NEW YORK: Kadance Fredericksen, a rising star in the Miss Teen USA pageant circuit, tragically died in a car accident at the age of 18, just minutes away from her home in Santa Rosa County, Florida, on Monday, 17 February.
According to a Florida Highway Patrol report cited by People, Fredericksen was driving eastbound on Florida State Road 4 when her vehicle veered into the westbound lane for unknown reasons.
Her sedan collided head-on with a tractor-trailer driven by a 56-year-old man from Milton, Florida, who sustained minor injuries. Fredericksen was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her adoptive mother, Lisa Fredericksen, expressed her heartbreak over the tragic incident. “She was literally three minutes from home,” she said as cited by People. “I have no idea what happened.”
Fredericksen had recently received acceptance letters from nine universities and had secured a full-ride scholarship to Mississippi State University just one day before the crash. She had dreams of becoming a veterinarian and had worked tirelessly to build a bright future.
“She had the whole world right there in her hands, and she was ready to take it on,” Lisa said.
In 2017, Fredericksen founded the nonprofit Kada’s Promise, which provided over 14,000 teddy bears and blankets to children facing homelessness, neglect, or abuse. She described the initiative as her “greatest accomplishment to date” on the organisation’s website.
Lisa revealed that her daughter had endured a difficult childhood in an abusive home and took up pageantry after years of therapy.
She used her personal story to help others, stating, “I am so blessed that my pain was temporary, and now I get to use my story to temporarily take someone else’s pain away.”
Her dedication to charity was widely recognised—she was a two-time recipient of Crestview’s Citizen of the Year award and had raised over $25,000 for the Ronald McDonald House and other causes.
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Following her passing, Miss Florida USA confirmed her death with a heartfelt statement on Instagram, calling her “a true light in this world”.
“Our pageant community has lost a beautiful soul—one who was ambitious, driven, kind, and a leader among her pageant sisters,” the statement read.
Brittany Aldean, wife of country music star Jason Aldean, who judged the Miss Florida Teen USA pageant, also paid tribute, remembering Fredericksen as “an amazing girl, gone too soon”.
