Woman Whose Home Anne Heche Crashed Into Is 'Still Traumatized' In New Lawsuit

Since Anne Heche passed away in August, there has been a barrage of legal drama arising from the lack of a will.

The latest in the continuous cycle of scandals is a lawsuit from the woman whose Los Angeles home was obliterated when the late actress plowed her car into the building hours before her death.

Keep reading to find out what we know so far.

According to the documents obtained by The Blast, Lynne Mishele claims she and her pets nearly lost their lives when Heche's Mini Cooper came through her home on August 5. Mishele shared that Heche's vehicle "barreled through the front of her house and deep into its interior" before it came "to a halt just feet away" from her, her two dogs —  Bree and Rueben — and her tortoise — Marley.

The plaintiff noted that the "sudden and terrifying blast shook her to her core," adding that she was left "completely traumatized, unusually startled by hearing loud noises, plagued by nightmares and flashbacks of the incident, terrified of walking outside, and, atop that, without a place to live."

As it turned out, the force of Heche's car went through "the front wall and driving through the living room, kitchen, home office, and primary room closet" before settling into "her house's laundry/storage room." 

Mishele further mentioned that she had "an entire life's worth of her personal possessions destroyed in the fire," most of which "included irreplaceable tokens and mementos from her deceased parents, who passed away 44 days apart in 2020." She then referenced the fentanyl and cocaine detected in the late actress' system at the time of the accident. Misele is seeking at least $2 million in damages.

You would recall that Heche — whose oldest son, Homer Laffoon, is the current special administrator of her estate — "became unconscious, slipping into a coma," soon after crashing into Mishele's home. The mother-of-two was trapped inside her vehicle for 45 minutes as the building caught on fire and raged on. 

Although the Emmy Award winner never regained consciousness, she was kept on life support until August 12, allowing medical officers to harvest some of her organs for donation. The official cause of Heche's death was thermal injuries and smoke inhalation. The Los Angeles County medical examiner also listed a sternal fracture due to blunt trauma contributing to her death. Her death was ruled an accident.

Following losing her home, Mishele launched a GoFundMe to support herself and her pets, per The Blast. She had been aided by two of her neighbors — Jennifer Durand and Leslie Fingerhut — who explained on the online fundraising platform that she lost her  Mar Vista home in a car crash.

The pair stated that the house had burst into flames after a car driving at a high rate of speed crashed into it. Even though they never referred to Heche by her name, it was clear who the statement was targeted at. In their words:

"Lynne and her family very narrowly escaped physical harm, and for that we are very, very grateful. The home, however, was completely burned – with 59 firefighters taking 65 minutes to extinguish the flames – and immediately red-tagged by the LAFD, necessitating that Lynne leave the place she loves." 

Durand and Fingerhut noted that it was even more devastating that their neighbor "lost her entire lifetime of possessions, mementos, all equipment for her business including her laptop and iPad, all of her clothing and basic necessities, and all household items."

However, Mishele had been able to "pull a few damaged sentimental belongings from the wreckage" with the help of some firefighters. The helpful neighbors described the victim as a "kind and generous" person who did not hesitate to "offer help to others." 

They finished by asking "asking the community to come together and help Lynne start over. Please, please join us – 100% of the proceeds from this fundraiser are going directly to Lynne Mishele."

The fundraiser quickly got the attention of several people who contributed to the best of their abilities. Some like Alicia Gabriel, who donated, expressed their sadness that Mishele was going through "this horrific moment."