Kaylee Hottle, the 18-year-old deaf actress who played Jia, the Skull Island child who communicated with Kong through sign language, in both Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, died early Tuesday morning in a single-vehicle car crash in Ijamsville, Maryland at approximately 2:52 AM.
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office confirmed the fatal crash. Excessive speed is believed to have been a factor. The driver, a 19-year-old man, sustained non-life-threatening injuries. A third occupant declined treatment at the scene.
Her father Joshua Hottle confirmed the death in a nearly 23-minute Facebook livestream delivered in American Sign Language,, his caption simply reading "I am taking a flight that I never would like to take." He flew from Texas to Maryland to claim her body.
Hottle came from a multigenerational deaf family in Atlanta.
She was a senior at the Texas School for the Deaf. She began acting in commercials before landing her breakout role in the Godzilla franchise, where her performance opposite Alexander Skarsgård drew immediate praise.
"It's her first movie," Skarsgård said during production. "She's so professional and just incredibly — there's so much going on on her face." She was 18 years old and was about to graduate. The crash remains under investigation.