‘Heart is broken’: Beauty pageant queen, 18, dies in head-on crash

A young beauty pageant winner has had her life tragically cut short in an awful accident just a week after she won a university scholarship.

An 18-year-old beauty pageant queen has died in a car accident just a week after she received a scholarship for university.

Kadance Fredericksen, who once won Miss Okaloosa County Teen USA, died in a horrific car crash on a Florida highway on Monday when her vehicle collided head on with a tractor trailer.

She was the representative at the Miss Florida Teen USA pageant in 2024.

The accident is still being investigated. No arrests have been made, Daily Mail reported.

The driver of the other vehicle, a 56-year-old man, suffered minor injuries.

People were quick to send their condolences to Ms Fredericksen’s family.

“RIP Kadance,” one social media user said.

“Forever a Queen. Rest in peace sweet girl. My heart is broken,” another wrote.

Kadance Fredericksen, 18-year-old beauty queen has died in a car crash. Picture: kadancefred/Instagram

“Fly high beautiful! You would light up any room you were in,” one social media user added.

One commented: “My heart and prayers goes out to the whole family. Rest in peace gorgeous.”

“I didn’t even get to meet you my beautiful pageant sister fly high.” another added.

One social media user posted: “The most humble and sweetest angel.”

“I hope you find peace. We all love and admire you,” another added.

Ms Fredericksen first made headlines in 2017 after she founded Kada’s Promise, a charity designed to give blankets and teddy bears to homeless children and victims of abuse.

She set up a charity in 2017. Picture: kadancefred/Instagram

She said the charity was inspired by her early years, before she was saved from homelessness and abuse by her biological father. Before she lived with her dad, she said it wasn’t unusual to feel worthless and unloved.

“Kada’s Promise is probably my greatest accomplishment to date. It is my life’s story. Yes, it is painful to think back to those dark days in my life, but all of that disappears when I meet a scared and lonely little girl in a shelter and get to hand her a stuffed animal, probably the first she’s ever owned,” she wrote on the charity’s website.

People rushed to share their heartbreak. Picture: Instagram/@kadancefred

Many are devastated. Picture: kadancefred/Instagram

“Her eyes fill with sparkle, her smile stretches wider and wider. 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. ​”

Just a week before her death, Ms Fredericksen was chosen as a recipient of this year’s Ellison McCraney Ingram Foundation Scholarship, which was worth $63,000.

“This generous support will help shape my future and bring me one step closer to achieving my dreams,” she wrote on Instagram, what was heartbreakingly her final post before her death.

“Thank you to the Ingram family, the foundation, and everyone involved for this amazing honor!
Ms Fredericksen already had nine college acceptances, and was planning to study veterinary science, WKRG reported. ​​​​​​​​

Originally published as ‘Heart is broken’: Beauty pageant queen, 18, dies in head-on crash