Daveigh Chase: Popular Actress Passes Away at 35, Autopsy Confirms AIDS as Cause
- Actress Daveigh Chase has died from complications related to AIDS, with chronic polysubstance use listed as a contributing condition
- Chase's manager had initially disclosed that the actress died from sepsis after developing meningitis during her hospital stay in Los Angeles on June 16
- The former child star was best known for voicing Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch and playing Samara Morgan in the horror film The Ring
The official cause of death of former child actress Daveigh Chase has been confirmed weeks after she passed away at the age of 35, with the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner revealing she died from complications related to AIDS.
Source: Instagram
The medical examiner's report, released following her death on June 16 at a Los Angeles hospital, also identified chronic polysubstance use as a significant contributing condition and classified the manner of death as natural causes.
Before those findings were made public, Chase's manager, John Ryan Jr, had told media that the actress passed away from sepsis, having developed meningitis while already receiving hospital treatment.
Her father, John David Schwallier, separately disclosed that Chase had been homeless in Los Angeles and was living with her boyfriend in the period before her death.
See the X (Twitter) post below:
Daveigh Chase's rise as a child star
Born Daveigh Schwallier, Chase began her acting career at just four years old and built an impressive body of work over the years that followed.
She earned widespread recognition for her role as the terrifying Samara Morgan in the 2002 horror film The Ring, a performance that became one of the most memorable in the genre.
Around the same time, she provided the voice of Lilo in Disney's animated classic Lilo and Stitch, and also voiced Chihiro in the English-language version of the celebrated Japanese animated film Spirited Away.
Her early career included an appearance in Sabrina the Teenage Witch alongside Melissa Joan Hart, and she later starred in the television drama Big Love.
Despite a career that began with such remarkable momentum, Chase gradually stepped back from the industry, making her final full-time acting appearances in 2015.
Source: Instagram
Reactions to Daveigh Chase's passing
YEN.com.gh compiled some of the reactions below.
sarahtaylor456 said:
"I’m so confused. It’s 2026; this doesn’t need to happen."
Kay D said:
"Wow, aren’t they supposed to say pneumonia or something?"
JenAriesQueen said:
"I find that hard to believe with today’s medicine. I know people who’ve had it since the 90s and are in their 70s now, and with their medicine all those years, they don’t even detect it anymore."
aqilazhar123 said:
"In 2026, yet still no cure."
BBlovers said;
"That’s horrible, especially when effective medications are available."
Content creator passes away after childbirth
Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that content creator Mirabel Ifebuche Ugwu had passed away days after delivering her third child via caesarean section.
Ugwu's last Facebook video before the procedure, showing her in tears, resurfaced and went viral after news of her passing broke,
A relative of Mirabel pushed back against speculation, attributing her death to a failed system rather than anything she posted.
Source: YEN.com.gh
