The Ring Star Daveigh Chase Dead at 35: AIDS Confirmed as Official Cause

Daveigh Chase, the child actress whose haunting performance in The Ring became iconic horror cinema, has died at 35. Documents obtained by Us Weekly on Monday, June 29 revealed that she passed away from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), with chronic polysubstance use listed as a significant contributing condition. Her death occurred in a hospital and was ruled natural.

The news landed hard on fans who’d grown up watching Chase voice Lilo in Lilo&Stitch, inhabit the unsettling world of Spirited Away, or encounter her eerie presence in Donnie Darko. For more than a decade, she’d been largely absent from the spotlight—her last red carpet appearance came in 2013, and her final Instagram post in 2017 marked a quiet exit from public life.

What made her death particularly complicated was the swirl of confusion that followed. Her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, broke the news to TMZ on June 17, explaining that Chase had battled meningitis and blood infections that spiraled into sepsis—a life-threatening immune response that turns the body against itself. Days before her passing, Hernandez had launched a GoFundMe campaign detailing her medical crisis and housing insecurity, describing a woman who’d endured childhood trauma and struggled to find stability in downtown L.A.

Then came the doubt. John Ryan, Chase’s former manager, publicly questioned whether Hernandez’s fundraiser was legitimate, claiming that neither Chase’s family nor her close friends knew who this person was. Ryan alleged she had a SAG trust account with ample funds to cover medical expenses. Hernandez fired back, insisting the campaign was 100 percent real and that he planned to use proceeds for her memorial. The contradiction underscored a broader tragedy: even in her final days, Chase’s story became muddled by competing narratives.

What emerges from the official cause of death is a portrait of systemic failure—a former child star whose early promise gave way to hardship, isolation, and ultimately, illness she couldn’t overcome. Chase stepped away from acting years ago, yet she never disappeared from the public’s memory. Her death is a reminder of how quickly childhood fame can evaporate, and how little protection it offers against the vulnerabilities that can derail a life.