This is another tribute to the late Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux a beautiful free spirited 18 year old who had graduated from high school last year & was intend on becoming a nurse & was to start college this month who tragically passed away in an untimely manner on New Year’s Day of 2025 by a coward Shamsud Din Jabbar who had taken the lives of 15 people including Nikyra & Injured 30 people who are recovering from the attack while celebrating with her friend Zion Parsons & cousins Mainlyy._Mori in the early midnight of New Years Day. I decide to combine the life & the happy years of Nikyra from when she was a baby including her graduation & the last moments when she was soo happy & full of joy with her friend & cousin while petting the horse & hanging out with her friends especially with her boyfriend plus having a wonderful time with her family, I Decided to highlight the life & celebration of Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux all in one video who was on my mind heavily since it first happen & I decide to do it from the kindness within my heart to pay tribute to Nikyra cause I know she’s in a much better place in heaven & she is absent from the body but present with the lord 🙏🏾. She always be rememberd y her friens, family, her boyfriend, & espcially her mother Melissa Dedeaux. Nikyra may you rest peace sweetheart, sleep peacefull babygurl 😇💗.
Articles From The Nola.Com Website
Nikyra Cheyenne Dedeaux traveled to New Orleans from Gulfport with her cousin and a friend on Tuesday to ring in the New Year on Bourbon Street.
But her grieving mother confirmed Wednesday that Dedeaux, 18, was one of the 14 people killed when a man drove a truck down the crowded French Quarter Street in a suspected act of terrorism.
"I just want to see my baby," Melissa Dedeaux, 40, wept. "She was the sweetest person. She would give you anything, anything."
About 35 other people were injured when the suspect, identified by the FBI as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, plowed a white pickup truck through three blocks of Bourbon Street about 3:15 a.m., according to authorities. The man shot two police officers before he was gunned down by law enforcement.
Cheyenne, as she was known to her family, wasn't supposed to be in New Orleans, according to her mother. She sneaked over with her 18-year-old cousin and their friend, Zion Parsons, 18.
Parsons said the trio was leaving Voodoo Chicken & Daiquiris on Bourbon near Bienville Street when “out of nowhere,” he heard “commotion” and “banging.”
Melissa Dedeaux's niece told her gunfire rang out, and they began running. Cheyenne Dedeaux darted into the street and into the path of the barreling truck. She suffered horrific injuries.
As a mother, when my niece and [Parsons] said they covered her with a sheet, I just knew that was it for my daughter," Melissa Dedeaux said.
Cheyenne Dedeaux was the third oldest of Melissa Dedeaux's six children.
"She was my favorite," Melissa Dedeaux admitted. "She was my child."
Cheyenne graduated from Harrison Central High School in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 2024 and was scheduled to begin a nursing program at Blue Cliff College on Jan. 13. She was following the lead of her mother, who is also a nurse.
"Cheyenne was a very smart and outgoing girl," Melissa Dedeaux said. "She's never gotten into any trouble."
Known by the nickname "Biscuit" by friends, Cheyenne Dedeaux "was never down, or grumpy," Parsons said. He called her "a little ball of sunshine" who always tried to stay positive, cheering friends if she detected an attitude or negative energy.
You know those kinds of people where you can’t find a reason to dislike them. She was one of those people," Parsons said.
Melissa Dedeaux described her daughter as a popular person who was always surrounded by friends.
"If she wasn't at work, she was sleeping or getting together with her girls. She always had carloads of friends," Melissa Dedeaux said.
If she wasn't at work, she was sleeping or getting together with her girls. She always had carloads of friends," Melissa Dedeaux said.
Cheyenne Dedeaux was both a "momma's girl" and a "daddy's girl," turning to her father, Nicholas Dedeaux, when she was cross with her mother. But those moments never lasted for long, Melissa Dedeaux said.
As Melissa Dedeaux awaited word from law enforcement on Wednesday, she urged children and teens to listen to their parents, to share where they are going.
"I didn't even know she came over here," Melissa Dedeaux said. "No matter how good you are, how sweet you are, you can be the one that's buried. Things like this can happen."