The circumstances surrounding Daveigh Chase’s death have now been clarified. Nearly two weeks after the former child actress passed away at the age of 35, the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner determined that the The Ring and Lilo & Stitch star died from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), with chronic polysubstance use listed as a significant contributing factor.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the official ruling comes after earlier reports suggested Chase died from complications related to sepsis and a blood infection. Those details were initially shared by Roy Hernandez, who identified himself as the actress’ boyfriend. Hernandez launched a GoFundMe campaign a day before Chase’s June 16 passing, revealing that doctors had recently given her a terminal diagnosis after she sought medical care for severe weight loss.
“When she started losing weight, she finally agreed to go to the hospital,” Hernandez wrote. “That’s when we learned how serious her condition was.” He added that doctors informed him “the medicine isn’t working,” and said Chase chose to spend her final days “comfortable and together, rather than in a hospital.”
The news brings a tragic close to the life of an actress whose performances became defining moments of early-2000s pop culture. Within the same year, Chase voiced the beloved Lilo in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch while also terrifying audiences as Samara Morgan in The Ring.
She also starred alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in Donnie Darko, appeared in HBO’s Big Love, and voiced Chihiro in the English-language version of Spirited Away. Her portrayal of Samara earned her an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, while her work in Lilo & Stitch won her an Annie Award for voice acting.
Following her passing, Chase’s mother, Cathy, spoke about the addiction that she believes altered her daughter’s life. According to her, the struggle began after Chase was prescribed oxycodone and other pain medications following a motorcycle accident around 2016.
“She was seeking drugs and was partying with the wrong people,” Cathy said. “I never kicked my daughter out. She wanted freedom and these people got her hooked on some drugs. That was the beginning.” Recalling a jail visit in 2019, she added, “She was completely gone, like, out of her mind… The drugs took hold of her.”
Former manager John Ryan Jr. also revealed that Chase sought help during that difficult period, telling Entertainment Weekly that she attended “a couple of rehabs” and struggled more with alcohol than harder drugs.
According to Ryan, Chase had been “sober [for] a while” before they lost touch in late 2015. In recent years, he had also been working on a documentary exploring her disappearance from Hollywood after she stepped away from the spotlight almost entirely.
