Ill and malnourished: Daveigh Chase, child star of Lilo & Stich, found dead at 35

Daveigh Chase has not escaped the curse of child stars. The 35-year-old actress died this Tuesday, June 16, of meningitis and a blood infection which degenerated into septicemia. She became famous in the United States at just 12 years old, in the early 2000s, thanks to her dubbing in several animated films, including Lilo & Stitch et Spirited Away. She also made an impression as a child ghost in the American remake of the Japanese horror film The Ring, with Naomi Watts.

It was his companion, Roy Hernandez, who announced his tragic disappearance toTMZ . A few weeks ago, he launched a call for donations via a page GoFundMe to finance the medical care of Daveigh Chase, whose condition was already critical. “The doctors told me that he might not have much time left,” he wrote in despair. The actress had been hospitalized since the beginning of June for malnutrition. She had been battling heroin and methamphetamine addictions for several years.

Skip the ad

Unconscious and skeletal

At the end of 2025, her manager John Ryan and her half-sister, Gaia Brown, came across a video where she appeared lying on the floor of a tent, unconscious and skeletal, reports theNew York Post.The screenshots of these images, broadcast on social networks then relayed by the American media, are simply unbearable. A year earlier, John and Gaia had hired a private detective to find Daveigh Chase, of whom they had no further news. The thirty-year-old was in reality wandering the streets of Skid Row, the most dangerous and poorest neighborhood in Los Angeles, where many homeless people suffering from addictions live together.

Also read

Paris Jackson opens up about her addictions and her “really deplorable behavior” when she was drunk

After the video was broadcast, her manager finally managed to get in touch with her. He had gone to Skid Row in hopes of bringing her back with him and then getting her admitted to a rehab center in Costa Rica. But nothing had happened as planned: “When I arrived there, she had disappeared,” he recalled in the columns of New York Post. We were on the verge of finding her. Daveigh was the sweetest, most radiant person in Hollywood. I can’t believe she’s gone.”

In this interview, John Ryan explains that neither the actress’s friends nor family had heard of Roy Hernandez before the announcement of his disappearance. “Apparently, a man pretending to be her boyfriend created a GoFundMe in her name and that of her family, and named her as the organizer,” he said, before specifying that Daveigh had a trust account allowing him to cover all of his medical expenses. With the prize pool, Roy Hernandez collected around 1,400 dollars. We do not know, for the moment, if he really used this money to pay for the actress’s treatment. “When we met, I promised to protect her and give her the love and comfort she deserved. Together, we experienced moments of happiness and hope. She was the light of my life,” he assures, for his part.