MINNEAPOLIS—An investigation has concluded that a former contestant in the Miss USA pageant from North Dakota died of a genetic heart condition.
The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office said Thursday that Samantha Edwards died of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ah-RITH‘-muh-jen-ihk kar-dee-oh-meye-AH’-pa-thee), a rare disease of the heart muscle. The inherited condition causes abnormal heart rhythms.
Edwards was 37 when she was found dead in her home in north Minneapolis on June 14. The medical examiner determined she died of natural causes.
Edwards, known as Sami, represented North Dakota in the Miss USA pageant in 2003. She had been working as a freelance makeup artist in the Minneapolis area.
Her funeral was held June 24 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Her mother, Laurie Sayre, said she got a call from local authorities, who told her about her heart condition.
“7 weeks ago today I got the phone call that every parent dreads. My youngest daughter Samie died,” she wrote on Facebook. “We have waited patiently for the results on the cause of her death. Today I got that call. Samie had an undiagnosed genetic heart condition. Right ventricular arrythmogenic cardiomyopathy. It even sounds awful. If we had known she could have been treated.”
Epoch Times contributed to this report.
