Daveigh Chase Dies at 35 from Meningitis Complications
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- Daveigh Chase died Tuesday at age 35 from complications of meningitis, according to her boyfriend Roy Hernandez, who announced her death to TMZ.
- Chase voiced the title character Lilo in Disney's 2002 animated hit Lilo & Stitch and, that same year, portrayed the villainous Samara Morgan in the horror film The Ring.
- Chase won the MTV Movie Awards Best Villain honor in 2002 for her "effectively creepy" performance as Samara Morgan in The Ring.
- Hernandez had launched a GoFundMe earlier that same week, writing that doctors said Chase was diagnosed with meningitis and several serious blood infections and that her condition had become critical.
- Hernandez told TMZ that a blood infection caused "septic issues and led to her body shutting down."
- Deadline noted it had not independently confirmed Chase's death at the time of publication.
Why it matters: Chase was a recognizable face from two major 2002 film releases — a Disney animated staple and a horror blockbuster — making her death at 35 a notable loss for fans of both franchises. The meningitis-to-sepsis progression Hernandez described underscores how rapidly her condition deteriorated within the same week a fundraising page was created.
