyon Review Young Writer's Workshop the Iowa Young Writers' Studio. She's passionate about Judaism, poetry, film, satire, astrology, spirituality, and sexual health. She draws inspiration for her writing from writer/director Wes Anderson, and for her lifestyle from her grandmother. Lastly, she's always actively seeking two things: a job having anything at all to do with publishing, and a chance to meet Jesse Eisenberg.