The father of the late actress Daveigh Chase remained silent for several seconds after learning the cause of his daughter's death: AIDS and drug abuse.
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The Ring star Daveigh Chase's ugly family turmoil revealed after shocking AIDS death: As parents go to war over actress's ashes… new disturbing allegations about what really caused fatal spiral
The father of the late actress Daveigh Chase remained silent for several seconds after learning the cause of his daughter's death: AIDS and drug abuse.John Schw...
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John Schwallier broke his silence after a brief pause when reached over the phone by the Daily Mail at his home in the Philippines on Monday.
'I'm not surprised,' he said in a whisper about her cause of death. Daveigh had become so emaciated that the dad had a hard time believing it was actually her body.
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'I was beside myself at first when I finally saw her,' he admitted. 'I thought they were hustling me at first.'
Schwallier went on to signal a growing rift with his ex, Daveigh's mother – Cathy Chase, as he tried to get control of Chase's ashes after she was cremated.
'I didn’t think it was my daughter,' he said of the actress.
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Daveigh's death was determined to be due to a combination of , according to the County Medical Examiner.
'She must’ve weighed 65 pounds and looked even worse than that video going around,' he continued. 'I touched her thigh above her knee, and it was just bone.'
Daveigh Chase's father, John Schwallier, spoke about the turmoil in her family in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail on Monday. The late actress, who died on June 16, is pictured in 2012 in LA
Schwallier was stunned into silence after the Daily Mail informed him that Chase had died of AIDS. He posted a heartbreaking childhood photo of his daughter and himself just days after her death (pictured)
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Schwallier signaled a growing conflict with his ex, Cathy Chase, despite their decades apart. 'If Daveigh was with me, she would not have turned out like this,' he claimed; Chase is pictured as a child with her mother
Daveigh, best known for playing the little girl in the horror film The Ring, had drifted into addiction and after her acting career dwindled.
When asked about claims Chase may have been the victim of human trafficking, her father replied, 'I wouldn’t be surprised.'
‘I will fight her for Daveigh’s remains in Probate Court,' Chase's father declared on the phone, before accusing his ex of focusing on their daughter's money immediately after her death; Cathy Chase's LA home is pictured days after Daveigh's death
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Schwallier said he would fight his ex-wife for part of Chase's remains. 'I want her remains because she belongs with me. [Chase's mother Cathy] can keep half [of the ashes] if she wants, but that is my daughter,' he said; Chase is pictured in 2012 in West Hollywood
'I didn’t think it was my daughter,' he said after seeing her body. Chase's death was determined to be due to a combination of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and polysubstance use disorder
'She must’ve weighed 65 pounds and looked even worse than that video going around,' he continued. 'I touched her thigh above her knee, and it was just bone'
Schwallier, who has homes in Nevada but now lives in the Philippines with his current wife, also unloaded on his ex-wife, Cathy, whom he accused of keeping their daughter from him when she was a child.
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Chase's final significant television role came in HBO's Big Love, where she played Rhonda Volmer, a manipulative teenage bride-in-waiting. She appeared across 32 episodes between 2006 and 2011; pictured in 2003
By 2012, her career drifted, and she stopped appearing in mainstream film and television projects.
In December 2025, Cathy said she saw a video on Reddit claiming to show her daughter.
The woman in the footage appeared severely emaciated, slumped over with a crack pipe nearby.
Cathy said she did not initially believe it was Daveigh, but later came to that conclusion.
'In the video, she was in a really bad shape. She was very frail. She was fragile. She was saying no, and trying to push the camera away, and they were shoving it in her face. It was gross.
'She was obviously drugged out of her mind. She was nothing but skin and bones and I didn't want to think that was my daughter.'
After seeing the video, Cathy returned to the streets herself, trying to locate her daughter.
From December 2025 onwards, she said she regularly went into Skid Row alone, asking anyone who would speak to her for information.
Cathy said she renewed her search for Daveigh on the streets after seeing a video of her in December 2025 that showed her looking severely emaciated
Cathy said: 'I will live forever feeling I failed her because they told me the wrong time when she was released [from jail] all those years ago.
'I went to pick her up the day after she was released because I didn't know she was let go early. I can't stop blaming myself for that. She went back to the streets after she was released.
'The chaplain at the hospital told me I'm not to blame myself, but I am a mother who loved her daughter so much.
'And I tried desperately to try to get her help, but you can't legally force someone who doesn't want that help.'
Cathy said Daveigh maintained a deep faith, even as addiction took hold in later years.
'My daughter always had strong faith, and I know during the last few years, it might've wavered because of the addiction. However, she had a deep foundation in Christ.'
She also shared handwritten notes from when Daveigh was a child, messages expressing love for her mother and a belief they would always be together.
Cathy still calls her daughter her 'Sunshine.'
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