Daveigh Chase, the Albany, Oregon-raised actress who starred in “Lilo & Stitch” and “The Ring,” died earlier this month from complications of AIDS, according to a medical examiner.
Earlier news reports that quoted her boyfriend and father stated Chase died June 16 at age 35 of a blood infection and bacterial meningitis.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office said in its report that Chase died of complications from AIDS. Chase also suffered from “chronic polysubstance use,” a medical term for mixing drugs or substances, according to the medical examiner’s report.
Chase’s father, John David Schwallier, previously told The New York Times she had been experiencing homelessness prior to her death in a Los Angeles hospital and that his daughter had struggled with drug use since age 13.
Chase was born in Las Vegas in 1990 but her family soon moved to Albany, Oregon, where she quickly realized she wanted to be a performer.
A 1998 road trip from Oregon left Chase and her mother sidelined in Los Angeles because of a car crash and doctors orders not to drive for several months, according to Interview magazine. Being stranded in southern California episode incidentally helped Chase’s career take off.
She landed parts in 2001’s “Donnie Darko,” and 2002’s “Lilo & Stitch,” “Spirited Away” and “The Ring.” She had continued acting as an adult, including on HBO’s “Big Love” from 2006-11.
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