Cheslie Kryst, Former Miss USA, Dies At 30 In Apparent Suicide Falling From High Rise

Cheslie Kryst, a model, former attorney and TV correspondent who was crowned Miss USA 2019 has died at the age of 30 in New York City in an apparent suicide. She fell to her death from her luxury high-rise midtown apartment Sunday morning hours after posting a photo to Instagram with the caption, “May this day bring you rest and peace.”

Kryst was first crowned Miss North Carolina USA 2019 representing Metrolina and then became the third woman from North Carolina to win the crown in the national Miss USA 2019 pageant. When Kryst won Miss USA, it marked a historic moment in U.S. pageant history where all winners of four major pageants, Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Miss Universe and Miss America, were black women.

Kryst’s family confirmed her passing in a statement. “Her great light was the one that inspired others around the world with her beauty and strength,” they wrote. “She cared, she loved, she laughed and she shined.”

Cheslie Corrinne Kryst was born in Jackson, Michigan on April 28, 1991, to Rodney A. Kryst and April Simpkins, a one-time Miss North Carolina herself. She moved to a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, and graduated from Fort Mill High School in 2009. She began her pageantry career as a teenager, even winning Miss Fort Mill High at her alma mater.

Kryst acquired a degree in marketing and human resource management in 2013 from the University of South Carolina Honors College. She then attended law school at Wake Forest University, going on to work in complex civil litigation for the firm Poyner Spruill.

As an attorney, Kryst worked pro-bono for several clients facing unjust drug offenses. She would retire from practicing law after winning Miss USA but used her newly-acquired platform to speak passionately about the need for criminal justice reform in America.

Cheslie then became a New York correspondent for Extra from October 2019 until the time of her death. In her two years as a TV host, Kryst was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards.

Kryst is survived by her parents and siblings Page, Asa, and Chandler Kryst.