The Los Angeles Medical Examiner's office has confirmed that Daveigh Chase, the former child star who voiced Lilo in Disney's Lilo & Stitch and terrified audiences as Samara in The Ring, died of AIDS. She was 35. The ruling, released on a Monday roughly two weeks after Chase died on June 16 in a Los Angeles hospital, listed chronic polysubstance use as a significant contributing condition. The manner of death was ruled natural.

The medical examiner's finding directly contradicts what Chase's father, John Schwallier, had earlier told NBC News, that his daughter "died of complications of bacterial meningitis and a blood infection" and "was suffering from severe malnutrition." No explanation for the discrepancy has been offered by the family.

Chase's death drew immediate attention not only because of her childhood fame but because of a bitter dispute between her family and a man identified as her boyfriend, Roy Hernandez, over a GoFundMe campaign launched in her name. That fight, and the gap between the family's initial account and the official findings, paints a grim picture of a young woman who fell through every safety net Hollywood and modern life had to offer.

A career that began at eight years old

Chase started voicing the beloved Hawaiian orphan Lilo at age eight, working alongside actress Tia Carrere and Chris Sanders on what Fox News Digital described as the "Oscar-winning animated Disney film." She went on to record more than 60 episodes of Lilo & Stitch: The Series and lent her voice to various video games and multimedia projects tied to the franchise.

In 2002, she took a sharp turn into horror, playing the ghostly Samara in DreamWorks' The Ring. The role earned her Best Villain at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, beating out Mike Myers, Colin Farrell, Willem Dafoe, and Daniel Day-Lewis. For a child actress, it was a remarkable run.

But the trajectory that followed was anything but remarkable in a good way. The entertainment world has mourned several well-known figures in recent months, though few stories carry the particular sting of a child star whose adult life collapsed so completely.

Addiction, homelessness, and a devastating decline

Chase's descent into addiction traces back to a 2016 motorcycle accident, Breitbart reported. Doctors prescribed oxycodone for a back injury. The opioids took hold. Her mother, Cathy Chase, offered a devastating account of what followed:

"The drugs took hold of her."

Cathy Chase described the agony of trying, and failing, to reach her daughter:

"I am a mother who loved her daughter so much. But when I got there, she never waited. She went back to the streets and I couldn't find her."

In the months before her death, Chase had been living on Skid Row. The New York Post reported that she was documented in a video appearing malnourished. The image of a once-beloved child actress reduced to homelessness on one of America's most notorious streets is difficult to process, but it is the reality the medical examiner's findings now underscore.

The official ruling of AIDS as the primary cause of death, combined with chronic polysubstance use as a contributing factor, tells a story of compounding crises. The Cleveland Clinic defines chronic polysubstance use as the repeated use of multiple substances. For Chase, the combination proved fatal.

A crowdfunding fight and accusations of exploitation

Even before the cause of death became public, a fierce dispute erupted over a GoFundMe campaign. TMZ first reported Chase's death through Hernandez, described in Fox News Digital's account as Chase's "alleged boyfriend." A crowdfunding page was published before reports of her death had fully circulated.

Chase's former manager, John Ryan Jr., wasted no time pushing back. In a statement to Deadline, Ryan said flatly that the fundraiser was unnecessary and potentially fraudulent:

"Daveigh's estate has plenty of means to pay for the cremation."

Ryan went further, challenging Hernandez's standing to act on Chase's behalf:

"John is next of kin and never signed any paperwork over to this so-called boyfriend."

The manager's most pointed accusation targeted Hernandez directly. Ryan alleged that Hernandez "brought her into the hospital in terrible condition and didn't let any of the family know until she passed so he can control the dialogue." He said the GoFundMe page was started "on his own under Daveigh's name when she was already unresponsive."

Ryan said he, Chase's father, her uncle, and close friends were all "encouraging people not to donate to this page." He confirmed the group had contacted GoFundMe to report it. Whether the platform took action remains unclear, the status of the page is not addressed in available reporting.

Hernandez, for his part, had written on the GoFundMe page that Chase's wish was simple. The New York Post quoted him as writing: "All she ever wanted was a place where we could live together, feel safe, and be happy." He has not publicly responded to Ryan's accusations.

The release of official cause-of-death findings often clarifies the record in cases where early accounts diverge from the facts. Here, the medical examiner's ruling did exactly that, and raised new questions about why the family's initial account pointed in a different direction entirely.

The gap between what was said and what was found

Schwallier told NBC News his daughter died from bacterial meningitis and a blood infection. The Los Angeles Medical Examiner's office found the primary cause was AIDS. Those two accounts are not easily reconciled.

It is possible Schwallier was relaying what he understood at the time, before the official determination. It is also possible the family preferred a different narrative. The source does not resolve the question. But the discrepancy is significant. When a public figure dies and the family's stated cause of death does not match the coroner's findings, the public is entitled to ask why.

Chase's body was not brought to the coroner's office, she died in a hospital, and the medical examiner's determination was made from that setting. The specific hospital has not been identified publicly.

Ryan, the former manager, offered his own tribute alongside the dispute. He told one outlet that Chase "was the sweetest and brightest light in Hollywood" and that her "legacy and work will live on forever." The contrast between that sentiment and the circumstances of her final months is stark.

The entertainment industry has seen a string of notable losses in recent times, from music legends to sports icons. Chase's death stands apart because of the particular cruelty of her arc, a child who brought joy to millions, who then vanished into addiction and homelessness while the system around her failed to intervene in any meaningful way.

What remains unanswered

Several questions remain open. Did GoFundMe remove the disputed fundraising page? What was the nature of Hernandez's relationship with Chase, the family clearly disputes his standing. And why did Schwallier's account of the cause of death differ so sharply from the medical examiner's findings?

The circumstances surrounding a public figure's death often generate more questions than answers in the immediate aftermath. In Chase's case, the official record now exists. The harder questions, about accountability, about who was looking out for her, about how a child star ends up on Skid Row, may never get a clean answer.

Daveigh Chase voiced one of the most beloved characters in modern animation. She won an MTV award at an age when most kids are worried about homework. And she died at 35, of AIDS, after years of addiction and life on the streets of Los Angeles. The system that made her famous did not follow her into the dark. Nobody's system did.