The autopsy of Anne Heche: what caused her bizarre car crash?

She wasn't drunk, she wasn't high. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, intoxication was not what caused Anne Heche to crash her car into a building on August 5, 2022.

The autopsy results put an end to a lot of speculation about the bizarre accident, but it also raises new questions. Why did she drive so aimlessly and recklessly on that sunny day in August?

Released four months after the fatal accident of the actress, the coroner's report stated that Anne Heche died from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries sustained in the car accident.

It also revealed that she was not on drugs at the time of the accident, although she did have some cocaine and cannabis in her system from previous use.

According to People, which took a statement from a spokesman for the coroner's office, the blood showed the presence of benzoylecgonine, the inactive metabolite of cocaine, which means that she had used it in the past but not at the time of the accident. The coroner said that this was “consistent with prior use but not at the time of injury.”

According to People, cannabinoids were also found in her urine but "not detected in the admission blood." This is "consistent with prior use, but not at the time of the injury."

Anne Heche landed in a coma after a bizarre series of car crashes on August 5. They caused her car to catch fire, from which she could not be rescued until after 30 minutes. A week after the accident, the actress would pass away.

According to TMZ, the actress drove a blue Mini Cooper when she crashed into an apartment complex in Mar Vista (Los Angeles) on Friday, August 5.

The incident, consisting of two collisions into the same complex, has stirred controversy because the actress was allegedly intoxicated and refused to leave her car after the first crash.

Image: KCAL / KCBS via CNN

It was a bright, sunny morning at 11:00 am when Anne Heche first hit a garage door in the Mar Vista apartment complex. A neighbor asked her to get out of the car, but the actress sped backward, apparently trying to flee at full speed, and then hit the garage of a second house. Much of the scene was caught on video.

Image: KCAL / KCBS via CNN

The second house she hit caught fire along with the actress's car. It was completely destroyed. The inhabitant and her pets were rescued, but all of their belongings were gone.

According to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), 59 firefighters took 65 minutes to "access, confine and fully extinguish the stubborn flames within the heavily damaged structure." They had managed to save the actress from the car after approximately half an hour.

The Daily Mail reports that some neighbors had initially tried to rescue the actress as she was trapped in the burning car. One of them, David Manpearl, "asked Heche if she could raise her hand to see if she was ok. She said no and made some grunts."

Image: KCAL / KCBS via CNN

Over the weekend, a source close to the actress told media outlets that she was in the ICU, in stable condition, and "lucky to be alive." Within a few days, however, that outlook turned more grim and her condition became 'extreme critical.'

The source also confided to the media that Heche's "team and her family are still trying to process what led up to the crash." It was not just them processing the events, however. Videos of Anne Heche nearly hitting a pedestrian right before the accident have circulated online and led to accusations of reckless driving and intoxication.

Shortly before the accident, Anne Heche had made some unnerving comments on the podcast 'Better Together' which she hosted together with Heather Duffy. The actress said in a rambling manner that she was having a "very bad day."

While it is unclear when the podcast was recorded, its release came on Friday morning, right before the accident. In the aftermath of the crash, the episode was removed.

"Today's been a very unique day," the actress was heard saying. "I don't know if you ever have them, but some days -Mama says- are... some days are those no good very bad days. And I don't know why some days just end up like this, and things don't really rock me like that."

Image: 'Better Together' podcast

The combined audio of the podcast and video of the incidents led news media to suggest that the actress was having mental issues and may have used substances while driving. For one, Salon.com and the LA Times recalled that Anne Heche had a "history of mental health struggles."

Anne Heche won an Emmy Award for her role in the soap opera 'Another World' and appeared in 90s' films like 'Psycho,' 'I Know What You Did Last Summer,' 'Donnie Brasco,' and 'Six Days Seven Nights' (image, with Harrison Ford).

Her private life became the topic of news stories when she dated Ellen DeGeneres for three years in the late 90s. In the aftermath of the relationship, Anne Heche claimed that she had lost out on movie contracts because of an anti-gay tendency in Hollywood studios. She even said she was 'blacklisted,' The Independent reports.

Yet, over the course of her career, Anne Heche made quite a few friends in Hollywood. Alec Baldwin, who co-starred with her in the 2004 play 'Twentieth Century,' posted a video on his Instagram account in which he said: "There's not a lot of women I've worked with that are brave in the way that Anne is brave." He added: "Sending my love and support to @anneheche"

While social and news media debated Anne Heche's history with substance abuse and mental illness, Rosanna Arquette weighed in on the issue, posting a diplomatic message on her Twitter account.

"I will always have compassion for anyone who is suffering a mental health crisis like Anne Heche," she tweeted, "driving under the influence and clearly not ok by putting others lives in danger." Arquette clearly felt sorry for both the driver and the woman whose house was destroyed. "So tragic and scary, thank God no one else physically burnt."

Actor Thomas Jane, who was Anne's partner between 2019 and 2020, also spoke out on the matter. "While Anne and I are no longer an item, today's tragic news was devastating to me and to all who love her," he told the Daily Mail.

Peter Facinelli, Anne's costar in the 2021 movie '13 Minutes,' posted a photo with her on Instagram while sending his prayers to the actress and her family.

Anne Heche had two sons with two former partners, one of them being actor James Tupper. He shared a photo of the actress and their 13-year-old son.

"Thoughts and prayers for this lovely woman, actress and mother tonight," he wrote next to the image. "Anne Heche, we love you."

The thoughts and prayers wouldn't help. Anne Heche remained in a coma on life support for a week until specialists decided that there was no hope for her anymore. The Washington Post confirmed statements from the family that the actress was "brain dead" a week after her accident.

As colleagues, family, and fans mourned the death of Anne Heche on August 11, the hardest struggle was yet to start: that of her two sons, Atlas and Homer.

Read the story of Anne Heche's difficult life