Calif. Skydiving Student Who Died with Instructor Identified: Family Says She Had 'Boundless Enthusiasm for Life'

Mar. 15, 2025

Kayla Black.Photo:GoFundMe

GoFundMe

The student who was killed alongside her skydiving instructor in Perris, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 2, has been identified, reportsKTLAandFox LA.

Kayla Kieko Black, 28, was killed alongside her skydiving instructor, Devrey LaRiccia Chase, also 28, after the pair encountered a “dust devil” during a routine parachute jump on Friday and crashed into the ground. (A dust devil resembles small tornadoes, and contains dust and debris that form in very hot conditions that can reach heights of several thousand feet, according to theNational Weather Service.)

Chase and Black were transported to the hospital for their injuries, where Chase was later pronounced dead on Friday, perKTLA 5 News. Black was pronounced deceased at a Riverside County hospital on Sunday, Aug. 4, her father, Bill Black, confirmed to KTLA.

Kayla Black.GoFundMe

At the time of her death, Kayla was residing in Buena Park, Calif. and going on nine years as a server at Niko Niko Japanese Restaurant in La Habra, Calif. She had just started working at Benihana in Anaheim, Calif.

“She had many regulars that loved her, and she was already touching lives at Benihana, as she had an infectious personality,” her father told KTLA. He explained that his daughter hoped to renovate her RV and take it “wherever she wanted to go” while working remotely.

“I know it’s not glamorous but that was her dream,” he said. “She loved to venture out and try different activities, such as skydiving.”

She was “vibrant and loving” and had an “infectious smile and boundless enthusiasm for life,” per theGoFundMedescription created to raise funds for her funeral expenses.

Devrey LaRiccia Chase.Freddy Chase/Instagram

Freddy Chase/Instagram

Chase’s husband,Freddy Chase, told PEOPLEhe wants Kayla’s family to know that he is “truly sorry for what happened" but that he’s “glad that she got to share the last conversation with Devrey ever.”

Freddy previously stated in a post on his Instagram Stories on Aug. 3 that “there was no malfunction” prior to the incident. He explained that Devrey was conducting her final jump of the day when she noticed the dust devils and got caught in one. “It then sent her canopy in an uncontrolled spin to the ground,” he said.

Freddy claimed his wife “was not in pain” after the incident and that she was “unconscious but breathing” immediately after the fall.

Devrey’s family created aGoFundMeto bring the late skydiving instructor back to be buried in her home state of Maine.

Devrey LaRiccia Chase and Freddy Chase.Freddy Chase/Instagram

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Skydive Perris Management is cooperating with local authorities as the investigation continues.

source: people.com