Beloved Chef Crushed To Death In Freak Accident While Hiking With Boyfriend

Tragedy struck a California community after a beloved chef died a grisly death in a freak hiking accident.

Gianna Buzzetta was a celebrated pastry chef at Michelin-starred French restaurant Jeune et Jolie in California. She touched the lives and palettes of many, so it’s with heavy hearts we report the news of her tragic passing…

Gianna’s mother Caty Buzzetta spoke with KGTV earlier this week to announce the 26-year-old’s life was cut short while on a dream vacation doing something she’d ALWAYS wanted to do: hike Makaleha Falls in Kauai, Hawaii. According to the grieving mother, Gianna and her boyfriend Connor Quinton set out on the nature walk on March 23, and when they reached the falls, the chef excitedly waded into the pool of water — where she ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time:

“They heard a really loud noise. He looked up, but couldn’t figure out where the noise was coming from. Within a second, it happened … The rock dislodged from quite a ways up … then it landed on her.”

Holy s**t… That’s terrifying! And it must have been unbelievably traumatizing for her boyfriend to witness!

Connor was apparently able to pull her from the water, but without any cell service he was forced to run to get help. Gianna was eventually airlifted to a local hospital where her parents were able to fly to in time to see her… However, she passed a day later. Of the fateful day, her mom said:

“She had told her boyfriend, Connor, that day, he had fulfilled her dreams and it was the best day of her life.”

Dad Sal Buzzetta told the news outlet “something and missing inside you, a part of us,” while Caty added, “It’s like something is sucked out of you.” But they take solace in the fact that their girl was doing fulfilling a lifelong goal:

“She was in nature. That was her element. She was with the love of her life. In a glimpse of time, she had pure bliss, no one could take that form her or us. She was living in moment best she every had, and that’s priceless.”

Caty described her as a “beyond determined” young woman who put her all into her culinary career.

In a separate interview with KUSI, Jeune et Jolie owner John Resnick described hearing of the news as “paralyzing.” He told the outlet:

“We all heard the news, and it was obviously paralyzing, and not knowing what to do. She was a huge part of the team. Super creative, super talented, incredibly hardworking. Humble, confident, I mean all these things that we want to see in the people we work with, and so from that professional talent standpoint, she was incredible and then just as a person you wanted to be around. Our whole team loved working alongside her.”

The restaurant has since paid tribute to her on Instagram with the following post: