In the final months before her death, Daveigh Chase’s manager and stepsister were desperately searching for the former child star among Los Angeles’ homeless community.
Chase, best known for The Ring and Lilo & Stitch, died Tuesday at 35. Before her death, manager John Ryan and stepsister Gaia Brown had spent years trying to find her after she appeared to vanish from public view.
Ryan told the California Post on Wednesday that their search ultimately led them to Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
The revelation came as troubling footage resurfaced following Chase’s death, appearing to show her severely underweight and moving on the floor of what looked like an RV after reportedly living among the city’s homeless population.
In the now-deleted clip, the former actress appeared alarmingly thin, with visibly frail arms and pronounced ribs.
TMZ had previously reported that Chase died after being hospitalized for malnutrition.
The Ring and Lilo And Stitch star Daveigh Chase’s manager and stepsister frantically searched for her among Los Angeles homeless population in the final months of her life
Prior to Chase’s death on Tuesday at 35, her manager John Ryan and stepsister Gaia Brown reportedly learned from a private detective that Chase was living on LA’s Skid Row among its homeless population, according to the California Post; LA’s Skid Row pictured in June 2025
Her boyfriend confirmed her shocking death on Tuesday, revealing a painful health battle that involved meningitis, a blood infection and sepsis.
Ryan, who had been Chase’s manager for more than a decade, said he and Brown had hired a private detective in 2025 to find the missing actress so that they could get her some desperately needed help.
According to Ryan, late last year he learned of a since-deleted social media video that allegedly depicted a skin-and-bones Chase living on Skid Row.
The dangerously thin former Hollywood star reportedly looked as if she was struggling to stay awake in what was either a tent or a trailer.
Sources close to Chase told TMZ that her friends believed she weighed as little as 75 pounds by the time she was revealed to be spending time on Skid Row.
Chase’s manager said that he was able to get Chase on the phone, so he set out to find her on Skid Row.
He and her stepsister intended to first help Chase regain her health, and a friend of Ryan’s owned a rehab facility in Costa Rica that they planned to get her into once she was well enough to travel there.
However, their hopes to save Chase evaporated, as Ryan said she had ‘disappeared’ by the time he arrived on Skid Row.
Ryan said he learned of a video showing a dangerously thin and barely conscious Chase on the floor of what was either a tent or trailer. Sources told TMZ that her friends thought she weighed as little as 75 pounds
Chase’s manager said he made phone contact with her and rushed to Skid Row to nurse her back to health before sending her to a rehab in Puerto Rico. But she had ‘disappeared’ by the time he arrived on Skid Row; LA’s Skid Row is pictured on June 11
‘We were so close to finding her,’ he said while speaking to the California Post.
Sources told TMZ that Chase’s friends continued to search for her on Skid Row for weeks to come, without any success.
‘Daveigh was the sweetest and brightest light in Hollywood,’ he continued after news of her death broke. ‘I can’t believe this is real. Her legacy and work will live on forever.’
Chase’s manager added that he has been working on a documentary, titled Finding Lilo, that details her friends’ efforts to find her. According to Ryan, some major studios have already shown interest in the film.
According to sources close to Chase, her friends got a tip that she had been seen around Skid Row, a portion of LA’s downtown where homeless people live in tent encampments.
They said the former actress’s friends rushed over to the sketchy part of the city to search for her, but they didn’t have any success.
Chase was admitted to a hospital in Los Angeles in early June. Her condition deteriorated, and she was pronounced dead on Tuesday.
Roy Hernandez, who identified himself as Chase’s partner, said he had been pleading for help to fund her care via multiple GoFundMe campaigns in the weeks before her death.
Chase died on Tuesday after developing sepsis from meningitis and an infection in her blood, her boyfriend Roy Hernandez shared with TMZ; Seen in 2012
However, her manager shared suspicions about a GoFundMe set up by Hernandez. He claimed her family wasn’t aware of it, and added that Chase already had a ‘trust account set up at SAG to cover all costs’; pictured in 2012 in LA
Ryan shared suspicions about Hernandez and his connection to Chase while speaking to the Post.
‘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,’ her manager said. ‘I can confirm Daveigh has a trust account set up at SAG to cover all costs.’
As of Wednesday evening, the GoFundMe had raised just over $2,500 of its $5,500 goal.
Chase found fame as a child star in 2002 with her haunting portrayal of Samara Morgan in The Ring.
She slipped out of the spotlight in 2013 and retreated from public view entirely in 2017, when she posted on social media for the last time.
Over the next few years, the star was arrested multiple times on a variety of charges from joyriding in stolen cars to drug possession. Her partner describes a bitter feud with her family, and a desperate fight for them to get off the streets.
In a tragic premonition of her own death, she was questioned in 2017 after dropping an unconscious man off outside of a hospital and driving away. He later died of a drug overdose.
Hernandez, Chase’s partner, said the pair were homeless in the years before her death.
In 2002, she voiced the character of Lilo in the animated classic Lilo & Stitch
The former child star terrified moviegoers in 2002’s The Ring in which she played the ghostly Samara Morgan
In one of his fundraisers, her partner pleaded: ‘Daveigh Chase, my girlfriend, has always been a light in my life… But behind the scenes, she’s faced more than her share of hardship.’
‘After a difficult childhood and a painful falling out with her family, Daveigh was bullied and struggled to find safety and happiness in downtown LA. When we met, I promised to protect her and give her the love and comfort she deserved.
‘Together, we found moments of happiness and hope.’
He continued: ‘Recently, everything changed. Daveigh was diagnosed with meningitis and several serious blood infections. Her condition has become critical, and the doctors have told me she may not have much time left. 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.’
Chase has not been seen on social media since 2017, and her last red carpet appearance was at a Vogue dinner in April 2013.
She had several run-ins with the law. In November 2017, she was arrested in Los Angeles for joyriding in a stolen car.
With Naomi Watts in the box-office smash hit movie The Ring
Her last red carpet appearance was at Vogue’s Triple Threats dinner hosted by Sally Singer and Lisa Love at Goldie’s in April 2013 in Los Angeles
Chase was reportedly a passenger in a BMW that police officers pulled over in Hollywood, according to the site.
The actress was reportedly booked for being in a car without the owner’s consent, which, the website reported, is a felony. The driver was also booked.
An investigation was opened to determine who stole the BMW as Chase was held in jail on $25,000 bond.
It was not the first run-in with the law for the star.
In February 2017, she was arrested by LAPD detectives after she allegedly left a dying man outside a hospital.
Chase had reportedly been hanging out with the man in the early hours of February 15 before she left him at the hospital’s front door and fled.
Police ran her name and discovered an outstanding warrant out against her for an unrelated misdemeanor traffic violation, leading to her arrest, TMZ reported at the time.
Chase was not a suspect in the man’s death, which was believed to be caused by an overdose.
Chase had been arrested multiple times in recent years on a variety of charges, from joyriding in stolen cars to drug possession; pictured in 2011 in LA
Her sad final days are a far cry from the wholesome Hollywood stardom she once enjoyed.
She was beloved for her voice role as Lilo in the hit 2002 Disney film Lilo & Stitch and the follow-up TV show, and she voiced Chihiro Ogino in Spirited Away.
In 2006, she played Rhonda Volmer in 32 episodes of the series Big Love with Chloe Sevigny about a polygamist Mormon family.
Other appearances included roles in Donnie Darko, Beethoven’s 5th, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, ER and Mercy.
