Overview
- Local authorities say the crash occurred early Tuesday in Ijamsville when a 1995 Honda Accord left the roadway and struck a culvert; emergency responders took Hottle to a trauma center where she was later pronounced dead.
- Hottle’s death was confirmed by her father, Joshua Hottle, in a Facebook livestream conducted in American Sign Language and by the Texas School for the Deaf, which asked for privacy and urged against speculation.
- Frederick County officials identified a 19‑year‑old man as the driver, said he was hospitalized with injuries not believed to be life‑threatening, noted another passenger declined treatment, and described excessive speed as a likely contributing factor.
- Hottle, 18, rose to prominence as Jia in the MonsterVerse films Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024) and was praised for authentic deaf representation on a major franchise.
- The sheriff’s traffic unit is continuing its probe and the family’s request for privacy means more details, including an official cause of death, will be released only as the investigation advances.