Anne Heche cause of death revealed: Actor died of ‘inhalation, thermal injuries’

Anne Heche’s cause of death has been revealed. The 53-year-old actor died following a car crash in Los Angeles earlier this month.

According to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, she died from inhalation injury and burns. 

Also read: R Kelly’s fiancée, Joycelyn Savage, confirms pregnancy, says singer’s lawyers ‘unhappy’

She also had a fractured sternum caused by “blunt trauma,” according to information on the website of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner. A full autopsy report was still being completed, it added. 

Heche, an Emmy-winning film and television actor, was  “peacefully taken off life support,” spokeswoman Holly Baird said in a statement Sunday night.

Also read: Johnny Depp’s return to Fantastic Beasts is a possibility: Mads Mikkelsen

She had been on life support in Los Angeles burn center. Her car jumped a curb and smashed into a home on August 5. The car and the home burst into flames. Only Heche was injured.

Heche suffered a “severe anoxic brain injury” caused by a lack of oxygen, according to a statement released last week on behalf of her family and friends.

Also Read| Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial: 4 things jurors didn’t see or hear

She was declared brain-dead but was kept on life support until her organs could be donated.

Detectives looking into the crash had said narcotics were found in a blood sample taken from Heche. However, police ended their investigation after she was declared brain-dead.

She was declared brain-dead Friday, but was kept on life support in case her organs could be donated, an assessment that took nine days. In the U.S., most organ transplants are done after such a determination.

Also read: Warner Bros greenlights Robert de Niro-starrer Wise Guys post shelving Batgirl

The coroner’s office listed Aug. 11 as her date of death.

Heche first came to prominence on the NBC soap opera “Another World” in the late 1980s before becoming one of the hottest stars in Hollywood in the late 1990s. She was a constant on magazine covers and in big-budget films opposite actors including Johnny Depp and Harrison Ford.