Daveigh Chase, the actress known for The Ring and Lilo & Stitch, died after years of addiction and homelessness. Her autopsy has now detailed a devastating medical history involving advanced AIDS and polysubstance use.
Daveigh was 35 when she died in June earlier this year, leaving her family devastated after their prolonged efforts to help her overcome addiction and life on the streets, as Our News Outlet previously reported.
On June 4, Daveigh was found in the back seat of a car with a meth pipe nearby, according to an autopsy report obtained by Our News Outlet.
Before emergency services were called, the actress had complained of a headache, weakness, confusion and pain in her right thumb.
Paramedics took her to Los Angeles General Medical Center, where doctors admitted her with “advanced” HIV/AIDS, wasting, cryptococcosis without meningitis, MRSA and an infection in her right thumb, the report said.
Her condition continued to deteriorate, and she died several days later, on June 16.
In addition to advanced, untreated HIV/AIDS and a history of drug use, Daveigh’s autopsy showed that her toxicology screen was positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl.
The County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner listed acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, and “other conditions” as the cause of death. The report also noted chronic polysubstance abuse, meaning the repeated use of more than one drug over time.
Daveigh Chase died at 35 in June earlier this year, devastating her family after years in which they tried to help her overcome addiction and homelessness
The autopsy found advanced, untreated HIV/AIDS and drug use, while toxicology tests detected methamphetamine and fentanyl
Daveigh’s most recognizable role came in the horror classic The Ring, in which she played Samara, the eerie, long-haired girl linked to the cursed VHS tape
Daveigh’s mother, Cathy Chase, said she was “devastated” when she learned of her daughter’s death through the news.
“I was devastated. It felt like something inside of me squeezing all of the air out of me, and at the same time, it felt like I was exploding outwardly,” Cathy told Our News Outlet.
After reading the report of her daughter’s death, Cathy said she screamed and ran into her backyard, pacing as she struggled to process the grief and disbelief.
“I let out this guttural scream and I just was running. And these weird sounds were coming out of me, these kind of, like, primeval sounds,” Cathy said.
“And I went out into the backyard, and I was screaming, ‘No, no, no, no!’ I am in so much pain but I hope her soul heard me.”
Cathy said she left her nursing career and moved to Los Angeles to support Daveigh’s acting ambitions after raising her in Albany, Oregon.
Daveigh began appearing in commercials at just three years old. After moving to Hollywood in the early 2000s, she quickly secured small parts in major productions, including Steven Spielberg’s AI Artificial Intelligence and Donnie Darko, in which she played Jake Gyllenhaal’s sister.
According to Cathy, her daughter’s downward spiral began after a motorcycle accident around 2016 left Daveigh with a back injury.
Cathy Chase said she was “devastated” by her daughter’s death and traced Daveigh’s decline to a motorcycle accident around 2016 that injured her back
On June 4, Daveigh was found in a car with a meth pipe nearby before being taken to Los Angeles General Medical Center with HIV/AIDS, wasting, cryptococcosis without meningitis, MRSA and a right-thumb infection
She was prescribed powerful pain medication, including oxycodone, which Cathy believes was the beginning of her daughter’s addiction.
Daveigh later turned to stronger drugs and became caught up in a party lifestyle.
“She was seeking drugs and was partying with the wrong people. I never kicked my daughter out. She wanted freedom and these people got her hooked on some drugs. That was the beginning,” Cathy said.
Beginning in 2018, Daveigh was repeatedly jailed on drug-related and other charges.
Cathy’s first visit to her daughter in jail came in 2019, after Daveigh was charged with two counts of burglary. She said the change in her daughter was startling.
“She was completely gone, like, out of her mind. I honestly thought there was something wrong with her. My daughter was never diagnosed with mental health other than PTSD. But the drugs took hold of her.”
During jail visits between July 2023 and January 2024, Cathy said she and Daveigh discussed her coming home. They agreed that Cathy would collect her after her release.
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“But when I got there, she never waited. She went back to the streets and I couldn’t find her,” Cathy said.
When Cathy first visited Daveigh in jail in 2019, she said she was shocked to find her daughter “completely gone, like, out of her mind”
Daveigh became a successful child actress in the early 2000s, landing her breakthrough at 11 when she voiced Lilo in Disney’s animated film Lilo & Stitch
As the years passed, Cathy’s search grew increasingly urgent. She and her son visited encampments throughout Los Angeles, hoping to find any trace of Daveigh.
Cathy said the only times she knew where her daughter was were the brief periods when Daveigh had been arrested and held in jail.
“It upsets me because people are saying I must’ve been a bad mother, but I never gave up on her,” Cathy said.
“As a mother, you don’t give up on your child. I was hoping she would still come home.”
Daveigh emerged as a promising young actress in the early 2000s. Her breakthrough arrived in 2002, when she was 11 and voiced Lilo in Disney’s animated film Lilo & Stitch.
Her performance earned her a Young Artist Academy Award for best voice-over performance in the pre-teen category.
She went on to play Samara in the horror hit The Ring, starring alongside Naomi Watts. As the terrifying figure at the center of the cursed videotape, she became one of the film’s most memorable characters.
Daveigh received the MTV Movie Award for best villain in 2003. She later returned as Lilo in Stitch! The Movie and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch television series, which ran from 2003 to 2006.
In December 2025, Cathy said she saw a Reddit video of a “frail” woman who appeared “obviously drugged out of her mind” and “nothing but skin and bones,” prompting her to believe it showed her daughter
Her last major television role was in HBO’s Big Love, where she played Rhonda Volmer, a manipulative teenager preparing to become a bride. She appeared in 32 episodes between 2006 and 2011.
By 2012, Daveigh’s career had slowed, and she was no longer appearing regularly in mainstream film and television projects.
In December 2025, Cathy said she came across a Reddit video that appeared to show her daughter.
The woman in the footage appeared severely emaciated and was slumped over with a crack pipe nearby.
Cathy said she initially refused to believe the woman was Daveigh, but eventually became convinced that it was her.
“In the video, she was in a really bad shape. She was very frail. She was fragile. She was saying no, and trying to push the camera away, and they were shoving it in her face. It was gross.
“She was obviously drugged out of her mind. She was nothing but skin and bones and I didn’t want to think that was my daughter.”
After watching the video, Cathy returned to the streets in an effort to find her daughter.
Daveigh’s portrayal of Samara in The Ring won her the 2003 MTV Movie Award for best villain, presented by Ashton Kutcher and Sean “Diddy” Combs
From December 2025 onward, she said she regularly went alone into Skid Row, asking anyone willing to talk whether they had seen Daveigh.
“I will live forever feeling I failed her because they told me the wrong time when she was released [from jail] all those years ago,” Cathy said.
“I went to pick her up the day after she was released because I didn’t know she was let go early. I can’t stop blaming myself for that. She went back to the streets after she was released.
“The chaplain at the hospital told me I’m not to blame myself, but I am a mother who loved her daughter so much.
“And I tried desperately to try to get her help, but you can’t legally force someone who doesn’t want that help.”
Cathy continues to call her daughter her “Sunshine.”
