Baby-powder heiress Casey Johnson has flown to New York with her "fiancée," Tila Tequila, to try to reclaim her daughter, Ava, from the custody of her mother, Sale Johnson, and bring the toddler back to LA.

Casey adopted the girl from Kazakhstan two years ago over the objections of her aunt, Libet Johnson, who built an orphanage in Cambodia. But Sale took custody earlier this year out of concern for little Ava's safety.

"Casey is intent on getting her daughter back," an acquaintance from LA told Page Six. But friends are distancing themselves from the increasingly erratic heiress.

"When I went to her rented house on Mulholland Drive recently, it was like Grey Gardens," our source said. "There are dirty dishes everywhere and rotting food. There is graffiti on the walls. The pool looks like a swamp."

Johnson's father, New York Jet owner Woody Johnson, and the rest of the family recently restricted Casey's access to funds because she repeatedly has refused to get the help they say she needs. She's been in rehab several times but has never finished the programs.