Inside The Brief Disappearance Of YouTuber Marina Joyce
YouTube may be a hotbed for true crime content, but what happens when one of its own creators finds herself at the center of a missing persons case?
That's what happened to YouTuber Marina Joyce, who is based in the United Kingdom. It's important to note that Joyce's 2019 disappearance was not the first time fans had concerns about the creator.
In 2016, Joyce's YouTube channel, which was usually filled with fashion and beauty posts, began posting strange videos, according to The Guardian. The once upbeat and quirky creator started acting differently in her videos, and fans were concerned about her well-being.
Viewers jumped to conclusions that a few aspects of her YouTube videos were proof that she had been kidnapped, per the Independent. She constantly looked off-camera in an anxious way, sometimes with a dazed expression on her face, and fans assumed that someone was controlling her actions.
However, Joyce was totally safe at home, even if some fans continued to worry about her mental health.
While the 2016 incident was nothing but fan speculation, Joyce went missing in 2019 — and it seemed that there was more to the story than fans thought.
There are still questions about the time Marina Joyce went missing in 2019
In August 2019, CNN reported that YouTube star Marina Joyce had gone missing for a total of 10 days. She was living in north London at the time and was reported missing on Aug. 7. She was seen last on July 31.
A few hours after the police made the disappearance known and asked for assistance in finding Joyce, her boyfriend, YouTuber Brandon Mehmed, sent out a message on Twitter.
"Everything is being dealt with in a professional manner," he posted. "Please don't worry about her as she is safe and well (you have my word for that)." When asked for clarification, Mehmed said that Joyce had been located by police.
She eventually cleared the air about what happened to her, according to Distractify. Joyce tweeted that the situation was a misunderstanding.
"I never went missing in the first place," she wrote. "Also, Brandon has been so loyal throughout all this so don't trust anybody but him when somebody says something because he's the one who knows everything and is my closest and protects me more than any other person out there."
While she tried to dispel any rumors, fans believed that Joyce and Mehmed's relationship was toxic and the reason for her disappearance. It seems they were still together in 2021 (per their social media activity), but it is unclear if the two are still in a relationship today.