KayleeHottle has died in a tragic car accident at the age of 18.

KayleeHottle, young star seen in Godzilla vs. Kong and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, has died in a tragic car accident at the age of 18. As reported by TMZ, Hottle’s father Joshua revealed that earlier this morning the young star had died in a car accident in Maryland. Explaining in a live stream on social media, Hottle’s father had to travel from Texas to claim her body. He had learned from officials in the area about the car accident, and that Hottle’s heart had stopped on the way to the medical facility.

Kaylee Hottle made her big screen debut as Jia, and the deaf actress portrayed a character with a deep bond to Kong himself. Appearing in both Godzilla vs. Kong and the Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire sequel that followed, fans saw eventually how Jia’s character played an important role in saving the world from a much bigger threat that even Godzilla and Kong’s united forces couldn’t face alone.

Kaylee Hottle came from a multi-generational deaf family, and had been active as an actor since 2017 starring in various commercials. Her breakout role came from Godzilla vs. Kong, where casting went on a wide search to find a young ASL fluent actor from the deaf community for the role. Her role as Jia played a very important piece of the overall MonsterVerse puzzle. As the only one who could directly communicate with Kong himself, Jia brought the giant monster’s rage down and ultimately served as a figure point moving forward into the rest of the franchise.

Hottle returned as Jia in the events of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, where it was revealed that she had begun living with Rebecca Hall’s Dr. Ilene Andrews. Moving away from Skull Island, it was clear that she had changed quite a bit since fans had seen her the last time around. She also grew to have a much bigger connecting point with the rest of the MonsterVerse, and the young star made quite a huge impact with such a shot time on our screens.

Kaylee Hottle was only 18 years old as of the time of her passing, and ComicBook would like to extend our condolences to family, friends, and loved ones as of this time. A tragic death like this of a young actress is always shocking, and she’ll always have a prominent legacy within the MonsterVerse films as someone who helped to bring the legendary crossover to life.