Overview
- Kaylee Hottle died after a single-vehicle crash in Ijamsville, Maryland, and was pronounced dead at an area trauma center following the early-morning collision on Tuesday, July 21.
- The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office says a 1995 Honda Accord left the right side of a two-lane road and struck a culvert, with investigators reporting excessive speed as a believed contributing factor and the crash remaining under investigation.
- Officials say three people were in the car; the driver, a 19-year-old Frederick man, suffered injuries not believed to be life-threatening and a second passenger declined treatment at the scene.
- Hottle’s father, Joshua Hottle, confirmed her death in a Facebook livestream conducted in American Sign Language and the Texas School for the Deaf issued a statement mourning the loss and asking for the family’s privacy.
- Hottle was best known for playing Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024), a performance noted for on-screen ASL use and a Saturn Award nomination, and her death has prompted tributes from co-stars and members of the deaf community while officials seek any witnesses.