Stephanie's cousin, Yolanda, said the family was battling to come to terms with what had happened.
Lena Segals from Stellenbosch was proud when her foster daughter, 29-year-old Stephanie Segals, announced she was heading to Johannesburg for a new job.
However, a year later, Lena was devastated to discover that Stephanie had never reached Johannesburg; instead, she had travelled to Gqeberha.
There, about 700km from Stellenbosch, she settled in with a man she had met on TikTok, married him, gave birth to a baby girl six weeks ago, and died just nine days later.
Stephanie, affectionately known as Steffie, died of natural causes, according to her death certificate seen by IOL.
