Lilo & Stitch Star's Manager Questions Boyfriend's Fundraiser After Her Death

When grief intersects with public scrutiny, even the most well-intentioned gestures can become complicated. That’s the uncomfortable situation now surrounding the death of voice actress Daveigh Chase, who passed away on June 16 at age 35 from meningitis and blood infections that caused sepsis.

The tension centers on a GoFundMe page created by her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, in the days before her death. Titled“Help Daveigh Chase Find Comfort&Peace,”the fundraiser aimed to raise $5,500 and had collected just over $4,000 by the time of publication. But on Thursday, June 18, John Ryan, Chase’s former manager, publicly cast doubt on the campaign’s legitimacy, telling media outlets that neither Chase’s family nor her close friends recognized Hernandez or understood who he was.

“A man claiming to be Daveigh’s boyfriend has launched a GoFundMe page purportedly on behalf of Daveigh and her family. Neither her family nor her close friends know who this person is,”Ryan stated. He went further, confirming that Chase held a SAG trust account with sufficient funds to cover all medical and related expenses—raising the question of why a public fundraiser was necessary at all.

Hernandez has pushed back firmly against the skepticism, insisting to media outlets that the fundraiser is entirely legitimate and that he intends to use the money for Chase’s memorial service. He’s also maintained that he plans to keep any remaining funds, should they exceed what’s needed.

The controversy casts an unexpected shadow over the memory of Chase, who rose to prominence in the early 2000s as the voice of Lilo in Disney’s Lilo&Stitch and Chihiro Ogino in Spirited Away. She also starred as Samara in The Ring, a role that earned her the Best Villain award at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards. After stepping back from acting following American Romance in 2016, Chase had largely faded from the public eye—making this sudden reemergence, and the questions surrounding it, all the more striking.

What makes this story particularly troubling is the vulnerability of the moment. Chase’s death was sudden and tragic, and her family is grieving. Yet instead of a clear narrative of collective mourning, there’s now a credibility gap that raises uncomfortable questions about who has the right to speak for the deceased, and whether online fundraising in moments of crisis deserves the same scrutiny as any other financial appeal.