Maryland medical examiner rules 18-year-old actress Kaylee Hottle's death an accident
The Maryland medical examiner determined that actress Kaylee Hottle died from multiple blunt-force injuries after a crash in Frederick County, and the incident is being investigated as an accidental collision.
Maryland authorities have ruled the death of 18-year-old actress Kaylee Hottle an accident, citing multiple blunt-force injuries as the cause. The Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said Hottle was a passenger in a 1995 Honda Accord that left the right side of a two-lane road in Ijamsville early Tuesday and struck a culvert. The vehicle was driven by a 19-year-old man, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital. Another passenger declined medical treatment at the scene.
Hottle, who was deaf, appeared in the 2021 film “Godzilla vs. Kong” and reprised her role in the 2024 sequel “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.” She was a senior at the Texas School for the Deaf, which announced her death via an Instagram post. Her father, Joshua Hottle, communicated the news in American Sign Language during a Facebook livestream, stating he was traveling from Texas to retrieve her body.
The sheriff’s office indicated that excessive speed was believed to have contributed to the crash, though the investigation remains ongoing.