‘Everything is gone’: The woman who had her home destroyed by actress Anne Heche is identified
The woman who lost her house when Anne Heche drove a car into it is “extremely fortunate” to be alive, according to a neighbour.
The Los Angeles woman who lost an “entire lifetime of possessions” after actress Anne Heche drove a car into her house, igniting a fire that nearly claimed both women’s lives, has been identified.
Lynne Mishele was inside her Mar Vista, California, home when the horrific car crash took place on Friday. Miraculously, she and her pets escaped uninjured, according to several of her neighbours and authorities.
Heche, the 53-year-old ex of Ellen DeGeneres, sustained burn injuries and was “conscious and breathing” when she was placed on a stretcher and transported to hospital. She is believed to be in a stable condition.
A GoFundMe page created for Mishele by her westside Los Angeles neighbours and wider community has raised more than $58,000 since it was posted on the weekend.
The page details how Mishele, who is described as a “kind and generous person”, “very narrowly escaped physical harm” in the crash.
“The home, however, was completely burned – with 59 firefighters taking 65 minutes to extinguish the flames,” the page reads.
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The aim of the fundraiser, which was set up by neighbours John and Jennifer Durand, is to reach a target of $100,000.
“Lynne lives with her beautiful pups Bree and Rueban, and tortoise Marley in the Mar Vista home that was destroyed this week by a car driving into the home at a high rate of speed, catching the house on fire,” the page continues.
“Even more distressing is that Lynne 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.
“With firefighters’ help, she was able to pull a few damaged sentimental belongings from the wreckage. Everything else is gone.”
Another one of Mishele’s neighbours, Lynne Bernstein, told PEOPLE that her friend “was extremely fortunate” to survive, after Heche, crashed her car into the residence, causing it to catch fire.
“So were the dogs and her turtle,” Bernstein added in reference to Mishele’s pets. The woman was in another section of her small home when the incident occurred.
Meanwhile, California police have obtained a warrant to draw Anne Heche’s blood because they believe she may have been intoxicated during her near-deadly high-speed car crash, police sources told TMZ.
The outlet reported that — at the very least — the LAPD plans to refer the case for possible hit-and-run charges, which a spokesman previously confirmed to CNN was being investigated.
Heche was reportedly driving at speeds of up to 144 kilometres per hour before the crash. She was pulled from the wreck by neighbour David Manpearl – whose doorbell video camera captured the blue BMW Mini Cooper hurtling down South Walgrove Ave.
“I heard a car go speeding by and looked out my window where I saw the car going about 90 miles an hour,” he told the Daily Mail.
“Within seconds I heard a loud crash at which point I ran outside in my flip flops because I knew someone was hurt and boy was I right.”
The Emmy Award winner reportedly first ploughed into a garage of an apartment complex while residents rushed to her aid.
But Heche appeared to ignore their attempts to help and put the car in reverse before zooming off again, onlookers claimed, The Sun reports.
One witness took a snap of the star, dressed in ripped jeans and a pink tank top, behind the wheel of her damaged car.
She then careered through a hedge and rammed into a nearby home before her wrecked vehicle burst into flames.
The blaze “was significant and engulfed the house,” sending smoke billowing down the street.
Some firefighters were left battling the “stubborn flames” for 65 minutes, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD).
Law enforcement said the 53-year-old “suffered burns in the fire,” leaving her clothing and hair “charred.”
LAFD Capt Erik Scott said: “We really had a multifaceted incident here.
“We had a significant traffic collision, we had entrapment of a woman inside that, we had a car that erupted into fire, and then we had a home that had significant fire that is red-tagged.
“It’s at this point destroyed.”
Brian Humphrey, a spokesperson for the LAFD, told US media the person involved in the accidents was transferred to a hospital in critical condition.
The LAFD also shared a statement saying the vehicle had a single occupant when it rammed into a two-storey home built in 1952.
“Fifty-nine firefighters took 65 minutes to access, confine and fully extinguish the stubborn flames within the heavily damaged structure and rescued one female adult found within the vehicle who has been taken to an area hospital by LAFD Paramedics in critical condition,” the statement said.
No other injuries were reported, and the cause of the crash is under investigation, according to authorities.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Heche had joked about drinking vodka with wine chasers in an episode of her podcast that was published online on the day of the crash – and has since been scrubbed from the internet. It’s not clear when the podcast was recorded.
Heche, who has admitted to using drugs and alcohol in the past, famously dated Ellen DeGeneres from 1997 to 2000.
After their relationship ended, a shaken and disoriented Heche drove to Fresno and knocked on the door of a stranger. She was briefly hospitalised after the incident
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