Kadance Fredericksen, the winner of Miss Okaloosa County Teen USA, has died in a car crash in Florida.
The 18-year-old pageant queen was driving her Sedan on Florida State Road 4 when she collided head on with a tractor trailer. The Florida Highway Patrol crash report details the accident, saying the teen merged into the eastbound lane from the westbound lane for “unknown reasons.” Kadence was pronounced dead at the scene.
Fredericksen‘s family told WKRG News 5 the Baker High School student had been accepted into nine colleges and planned to be veterinarian, adding that she had “the whole world at the palm of her hands.”
The Miss Florida USA pageant shared their condolences in an Instagram post, writing, “It is with profound sadness and a heavy heart that we share the passing of one of our beloved delegates, Kadance Fredericksen. Our pageant community has lost a beautiful soul — one who was a true light in this world. She was ambitious, driven, kind, and a leader among her pageant sisters.”
In 2017, Fredericksen launched a nonprofit organization called “Kada’s Promise,” which collected and donated teddy bears and blankets to children in troubled homes, based on her own experience.
The Florida teen opened up about being abused, which inspired her to help others growing up in similar environments.
“When I was little, I was abused and neglected by my biological mother and stepfather. During those times, the only thing I had to call my own was a stuffed animal I received as a gift years beforehand,” she told local ABC affiliate WCJB News. “Now that I’m in a safe home with a safe family, I learned I wasn’t the only kid that went through that.”
On the organization’s website, the late pageant queen wrote that Kada’s Promise “is probably my greatest accomplishment to date. It is my life’s story.”
Leave a comment