BATON ROUGE — Nine months ago, Kristie Mascerella stood in her driveway in St. Gabriel facing a nightmare she never imagined—her specially equipped Dodge Challenger and the custom wheelchair she relies on every day were gone. Stolen in the middle of the night, the loss was more than material. It stripped away her independence, her sense of safety, and the normalcy she had worked her entire life to protect.
Tuesday night, that same woman was crowned as Miss Wheelchair Louisiana, her head held high, her story transformed from one of devastation into one of resilience.
The crowning ceremony, held at Baton Rouge Rehab Hospital, marked not just a personal victory, but a powerful statement about perseverance, advocacy, and refusing to be defined by tragedy. The governor attended the celebration, underscoring the significance of the moment, she told UWK.
A Crime That Changed Everything
Mascerella’s ordeal began last May when her car—and the wheelchair secured inside—were stolen from her driveway. The vehicle was later found as a shell in a Port Allen junkyard, stripped of its most valuable parts. One suspect was arrested, while two others remain at large…