Overview
- Multiple outlets report that Kaylee Hottle was involved in a car crash in Frederick, Maryland, and her father, Joshua Hottle, confirmed the situation in a roughly 23‑minute Facebook livestream on Tuesday, July 21, 2026.
- The Texas School for the Deaf posted that Hottle 'tragically passed away' in the crash, and her father said authorities told him her heart stopped en route to the hospital and that he was traveling to claim her body.
- Most reports list Hottle’s age as 18 but at least one outlet has said 19, and news organizations note that coverage is still developing with no public police or coroner statement released yet.
- Hottle rose to wider recognition as Jia in 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong and again in 2024’s Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, and she was known as a member of a multi‑generation deaf family who attended the Texas School for the Deaf.
- Fans, co‑stars and the school have posted tributes, and reporters are awaiting official investigative and death records that could clarify cause, timing and other facts now being reported by family and institutions.