I actually found a workaround for this issue. It is critical that the destructible mesh not be referenced is not referenced (even indirectly) by a character or other startup asset. Since this makes it impossible to keep a proper reference, I’m instead keeping a FString reference and then loading it when it’s needed using StaticLoadClass like so:
UClass* Result = StaticLoadClass(UObject::StaticClass(), nullptr, *ClassName, nullptr, LOAD_None, nullptr);
It’s ugly, and may put undue stress on the HDD but technically it works.