The passing of former child star Daveigh Chase has taken a heartbreaking turn after a harrowing video surfaced showing the actress in a visibly deteriorating condition just months before her passing.
Best known for voicing Lilo in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, the 35-year-old had quietly disappeared from the spotlight for nearly a decade before succumbing to a severe health battle on Tuesday, June 16.
Highlights
- A resurfaced video has ignited serious questions about the former child star’s final months away from the spotlight.
- Daveigh Chase reportedly disappeared from public life for nearly a decade before her passing at age 35.
- The actress left behind millions in an unclaimed trust fund as a disputed GoFundMe campaign emerged after her passing.
The resurfaced footage has ignited questions about the private struggles she endured, revealing conditions so alarming that her longtime manager and family members had previously hired a private investigator in an attempt to locate her.
“It’s heartbreaking to see someone end up like this,” wrote one netizen.
Daveigh Chase passed away earlier this week following a severe battle with meningitis, malnutrition, and a blood infection
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Daveigh Chase was an American actress, voice actress, and singer. While best known for voicing Lilo, she also famously portrayed the terrifying ghost child Samara Morgan in the 2002 horror film The Ring.
She terrified audiences as the long-haired, well-dwelling ghost girl, winning the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain in 2003.
She also provided the English-dubbed voice for the main character in Studio Ghibli's Oscar-winning masterpiece Spirited Away.
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Born in Las Vegas, Nevada, Daveigh moved to Los Angeles as a child to pursue a professional acting career, landing early guest roles on popular shows including Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Charmed, and ER.
Following her exit from the series Big Love in 2011, Chase's acting career slowed significantly, with her final film credits appearing in small independent productions in 2016.
Around 2016, she completely stepped away from the Hollywood spotlight and lived an extremely private life before tragically passing away at a hospital in Los Angeles.
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According to TMZ, Daveigh passed away from severe complications caused by bacterial meningitis and subsequent bloodstream infections that developed into sepsis.
The progression of sepsis triggered a systemic immune response, causing her body to go into septic shock and ultimately leading to multiple organ failure.
Bacterial meningitis is a medical emergency caused by a bacterial infection that triggers severe inflammation of the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
A resurfaced clip filmed months before her passing showed Daveigh in a severely malnourished and incapacitated state
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Symptoms of bacterial meningitis, such as sudden high fever, a severe and persistent headache, a stiff neck, vomiting, nausea, and, in some cases, seizures, usually appear suddenly, often within 24 hours of exposure, and can escalate rapidly.
Meanwhile, sepsis is a life-threatening medical emergency caused by the body's extreme, dysregulated immune response to an infection.
Instead of fighting the infection normally, the immune system overreacts, releasing an overwhelming surge of inflammatory chemicals into the bloodstream.
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This triggers widespread inflammation, leaky blood vessels, and abnormal blood clotting, depriving vital organs of oxygen and nutrients and potentially leading to rapid organ failure.
Her longtime manager, John Ryan Jr., confirmed that she had been admitted to the hospital earlier in June to treat extreme malnourishment before contracting the fatal infections.
Just days after her passing, The Post exclusively obtained a heartbreaking video of Daveigh filmed by an unidentified individual using the social media handle @whitewallstuntz.
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In the clip, Chase was seen living in highly destitute, hazardous, and unsanitary conditions, appearing severely emaciated and incapacitated on the floor of a cramped space that appeared to be a makeshift trailer on Skid Row.
An unidentified man was also present in the video, sitting beside Daveigh.
Skid Row is a 50-block neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles, California, and is home to one of the largest stable populations of unhoused individuals in the United States.
Chase reportedly left behind “millions of dollars” in an unclaimed trust fund accumulated during the peak of her acting career
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The video was filmed in late 2025, and according to The California Post, both Chase's manager and her stepsister, Gaia Brown, were alerted to its existence on social media around that time.
They subsequently hired a private investigator to locate the trailer's exact location.
Ryan told the outlet, "We were so close to finding her... Daveigh was the sweetest and brightest light in Hollywood. I can't believe this is real. Her legacy and work will live on forever."
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Chase's homelessness on Skid Row was reportedly the result of a decades-long battle with substance misuse, a painful estrangement from her family, and a complete withdrawal from the entertainment industry.
Daveigh reportedly began struggling with d**gs at the age of 13, during the height of her childhood fame.
She also experienced a severe family rift and a "painful separation" from her mother and other relatives when she was around 19 years old.
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As her mental health and substance misuse issues worsened, she completely cut ties with longtime friends and eventually fell into extreme poverty.
Despite having accumulated substantial earnings from child-acting residuals that were safeguarded in a SAG trust account, her severe state of a**iction reportedly left her unable to access or manage her financial assets.
Her manager revealed that he continued receiving SAG-AFTRA notices over the years regarding her unclaimed funds.
A man claiming to be the former child star’s longtime boyfriend set up a GoFundMe, though her family says they do not know him
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Following Chase's passing, he said the former child star had left behind "millions of dollars" in her SAG-AFTRA trust fund.
A man identified as Roy Hernandez, who claims to be Daveigh's boyfriend, has launched a GoFundMe campaign titled Help Daveigh Chase Find Comfort & Peace, listing Daveigh as the organizer.
In the campaign description, Hernandez wrote that Chase was a "light in my life" who faced severe hardships.
Image credits: GoFundMe
He added that when they met in 2019, he promised to protect her after she was left unsafe in downtown Los Angeles following a family falling-out.
Roy penned, “All she ever wanted was a place where we could live together, feel safe, and be happy. Now, more than ever, I want to give her that sense of home and peace in her final days.”
“I understand we all go through things, but if you can help, I will be really grateful for anything. And if you can only give a prayer, I will take that too. Thank you for considering helping us during this difficult time.”
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However, Chase's manager and close family members explicitly stated that none of her friends or relatives had ever heard of Hernandez before the fundraiser appeared.
“Apparently, a man claiming to be her ‘boyfriend’ that none of us friends or her family has heard of has set up a GoFundMe on ‘her and her family's behalf’ that he set her up as the organizer. I can confirm Daveigh has a trust account set up at SAG to cover all costs,” John told The Post.
As of this writing, the campaign remains active and has raised $3,964 toward its $5,500 goal.
“It’s incredibly sad. She brought so much joy to many of us in childhood, yet in her own last days she was struggling so much,” wrote one netizen
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