Kaylee Hottle, the deaf young actress who won audiences as Jia in two "Godzilla vs. Kong" films, died in a car accident in Maryland early Tuesday morning, she was 18 years old.

Her father, Joshua Hottle, was home in Texas when authorities called to tell him his daughter had been in a collision. A follow-up call delivered the worst news a parent can receive: Kaylee's heart had stopped en route to the hospital. Joshua Hottle then posted a 23-minute Facebook livestream, signing in American Sign Language through his grief, and shared the news with TMZ.

The caption on the livestream read: "I am taking a flight that I never would like to take." He was headed to Maryland to claim his daughter's body.

No details about the specific location of the crash within Maryland, the circumstances, or whether other vehicles or individuals were involved have been made public. The authorities who contacted Joshua Hottle have not been identified by name or agency.

Born in Atlanta, raised in Austin, cast at age nine

Kaylee Hottle was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2007. She grew up in Austin, Texas, and attended the Texas School for the Deaf. She started acting at age nine, landing her first role in a commercial for Glide, a video messaging app popular in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

That early start led to the role that made her name. In 2021, Hottle was cast as Jia, an orphan girl from Skull Island who communicates with Kong through sign language, in "Godzilla vs. Kong." The same year, she appeared in a Season 4 episode of "Magnum P.I.," playing a character named Joon.

Sudden, senseless loss at a young age is a grief that cuts across every community. A 14-year-old in Ohio died in a church van accident not long ago, a reminder of how quickly a young life can be taken on the road.

Her co-stars on the "Godzilla" set took notice of Hottle's talent immediately. Alexander Skarsgård, 49, and Rebecca Hall both learned ASL to communicate with her during production. Both said she stole the movie.

Skarsgård called her professionalism 'fascinating', on her very first film

Skarsgård gave a detailed account of working with Hottle in an interview with Junkee, marveling at a child actress who needed almost no direction:

"It's her first movie. It's fascinating how comfortable she is in front of the camera and how quickly she takes notes from the director Adam [Wingard]. He'll explain something and she'll be like 'got it, got it' then she'll just do it and everyone's like, 'The f, k?'"

He continued:

"She's so professional and... there's so much going on on her face. Her expression and the subtleties of that is fascinating to watch."

Hottle reprised the role of Jia in the 2024 sequel, "Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire," cementing her place in the franchise. For a young woman who had been acting since elementary school, the trajectory pointed upward.

In her own words, Hottle understood what her visibility meant. She told Junkee, through an interpreter:

"Deaf people are aware of their own language and they're more familiar with the culture."

It was a simple, confident statement from someone who had spent her whole life navigating a world built for hearing people, and who had found a way to make that world watch her on its biggest screens.

A father's flight no parent should have to take

Joshua Hottle's livestream remains one of the few public accounts of what happened. He signed that the fatal crash occurred in Maryland and that authorities had called him in Texas. The 23-minute video captured a father processing the unthinkable in real time, in his native language.

Road fatalities that claim young lives remain a persistent American tragedy. In recent months, three people were killed when a small plane crashed in northern New York, and a 75-year-old Michigan veteran died months after being struck by a driver, each a reminder that life on American roads and in American skies can end without warning.

Why Kaylee Hottle was in Maryland at the time of the crash has not been disclosed. Whether she was driving, a passenger, or what conditions contributed to the collision remain open questions. No hospital has been named. No law enforcement agency has issued a public statement.

What is known is that an 18-year-old who broke barriers for deaf representation in Hollywood, who walked onto a major film set at nine years old and earned the respect of veteran actors twice her age, is gone. Her father is flying to bring her home.

Eighteen years is not enough. It never is.