The Ring Star Daveigh Chase Lived in RV Before Death at 35

Before Daveigh Chase died Tuesday at a Los Angeles hospital from meningitis and a blood infection, she’d spent her final years living in an RV parked in Boyle Heights, just minutes from Skid Row. It’s a heartbreaking detail that underscores how far the actress had drifted from the spotlight that once defined her career.

Chase is best known for two iconic roles: Samara Morgan in the 2002 horror classic The Ring and the voice of Lilo in Disney’s Lilo&Stitch. Those performances would’ve seemed to promise a very different future than the one she actually lived. But over the years, as she withdrew from public view, the people closest to her grew increasingly worried. Friends had spent years trying to locate her, eventually receiving word several months before her death that she was living somewhere in the Skid Row area.

What they found when they searched was nothing. Chase and her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, remained elusive until June 4, when she was finally admitted to the hospital. By then, sources say, her weight had dropped to as little as 75 pounds—a stark indicator of just how much she was struggling. The friends who’d been hunting for her, hoping to reconnect and help, never managed to find her in time.

At just 35 years old, Chase’s death is a reminder of how quickly life can unravel, even for those who once seemed destined for lasting success. The gap between her early career triumphs and her final days in an RV tells a story that Hollywood doesn’t like to talk about—one about personal demons, isolation, and the fragility of even the most promising beginnings.