Since the early 1920s, there was speculation that Davies and Hearst had a child together some time between 1919 and 1923. The child was rumored to be Patricia Lake (née Van Cleve), who was publicly identified as Davies' niece. On October 3, 1993, Lake died of complications from lung cancer in Indian Wells, California. Ten hours before her death, Lake requested that her son publicly announce that she was not Davies' niece but Davies' biological daughter, whom she had conceived with Hearst. Lake had never commented on her alleged paternity in public, even after Hearst's and Davies' deaths, but did tell her grown children and friends. Lake's claim was published in her death notice, which was published in newspapers.