autopsy

Anne Heche Wasn’t Drunk or High During Car Crash, Coroner Says

Photo: Lisa O’Connor/AFP via Getty Images

Anne Heche was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs when she crashed her car into a house on August 5, according to a final autopsy obtained by the Los Angeles Times. A toxicology report based on blood and urine samples showed evidence that she had previously used cocaine and cannabis, though not at the time of the fiery crash. The coroner also confirmed that fentanyl found in Heche’s urine was administered by the hospital for pain purposes. Law enforcement stopped investigating the crash as a “felony DUI traffic collision” after Heche died. “Any information or records that have been requested prior to this turn of events will still be collected as they arrive as a matter of formalities and included in the overall case,” the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement at the time. “When a person suspected of a crime expires, we do not present for filing consideration.”

The L.A. County coroner has ruled Heche’s death as accidental, with the official cause determined to be inhalation and thermal injuries. A sternum fractured by blunt force was also described as contributing “significantly.” Heche was declared brain-dead at age 53, six days after her Los Angeles car accident. Once organ recipients were found, Heche was taken off life
support on August 14. Heche’s oldest son, 20-year-old Homer Laffoon, will serve as the executor of her estate, which has been sued for $2 million by the woman whose home was destroyed in the fire caused by the crash.

Anne Heche Wasn’t Drunk or High in Car Crash, Coroner Says