Los Angeles, California – Millie Bobby Brown and more actors involved with the Godzilla franchise are mourning 18-year-old Kaylee Hottle’s sudden and unexpected death.
The young woman’s father, Joshua Hottle, announced her death on Tuesday and told TMZ that the teen had died in a car accident in Maryland.
On Wednesday, the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner gave further details of her death to Deadline.
According to the autopsy, which was performed on Wednesday morning, Kaylee Hottle died of multiple blunt force injuries in a car crash that occurred the previous day.
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Her manner of death is listed as accidental.
Kaylee starred as Jia in Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and then Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire (2024), playing a deaf child who uses sign language to communicate with King Kong on Skull Island.
The actor herself was deaf in real life as well, raised in a multi-generational Deaf family in Atlanta.
She starred alongside actors Rebecca Hall, who played her adoptive mother, as well as Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Eiza González, Kyle Chandler, and more.
Millie Bobby Brown posted a somber Instagram Story honoring the late star, sharing a black-and-white pic of the girl holding a King Kong figurine from the film franchise.
“I’m so devastated to hear this,” the 22-year-old mogul wrote. “You will be deeply missed Kaylee.”
Oscar-winning actor and Deaf community advocate Marlee Matlin also commented on the tragedy.
“I am absolutely gutted about the passing of sweet Kaylee Hottle. May her beauty and talent be a memory for eternity,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
“Such a privilege to have met Kaylee last year. Please be kind to one another. Take the time to listen to your child. Say [I love you] each time you part.”
Kaylee launched her career in acting at the age of 9 in a commercial for a Deaf and hard-of-hearing video messaging app called Convo. She also appeared in a 2021 episode of Magnum P.I.
