{"id":381730,"date":"2026-07-22T01:13:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T01:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/381730\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T01:13:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T01:13:21","slug":"austin-library-blasts-off-with-first-free-comics-anime-con","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/381730\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin library blasts off with first free comics + anime con"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kaylee Hottle, a deaf actor best known for her starring role<\/a> in two Godzilla films, died in a car crash in Maryland early Tuesday morning, July 21, the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office said. She was 18.<\/p>\n

Hottle attended the Texas School for the Deaf in Austin. Officials announced her death on Facebook, writing that counseling and support services would be available to her classmates and friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease keep Kaylee’s loved ones in your thoughts as we mourn this tremendous loss together,\u201d the school wrote. <\/p>\n

Hottle was one of two passengers in the car when it went off the road and hit a culvert in Ijamsville before 3 a.m. The driver was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and the other passenger declined medical treatment, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. Excessive speed is believed to be a factor in the crash, which is under investigation, the sheriff’s office said.<\/p>\n

Hottle was a native signer of American Sign Language, and her family members are also deaf. Her parents, Joshua and Ketsi Hottle, shared emotional video statements about her death on social media sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaylee\u2019s mom and four siblings are crushed,\u201d her father said in ASL in a post from an airport. \u201cThey are together at home, grieving. I am on my way to Maryland to bring Kaylee\u2019s body back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hottle\u2019s heart stopped before she arrived at a hospital, transported by air from the scene of the accident, her father said. \u201cVery grateful for the 18 years we had together \u2014 and wish we had more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Joshua Hottle also reached out to the driver, described by the sheriff’s office as a 19-year-old Frederick man.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have forgiven you,\u201d her father said. \u201cDon\u2019t let this incident ruin the rest of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI still feel Kaylee is with us,\u201d her mother said in ASL in a post.<\/p>\n

In Godzilla vs. Kong and the sequel, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Hottle played an orphaned girl named Jia who sees beyond Kong’s threatening appearance and forms a special bond with the monster, communicating with him using sign language.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so devastated to hear this. You will be deeply missed Kaylee,\u201d her Godzilla co-star Millie Bobby Brown posted on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Co-star Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/a>, who learned ASL to communicate with Hottle, told the pop culture website Junkee in 2021 that he and others were impressed by the young ingenue’s professionalism and her ability to quickly incorporate the director’s notes into her acting.<\/p>\n

In a 2024 interview with the Associated Press, Hottle said through an interpreter that she hadn’t watched monster movies before she was cast in \u201cGodzilla,\u201d so her father helped her understand the genre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look up to a lot of people, but the one person I look up to, the few people I look up to mostly, are my parents and my sisters,\u201d Hottle said.<\/p>\n

Hottle said that when she was working on the first film, she was a bit concerned about whether she would be able to return to her \u201cnormal life,” afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople do recognize me at school, yes, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be,\u201d Hottle said.<\/p>\n

Hottle previously appeared in a 2021 television episode of Magnum P.I. She was listed as appearing in the upcoming film What Doesn\u2019t Kill Us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so heartbroken. My heart goes out to her family during this unimaginable time,\u201d Alaqua Cox, her co-star in that film and fellow deaf actor, wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Other prominent deaf actors also shared messages of grief online.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am absolutely gutted about the passing of sweet Kaylee Hottle. May her beauty and talent be a memory for eternity,\u201d Oscar winner Marlee Matlin wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n

Fellow Oscar winner Troy Kotsur, who starred in the film Coda, wrote that Hottle’s death made him think of his own daughter, and reminded him not to take time for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no words to express on what happened this morning,\u201d Kotsur wrote, offering his \u201cdeepest condolences\u201d to the Hottle family.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Rebecca Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Larry Lage reported from Ann Arbor, Michigan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kaylee Hottle, a deaf actor best known for her starring role in two Godzilla films, died in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[85756,11839,132,134,133,3104,59882,16847,131221,134793,2420,1637,5657],"class_list":["post-381730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-all-ages","tag-anime","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-books","tag-comics","tag-conventions","tag-cosplay","tag-graphic-novels","tag-library","tag-movies","tag-visual-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}