Daveigh Chase cause of death confirmed after Lilo & Stitch star dies at 35

35 was the age of Daveigh Chase when she died in a Los Angeles hospital on 16 June. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has now listed her cause of death as AIDS, with chronic polysubstance use named among other significant conditions and the manner of death recorded as natural. For many viewers in Britain, Chase is remembered through two very different early-2000s roles: the bright, defiant voice of Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch and the haunting Samara Morgan in The Ring.

The Bottom Line

• Daveigh Chase died in hospital on 16 June, aged 35.
• The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner listed her cause of death as AIDS.
• Chronic polysubstance use was listed among other significant conditions.
• Earlier accounts from people close to Chase referred to meningitis, sepsis, blood infections and severe health struggles.
• Chase's best-known roles included Lilo in Lilo & Stitch, Samara Morgan in The Ring, Samantha Darko in Donnie Darko and Rhonda Volmer in Big Love.

Breaking It Down

The new finding shifts the public record around Chase's death from the first accounts given after she died. Her manager, John Ryan Jr, had told the BBC that she died from sepsis after suffering from meningitis in an LA hospital. NBC News reported that her father, John Schwallier, had said she died of complications of bacterial meningitis and a blood infection, and that she had been homeless in Los Angeles and suffering from severe malnutrition.

The medical examiner's finding, reported by outlets including the BBC account of the case and NBC News, identifies AIDS as the cause of death. NBC said the case status was still listed as open, while the findings named chronic polysubstance use as a contributing factor but did not detail which drugs may have contributed. Us Weekly and Deadline also reported that Chase died in hospital and that the manner of death was listed as natural.

Chase had been a working actor from childhood. Her manager said she began acting at four and booked her first Hollywood job when she was seven. Her earliest television work included Sabrina the Teenage Witch, while Deadline listed appearances on Charmed, The Practice and ER as part of her early run.

Her breakthrough came in a compact but striking burst. In 2001, she played Samantha Darko in Donnie Darko. In 2002, she voiced Lilo Pelekai in Lilo & Stitch and played Samara Morgan in The Ring, the long-haired ghost who crawls out of a television. The two roles could hardly have been more different, which is part of why her career lodged itself so firmly in the memory of viewers who grew up with both Disney animation and early-2000s horror.

Why This Matters

Chase's death has drawn attention because her work sits at the crossroads of childhood nostalgia and cult cinema. In Britain, Lilo & Stitch remains familiar family viewing, while The Ring was one of the defining horror films of its period. The same performer helped give life to both a beloved animated child and one of modern horror's most recognisable figures.

The public details of her later life add a painful edge to that memory. Variety reported that Chase's father, John David Schwallier, told the New York Times she had been homeless and had struggled with drugs since the age of 13, and that he had not spoken with her in many years. Her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, wrote in a GoFundMe post that she had faced hardship, bullying and a search for safety in downtown Los Angeles.

There has also been dispute around fundraising after her death. Us Weekly and Deadline reported that former manager John Ryan questioned the validity of an online GoFundMe launched by Hernandez and urged fans not to donate until the organiser's identity and claims could be verified. Hernandez, according to those reports, denied that the fundraiser was illegitimate.

What Comes Next

The confirmed development is the release of the medical examiner's finding naming AIDS as Chase's cause of death, with chronic polysubstance use listed among significant conditions. NBC News reported that the case status was still listed as open, but the available source material does not include a further scheduled hearing, memorial or official update.

For audiences revisiting her work, the immediate legacy is clear: Chase's performances reached millions before she stepped away from full-time acting. She continued voicing Lilo in spin-offs, appeared in Big Love from 2006 to 2011, and made her final onscreen appearance in the 2016 film American Romance, according to Us Weekly.