Daveigh Chase, known for roles in “The Ring” and “Lilo & Stitch,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles, according to NBC News. She was 35.
Her father, John Schwallier, told the outlet via text that his daughter “died of complications of bacterial meningitis and a blood infection.”
Additionally, he said Chase “was suffering from severe malnutrition.”
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Her former manager, John Ryan Jr., disputed claims made in a recent crowdfunding campaign published before reports of Chase’s death began circulating.
“Daveigh’s estate has plenty of means to pay for the cremation,” Ryan said in a statement to Deadline. “John is next of kin and never signed any paperwork over to this so-called boyfriend.”
TMZ was first to report Chase’s death through her alleged boyfriend, Roy Hernandez.
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“That GoFundMe is not going toward ANY expenses for Daveigh,” Ryan told the outlet. “Myself, her father, her uncle and all of us close friends who knew her for decades are encouraging people not to donate to this page.
“This man making these claims 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. Daveigh’s actual family is handling all arrangements. We have contacted GoFundMe to let them know this man started this page on his own under Daveighs name when she was already unresponsive and urging people to report the page and not donate.”
Chase was born in Las Vegas and began singing and dancing at a young age before landing her first role in a Campbell’s Soup commercial.
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Her star power continued to rise when she was cast to voice Lilo at only 8 years old and worked alongside Tia Carrere and Chris Sanders to bring the Oscar-winning animated Disney film to life.
In addition to voicing Lilo in the film, Chase recorded more than 60 episodes of “Lilo & Stitch: The Series” and voiced the character in various video games and multimedia projects.
The same year, Chase earned legions of fans in another demographic after her chilling role as “Samara” in the DreamWorks classic horror, “The Ring.”
In 2003, the young actress earned the best villain award at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards, beating Mike Myers, Colin Farrell, Willem Dafoe and Daniel Day-Lewis to win the trophy.
