‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ Star Kaylee Hottle Dead at 18

July 22, 2026 · Sonie Fanie

11:12 AM PT — TMZ has obtained dispatch audio of the car crash.

9:22 AM PT — Authorities say Kaylee Hottle was riding in a 1995 Honda Accord when the driver veered off a Maryland road and slammed into a roadside ditch early Tuesday.

Kaylee Hottle — a deaf actress best known for playing Jia in two ‘Godzilla’ films — is dead.

Her father, Joshua Hottle, tells TMZ … his daughter was killed in a car accident early Tuesday morning in Maryland.

Joshua also shared the tragic news in a nearly 23-minute-long social live stream … explaining in ASL that he had to fly from Texas to claim her body.

'Godzilla vs. Kong' Star Kaylee Hottle Dead at 18

Joshua says he learned Kaylee was involved in a serious car accident … and officials called him shortly after this initial shock to inform him her heart stopped on the way to the hospital.

Kaylee — an Atlanta, Georgia native — comes from a multi-generational deaf family. She got her start in commercials … notably a PSA for the live video messaging app Glide, which is used by many members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community, when she was just 9 years old.

In 2021, Kaylee played Jia in “Godzilla vs. Kong” … a teenager who communicates with King Kong via sign language and lives on Skull Island with Rebecca Hall‘s character Dr. Ilene Andrews. She reprised the role in the 2024 movie “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.”

Kaylee is also credited with an appearance in the “Magnum P.I.” reboot series … playing a character named Joon in a season 4 episode.

She was just 18 years old.

RIP