‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ actress Kaylee Hottle dead at 18 after car crash
Kaylee Hottle, the young actress who starred in “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire,” has died in a car crash at 18.
Kaylee Hottle’s cause of death has been revealed.
The cause of death for the “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” actress, who died at 18 following a car accident, has been determined to be multiple blunt force injuries, according to a Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner report obtained by USA TODAY. Her death was ruled an accident.
The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland confirmed to USA TODAY that sheriff’s deputies and authorities with the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services responded to a single-car crash on Tuesday, July 21, in which Hottle was one of the passengers.
The accident occurred around 2:52 a.m. A 19-year-old man was driving Hottle and another passenger in a Honda Accord, allegedly at “excessive” speeds, before traveling off the right side of a two-lane road and striking a culvert. Hottle was transported to the hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. The second passenger declined medical treatment at the scene, and the driver went to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Hottle’s father, Joshua Hottle, confirmed his daughter’s death to TMZ, which was first to report the news.
He also shared the news of her death in a live video posted on his Facebook page, explaining in American Sign Language that he flew in from Texas to claim his daughter’s body. He added that Hottle would be an organ donor, later praising her as “very, very smart” and “really kind,” he signed. “I’m proud of my daughter.”
The young actress, who was also deaf, starred in the Godzilla films as an orphaned girl and adopted daughter of Kong expert and linguist Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), who speaks to Kong through sign language. In one of the film’s most memorable shots, a young Hottle holds a handmade King Kong doll up to calm the giant ape.
