Anne Heche‘s death has been ruled an accident, more than a week after suffering serious injuries in a fiery Los Angeles car crash, city records show.
The 53-year-old actress died from inhalation and thermal injuries, according to records from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. She also suffered a sternal fracture due to blunt trauma, the records state.
The day of Heche’s death is listed as August 11. The actress was declared brain dead that night but was kept on life support for organ donation and her heart was still beating, her representative said then. Heche was removed from life support on Sunday, her representative said.
Heche was alone in her car on August 5 when she crashed into a home in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles, engulfing her car and the house in flames, according to Los Angeles police and fire officials. No one else was injured in the single-car crash, and the home’s resident and her pets were able to escape the blaze unharmed.
Heche suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and was in a coma in critical condition following the crash, her family and friends said in a statement. Heche was not expected to survive her injuries, her family said, noting that it “has long been her choice to donate her organs.”
Results from a blood draw completed several hours after the crash showed Heche had narcotics in her system, but additional tests were being run to determine more about the drugs and to rule out which may have been present because of drugs administered by medical personnel, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Investigators told ABC News no alcohol was detected in Heche’s blood sample, though again, the blood draw was several hours after the crash.
LAPD investigators told ABC News on August 12 that they had ended their criminal investigation due to the latest developments in Heche’s condition.
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