Daveigh Chase, the actress who voiced Lilo and played Samara in The Ring, died Tuesday at 35, her partner confirmed to TMZ.
Roy Hernandez told TMZ that "Daveigh died Tuesday from meningitis and an infection in her blood, which caused her to have septic issues and led to her body shutting down."
The report says Chase had been hospitalized earlier in the month for malnutrition, and the timeline of that treatment has not been publicly reconciled with the cause Hernandez provided.
Chase rose to public attention as a child actor: she voiced Lilo in Lilo & Stitch, won a Young Artist Award for the role, voiced Chihiro in the English-language release of Spirited Away, appeared as Samantha Darko in Donnie Darko and played the eerie Samara Morgan in The Ring.
The detail of meningitis and a bloodstream infection frames her death as a rapid medical collapse: meningitis can inflame the membranes around the brain and spinal cord, and when bacteria spread to the blood they can trigger sepsis, organ failure and, in severe cases, death. Hernandez’s account says the infection produced septic issues that led to her body shutting down.
The earlier report that Chase had been hospitalized for malnutrition introduces a discrepancy that has not been explained: public statements so far do not describe whether malnutrition contributed to a weakened immune system, whether it was treated during the hospitalization, or how it might relate to the bacterial infection Hernandez cited.
No family statement or medical report has been released beyond Hernandez’s confirmation and the reporting of the cause; officials have not published a death certificate and no additional details about the earlier hospitalization have been provided.
For now, the immediate facts are straightforward: Daveigh Chase is dead at 35 and her partner has attributed the death to meningitis and a blood infection that caused septic complications; what remains unresolved is how and why she was reportedly hospitalized earlier in the month for malnutrition and whether that episode was connected to her fatal illness.
