Cathy Chase says her daughter Daveigh Chase spiraled into addiction after a serious motorcycle accident around 2016, and that by 2019 she was sure the end was coming. She also recalls visiting her in jail after burglary charges and searching for answers during
The week Daveigh Chase died, her mother, Cathy Chase, says she kept remembering what she feared would happen long before the hospital called.
Cathy told The Daily Mail that the “Lilo & Stitch” actress became addicted to painkillers after a serious motorcycle accident around 2016. which she described as the start of a downward spiral. Cathy said she knew her daughter was “seeking drugs and was partying with the wrong people. ” adding that Daveigh was “completely gone” by 2019.
In October 2019, Cathy visited Daveigh in jail after she was charged with two counts of burglary. Cathy said she saw a person “out of her mind. ” and described a reality that didn’t match the medical picture she had been given—“My daughter was never diagnosed with mental health other than PTSD. But the drugs took hold of her.”.
Cathy also said she had a grim sense of where things were headed, telling the outlet she “honestly thought” something was wrong and that her daughter would eventually die.
Those fears landed against the backdrop of a search that unfolded in Los Angeles. Friends reportedly searched for Daveigh on Skid Row before her death after she went MIA amid personal struggles. TMZ also learned she was living in an RV with her boyfriend. Roy Hernandez. just minutes away from Skid Row up until June 3. when she was admitted to a local hospital and later died.
The cause of death, according to TMZ’s reporting, was meningitis and a blood infection that caused septic issues and led to her body shutting down. Daveigh—also known for playing Samara in the horror film “The Ring”—was 35 when she died.
Cathy said that during her daughter’s addiction. she would search for her name on the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s website. looking through a list of unidentified bodies. She described how difficult it was to do that while still holding onto hope: “It was very difficult. but you do everything you can as a mother.”.
The sequence Cathy describes is stark: a motorcycle accident around 2016 followed by painkiller addiction. a jail visit in October 2019 after burglary charges. and then years later a hospital death tied to severe infection. Each fact lands like another piece in a timeline Cathy says she could feel closing in.
Now, her words read like an attempt to explain a disappearance that happened in slow motion, even as the final days brought urgent attention and a grief that arrived too late for everyone who kept looking.
Daveigh Chase Cathy Chase Lilo & Stitch The Ring painkiller addiction motorcycle accident 2016 Skid Row Roy Hernandez meningitis blood infection jail 2019 burglary charges Los Angeles County Medical Examiner