 The 32-year-old actress was killed in a car crash on 4 October 2011 in Novoanninsky, along with fellow actors, 59-year-old Aleksandr Yegorov and 52-year-old Valentina Yudina.Chernykh and Yegorov, who both died in the same collision, were considered favorite artists of the "Волгоградского музыкально-драматического казачьего театра" (Volgograd Music and Drama Theatre of the Cossack).At the time her death, Yelena was married to Yegor Chernykh, with whom she had one daughter.