She Was a Contestant for Miss Florida. Her Mother Says She Died in a Car Accident Three Minutes From Home

She was competing in Miss Florida Teen USA. Her mother, Lisa Fredericksen, says she died in a car accident “three minutes from home.”

Lisa, 48, talked to People for a story that came out on February 19, two days after 16-year-old Kadance died. As the girl drove in Santa Rosa County on Monday, February 17, her car crossed the center line and hit a tractor-trailer head-on. It was said that Kadance was dead at the scene.

Lisa told the news source, “She was only three minutes from home. I have no idea what happened.”

The Florida Highway Patrol didn’t either when they reported the accident on Monday, saying that Kadance’s car had crossed into the other lane “for reasons unknown.” The tragedy is still being looked into.

Lisa took Kadance in as her own kid seven years ago after her daughter had been abused as a child. Kadance made it to the finals for Miss Florida Teen USA and won the title of Miss Okaloosa County Teen USA in 2024.

She asked her mother, “Mama, can I do a beauty pageant?” one day.She still didn’t talk much, so I told her, “Well, yeah, but if you do a beauty pageant, you have to talk in front of people,” Lisa said in her People interview. “And she did it.” So she could look like a princess, she bought the ugliest dress she could find. She lost everything. She was hooked, though.

Since she began volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House in 2017, Kadance had earned more than $25,000. She started Kada’s Promise that same year, a group that gives teddy bears and blankets to kids in hospitals, foster care, and shelters for the poor and abused.

The only thing that made Kadance feel safe and like she had something to call her own during many hard times as a child was a single teddy bear she got as a gift, she wrote on the organization’s website. “I took him with me from house to house and couch to couch, and when things got scary, I held him tight.” These memories are what made Kada’s Promise possible.

Lisa said Kadance was the “nicest” person and “was only interested in making everyone happy.” It was her dream to work as a vet. She got a full-ride scholarship to Mississippi State University the day before she died. It was one of nine schools that had accepted her.

They said in a statement Tuesday, “Our pageant community has lost a beautiful soul—one who was a true light in this world.” Kadance was Miss Florida and Teen Florida USA.

“She was driven, ambitious, kind, and the leader of her beauty pageant sisters,” they said. “Our hearts and prayers are with her family, friends, and everyone else who is sad about her death.” In her honor, let us keep the light she so easily shared with the world and the Florida beauty community alive.