BK YouTube Star Etika's Death Deemed Suicide: Medical Examiner

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — The missing Brooklyn YouTuber whose body was found in the East River on Monday committed suicide, the medical examiner determined.

Daniel Desmond "Etika" Amofah, 29, was found in the East River near Manhattan's South Street Seaport at about 6:20 p.m. Monday after he had been missing for nearly a week.

Etika, of Downtown Brooklyn, disappeared Wednesday after posting a possibly suicidal video on YouTube that worried many of his friends and fans.

Wednesday, the city's medical examiner confirmed that Etika had committed suicide. His cause of death was drowning and the manner of death was suicide, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined.

The news comes after Etika's friends, fans and fellow YouTubers had flocked to social media to mourn his death, many calling for a better culture around mental health. Etika had seemed suicidal in his last video, where he appeared to be walking the streets of Manhattan.

"You can't help somebody who doesn't want to help themselves," Etika said in the video. "It's not y'all's fault, I don't want you to blame yourselves. It's all my fault."

Etika's friends and fans remembered him as warm, funny and a good friend.

"Wow," wrote his former girlfriend Alice Pika. "I woke up as soon as the news confirmed it."

The YouTube video last week wasn't the first time Etika posted potentially suicidal messages online.

Police arrived in his Brooklyn home to take Etika to a psychiatric ward on April 29 after Etika Tweeted suicidal threats, video shows.

Etika also wrote "It's my time to die" in a Reddit post in October, only to return hours later with the message, "Guys I'm fine, please stop worrying about me," according to a Heavy report.