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Kaylee Hottle, an actress known for her role in the "Godzilla" film franchise, has died following a crash in Frederick County, Maryland, authorities said. She was 18.
Hottle came from a multigenerational, all-deaf family and grew up as a native American Sign Language (ASL) user, a background that helped launch her acting career.
Her father shared his grief in a Facebook video using ASL, captioning it, "I am taking a flight that I never would like to take."
The Texas School for the Deaf, where Hottle had studied, also shared the news, saying it was "profound sadness" that they confirmed her passing. The school asked for privacy for Hottle's family and noted that counseling and additional support would be made available to her classmates and friends as they mourn the loss together.
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office said that at about 2:52 a.m. Tuesday, deputies and personnel from the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services responded to a fatal single-vehicle crash in the town of Ijamsville, near Baltimore.
A preliminary investigation finds that the vehicle, driven by a 19-year-old man from Frederick, veered off the right side of a two-lane road and struck a culvert. Three people, including Hottle, were in the vehicle at the time.
Hottle, one of two passengers, was transported to a trauma center, where she was pronounced dead; she was the only one of the three who died in the crash. The other passenger did not need medical treatment at the scene, and the driver was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators say speed was a contributing factor in the crash, though the investigation is ongoing and no arrests or citations have been announced.
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