The 19-year-old man suspected of murdering 17-year-old St Stithians Girls’ College pupil Cameron Waldeck-Cooks before taking his own life was so obsessed with her that he sent her 22,000 WhatsApp messages in the 28 days of February alone—averaging nearly 800 messages a day.
Disturbing details retrieved from Cameron’s cellphone—which police handed straight back to her family on 3 August when the two teenagers were found dead in a lodge room outside Sabie—reveal a relentless pattern of control during their nine-month relationship.
According to Daniel Witz, who represents the Waldeck-Cooks family alongside fellow attorney Clifford Alexander, digital records show that Ethan Coetzee forced Cameron to log into Microsoft Teams while she was doing her schoolwork just so he could watch and monitor her. He also repeatedly told the Grade 11 schoolgirl that he wanted her to behave like his wife, flying into a temper whenever he felt she wasn't doing so.
From September last year, Coetzee bombarded Cameron’s phone from early morning until late at night with non-stop declarations of love, demands, accusations, and questions.
A source close to the couple also revealed that Coetzee held the passwords to all of Cameron’s social media profiles and her cellphone, checking them obsessively. He had reportedly even been accepted to study at Stellenbosch University this year, but pulled out at the very last minute because he couldn't bear to be away from her.
'I’m single – and so are you. We’re done'
By early July, less than a month before the tragedy, Cameron finally called time on the relationship. Even after the breakup, Coetzee refused to stop messaging her.
“I’m single – and so are you,” Cameron wrote to him in a message. “I don’t want to be with you anymore. We’re done.”
Coetzee begged her to keep the split a secret, replying: “Please don’t tell my parents. They’ll kill me if they find out we’ve broken up.”
Just weeks later, on 3 August, their bodies were discovered together in a room at a lodge outside Sabie, Mpumalanga. While Cameron was at the venue for a multi-day hike as part of The President’s Award for Youth Empowerment, it remains a mystery why Coetzee—who finished matric last year—was even there.
What happened in that room?
While the tens of thousands of messages paint a clear picture of what Cameron endured over nine months, Witz pointed out that the phone data cannot answer the family’s biggest questions about her final hours.
“The messages cannot tell us what happened in that room,” Witz said.
With the South African Police Service (SAPS) now investigating Cameron’s death as a murder, the family is keeping tight-lipped on the finer details of the probe so nothing gets in the way of justice. However, Witz made it clear what the grieving family is fighting for.
“[They want] a thorough investigation, a full inquest and an official finding on how Cameron died. She cannot speak for herself, but a process exists to speak for her. The family will see to it that it does.”
When approached for comment regarding the messages found on Cameron's phone, a spokesperson for the Coetzee family declined to be drawn into the allegations.
“Given the ongoing police investigation and the fact that an inquest is still to be conducted, it would be inappropriate for the family, or any other party, to comment on matters that may form part of, or be relevant to, those proceedings.
“Any information or data extracted would be dependent on a lawful process having been followed in order to guarantee the integrity of such information or data. Presently, the family is observing the grieving process and appreciates the space to do so.”