The truth about the cause of death of the South African model and actress who suddenly died at the age of thirty-two has been released. The New York City medical examiner determined that Charlbi Dean passed away from bacterial sepsis, according to a spokesperson report provided to PEOPLE magazine on Wednesday. The young woman died of sepsis, which was a “complication from asplenia (the absence of a spleen).”
Reports indicate that Dean had her spleen removed following a serious accident that occurred more than ten years ago. She had her spleen removed from her body after she suffered “remote blunt trauma to her torso” during a 2009 car crash.
In the time leading up to her death, the South African bombshell had been infected with a bacteria called Capnocytophaga. The bacteria come in several different forms, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is “commonly found in the mouths of people, dogs, and cats.”
While the bacteria is not very threatening to people with a normal immune system, it can become life-threatening for those who have weakened immune systems. Charlbi Dean had a weakened immune system due to the removal of her spleen back after the car crash in 2009.
For Charlbi Dean, the bacteria likely “entered the bloodstream, which can lead to infection in various parts of the body.”
When the bacteria enters the blood, it can lead to an infection of the blood as well as inflammation around the heart. It can also cause abscesses and inflammation of the “eyes, face, lymph nodes, or brain membranes,” which can be life-threatening if the person does not have a strong immune system to fight back against the bacteria.
Dean passed away at a New York City hospital back on August 29, 2022. Her death came as a shock to the modeling and acting world. It was also a huge surprise for her fiancé, who proposed marriage to Dean just four months before she died from bacterial sepsis. The pair had been romantically involved for four years prior to their engagement and Dean’s ultimate death. Her boyfriend, Luke Chase Volker, proposed marriage to Dean on the same Manhattan street where they shared their first kiss.
In addition, Dean had just filmed the Oscar-worthy movie Triangle of Sadness, which was set to turn Dean into an international movie star.
Dean was a jet setter. She owned homes in New York City, the Hollywood Hills, as well as back on the African continent in Cape Town, South Africa, where she lived with her beau, the 26-year-old South African model Luke Chase Volker. Together, they had a fur baby named Kanicki Deathbat Dean.
In addition to her beloved fiancé, Charlbi Dean, last name Kriek, is survived by her parents, Johan and Joanne Kriek, and her brother Alexi Jacobs Kriek.
Dean’s fans will remember her in CW’s 2018 Black Lightning, Perry Lang’s 2018 film An Interview with God, and the 2010 film Spud and its 2013 sequel.
