What happened at Tyrese Haliburton’s fiancée Jade Jones’ bachelorette party? All we know about the tragic death

A bachelorette trip to St. Barts for Jade Jones, fiancée of Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, ended in grief this month. Jones’ close friend Makenzi Kern, 26, died from unexpected health complications on June 8.

Kern's family told TMZ Sports they do not believe foul play, drugs, or alcohol played any role in her death. Additional details surrounding the exact cause have not been released.The group had been celebrating on the Caribbean island since June 2. Social media posts showed the friends together, laughing on the beach and posing near a pool. Those posts stopped on June 6, two days before Kern's death and the same day she turned 26.

Tyrese Haliburton's fiancée Jade Jones' close friend died at her bachelorette party

Kern and Jones became friends as teammates on the Iowa State cheerleading squad, a connection that outlasted their college years by nearly a decade. According to her obituary, Kern worked for the Greater YMCA of Omaha and was described as someone whose warmth was immediate and hard to forget."To know Makenzi was to love her," the obituary read. "She lived life to the fullest; she was silly, goofy, and could brighten everyone's spirits when she was around ...

During her time at ISU, she deepened her friendships there that she maintained way beyond her days at ISU."Before the trip, Jones had shared photos from the early days of the celebration, captioning one post "hopped on a flight to cloud 9." Kern appeared in several of those group shots. Her final Instagram post, published in 2024, was a tribute to Jones during her birthday that year. The obituary noted that she died "surrounded by her closest friends on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to St.

Barthelemy Island."Kern passed away approximately two days after her birthday, and around the time the group had been scheduled to fly home.Jones, Haliburton, and the rest of the bridal party have not issued a public statement.

How did Makenzi Kern die?

The exact medical cause of Kern's death has not been disclosed. Sources familiar with the situation told TMZ Sports that she died from unexpected health complications, and her family stated they have no reason to believe anything criminal or substance-related was involved.

No further details have been made public. Kern was 26 years old.

Tyrese Haliburton and Jade Jones: their relationship and engagement

Haliburton and Jones met at Iowa State, where he played basketball for the Cyclones from 2018 to 2020, and she cheered for the same program. He was selected 12th overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 2020 NBA Draft, was traded to Indiana a year later, and has since developed into one of the league's premier point guards. He is a two-time All-Star, a two-time All-NBA selection, led the league in assists in both 2024 and 2025, and won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2024 Olympics.The couple got engaged in July 2025 inside Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa — the arena where Haliburton had played in college, roughly one month after he tore his right Achilles tendon in Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The injury ended his season and kept him out for all of 2025-26. He holds a five-year, $244.62 million contract extension signed in July 2023.The wedding has not yet been publicly rescheduled.