Joshua Allen, the winner of “So You Think You Can Dance” Season 4, was struck and killed by a train in Texas last year. Six months after the dance world lost one of its most celebrated young champions, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office in Texas ruled Allen’s death a suicide caused by blunt force injuries.
The 36-year-old dancer died on September 30, 2025. The Fort Worth Police Department received a call related to the train accident and discovered the late champion on the railway track near the intersection of Millbrook Lane and Nuffield Lane at around 1 a.m. Conductors reported seeing a man walking toward the train from roughly 200 feet away. They could not stop in time, and Allen was transported to a nearby hospital, where he later died.
The medical examiner’s report showed that Allen had ethanol, cocaine, and ketamine in his system at the time of his death.
He was also wearing a black ankle monitor when examined, though no explanation for that detail has been made public.
Allen first captured the country’s attention in 2008 when he won the fourth season of “So You Think You Can Dance” at just 18 years old. He was announced the winner on August 7, 2008, winning $250,000. He won as a hip-hop dancer, with the late Stephen “tWitch” Boss coming in 2nd place.
Allen was born on March 13, 1989, in Fort Worth, Texas. He was an actor, known for “Footloose” (2011), “Step Up 3D” (2010), and “American Horror Story” (2011). He first started to dance in third grade, at the age of 8. One of his early influences was Michael Jackson, whom Allen emulated by doing the Moonwalk.
Allen, who had no formal dance education, rose to fame after his victory on the popular dance show and had ambitions of being a recording artist, choreographer, and studio owner.
Allen parlayed his reality show fame into film work, appearing as a featured dancer in “Step Up 3D” in 2010 and the “Footloose” remake in 2011. Both projects allowed him to showcase the hip-hop-influenced style that had distinguished him during the competition. He also participated in Oxygen’s “Dance Your **** Off” as both a dancer and choreographer in 2010. Television acting opportunities came through guest appearances on “Community” and “American Horror Story,” demonstrating his willingness to explore entertainment avenues beyond dance.
Allen later returned to the series as an all-star, cementing his place in the show’s history. Allen was also a fixture at national dance conventions, teaching routines and lessons to young attendees.
According to the district attorney’s office, on April 13, 2016, Allen assaulted and strangled his ex-girlfriend. Approximately two months later, while facing prosecution for the April incident, he attacked the same victim and she ran to a nearby coffee shop to ask for help.
Allen was sentenced to one year in jail after pleading no contest to domestic violence, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
The dancer was convicted of one felony count each of willfully injuring a girlfriend after a prior conviction and assault with a deadly weapon. Allen served one year in county jail, five years of formal probation, and 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling. He was also ordered to stay away from the victims for 10 years.
Both his girlfriend Dy’Zetta Brown and Allen’s father, Eddie Powell, say he struggled with mental health issues before his death. Brown says she tried desperately to get help for him after she noticed concerning signs during their second year of dating—intense attachment, jealousy and paranoia.
Three days before his death, Brown contacted his probation officer and told her she was scared. The response? “Record him so we can send him back to jail.”
A gnarly fight broke out in front of Allen’s open casket over the weekend—and it caused tension among his family. A young female was leaning over the casket, when all of a sudden, an older woman pounced on her to pull her back, and an all-out brawl broke out. The shocking situation took place at his Texas funeral on November 8.
The women became entangled in a physical exchange as other attendees at the funeral jumped into the mix. The Fort Worth Police Department was called to the scene twice, and they remained at the funeral until it concluded after their second visit. No arrests or citations were made.
The altercation drew a divide between the two sides of Joshua’s family. His father, Eddie Powell, told TMZ the woman leaning over the casket was Joshua’s girlfriend. He alleged that members of Joshua’s mother, Angela Tolbert’s, side of the family assaulted her while she was simply trying to place a note on his body.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Joshua Allen, winner of Season 4 of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and a gifted performer whose talent left a lasting impact on the dance community,” said Fox and Dick Clark Productions in a statement at the time of Joshua’s death.
Choreographer Emmanuel Hurd remembered Allen as someone who brought a rare kind of energy into every room. He described him as the life of the party, deeply real, and someone who made things right when he fell short.
Choreographer Comfort Fedoke, who had known Allen since they were both 14, reflected on their decades of friendship on what would have been his 37th birthday. She wrote that only a small number of people could understand the weight she carries, and that being part of something as significant as “So You Think You Can Dance” brought pressures that very few people will ever fully grasp. She expressed deep regret over time that passed without enough honest conversation between them.
The same season that he won featured the late Stephen “tWitch” Boss as the runner-up. Stephen was 40 when he died in December 2022 and the cause of his death was believed to be suicide as well. Allen developed a close friendship with Boss during and after the competition. The two maintained their bond even after Allen won the title that Boss had competed for. Allen later reflected that they were among the closest contestants during filming and genuinely celebrated each other’s successes.
Allen’s death arrives as part of a broader and painful pattern of loss within the dance and entertainment community. The people who knew him have made clear that he was not simply a television champion but a layered, complicated, deeply human person who struggled in ways that were not always visible. For fans who watched him win at 18 and followed his career in the years that followed, the confirmed details of his death bring grief without much comfort.
