>
A sombre image has emerged of the moment a Los Angeles homeowner watched her house and ‘an entire lifetime of possessions’ burn down before her eyes after actress Anne Heche slammed a car into the building at high speed, sparking a fire that nearly claimed both women’s lives.
A GoFundMe page set up for the woman, Lynne Mishele, by members of her westside Los Angeles community raised more than $50,000 in a single day after being created over the weekend.
The page details how Mishele, who is referred to as a ‘kind and generous person’, narrowly escaped death following the horrific crash but was forced to look on as her property crumbled amid the brutal blaze.
A massive fire sparked when Heche rammed her Mini into the home at speeds nearing 90 miles per hour on Friday evening, according to police.
The resulting blaze took 59 firefighters more than an hour to extinguish, leaving Mishele bereft of a home and many of her possessions.
As a result of the fire, Heche – who is best known for her relationship with Ellen DeGeneres and her acting roles in the 1990s – was taken to a local hospital and intubated. She remains in the ICU but is expected to survive.
Mishele managed to escape shaken but unhurt.
The crowdfunding page says that Mishele’s home was ‘immediately red-tagged’ after crews extinguished the fire – meaning the home was listed as unsafe to return to until repairs can be made.
Mishele said she initially thought that something had fallen from the sky and exploded into her house, neighbor David Manpearl told DailyMail.com.
‘She’s lucky to be alive. She was shaking when she told me she had just been in the living room right where the car had crashed,’ he said.
Just minutes before Heche careered into the nearly 70-year-old home, the Donnie Brasco star had crashed into a different garage further up the same street.
The blue Mini Clubman was shown on a doorbell camera speeding past a home along South Walgrove Avenue in the Mar Vista neighborhood around 90 miles per hour.
Mishele’s home is located at 1766 South Walgrove Avenue – around 15 miles from Heche’s home in the Eastern Columbia Lofts building in the Broadway Theater District of Downtown Los Angeles.
Homeowner Lynne Mishele, seen in the maroon, stands across the street from her home looking dazed and confused after actress Anne Heche slammed a Mini into the side of her house and triggered a large fire
Firefighters pick their way through the charred debris of Lynne Mishele’s house after successfully extinguishing the blaze
Devastation is seen at Lynne’s house after actress Anne Heche plowed 30ft into the property driving a Mini at high speed
Firefighters enter the property as large clouds of smoke billow from the scene of the high speed crash
A GoFundMe page that has been set up for Lynne Mishele, pictured here on her Facebook page, has raised more than $50,000 in less than two days
Actress Anne Heche was rushed to a local hospital after the crash where she was intubated and treated for burns. She is listed as being in stable condition
Mishele can been seen trying to salvage what she could after the fire was put out
The goal of the GoFundMe page set up by neighbors John and Jennifer Durand is $100,000.
The page read: ‘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.
‘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.’
Mishele’s neighbor Lynne Bernstein told People Magazine that her friend was ‘extremely fortunate’ to survive. She added: ‘So were the dogs and her turtle.’
Mishele can be seen outside of her wrecked home in the minutes following the crash – Heche’s Mini still on the right, waiting to be removed
Mishele can be seen, left, as she surveys the damage to her home
Heche’s blue Mini Clubman is shown on a doorbell camera speeding past a home along South Walgrove Avenue in the Mar Vista neighborhood around 90 miles per hour
The home is located around 15 miles from Heche’s home in the Eastern Columbia Lofts building in the Broadway Theater District of Downtown Los Angeles
According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the crash caused ‘structural compromise and erupting in heavy fire’
In a tweet, the LAFD said that it took 59 firefighters about 65 minutes to put out the blaze. The home is now ‘uninhabitable’
In a report from the scene prior to Heche’s extraction around 11:30 am, Fox 11’s Stu Mandel said: ‘If there’s somebody alive in there this is going to be a miracle’
According to the GoFundMe page: ‘With firefighters’ help, she was able to pull a few damaged sentimental belongings from the wreckage. Everything else is gone’
A neighbor described Mishele’s initial reaction to the crash saying: ”I don’t think she got what was going on. She said, ‘What happened? What happened?”
Bernstein said that Mishele was luckily in a different part of the home than where the crash occurred.
She described her initial reaction to the crash saying: ‘I don’t think she got what was going on. She said, ‘What happened? What happened?”
Bernstein also said that Heche’s car went ‘almost all the way through’ the home and ‘almost immediately’ burst into flames.
According to her LinkedIn page, Mishele is the founder of Creative Organization, a company that helps to organize ‘your home, your office and your life. We help you simplify everything!’
Mishele pictured on her Facebook page with Hollywood star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2016
According to her LinkedIn page, Mishele is the founder of Creative Organization, a company that helps to organize ‘your home, your office and your life. We help you simplify everything!’
Actress Anne Heche has been intubated in a critical condition after crashing her Mini into a garage before speeding off and smashing it into a home where it exploded
A photo from earlier on Friday shows Heche moments before the second accident at the wheel with a bottle of vodka with a red cap plonked in the cup holder
One resident estimated the car to have been traveling at close to 100mph. The video ends seconds later with a loud crash
She describes herself as an ‘Effective organizing professional with expertise in approaching organizing issues with a creative outlook. An innovative organizer that has a proven track record with establishing successful systems for each individual client.’
Mishele says on her LinkedIn page that she founded the company in 1993. Previously, she worked as a travel director at Citigroup and as a marketing associate for Sony Pictures.
The entrepreneur is a graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.
While on her Instagram page, Mishele regularly posts self-help videos. A few days before the accident that destroyed her home, she posted a video titled: ‘Don’t leave a burden for your loved ones.’
In the video, she encouraged her followers not to leave things to loved ones after they die without asking them first if they want the items.
The 53-year-old suffered horrific burns during the collision and was recorded being dragged out of the mangled wreck by firefighters after it burst into flames in LA around 11am
Heche can be seen being removed from the scene on a stretcher and taken towards a waiting ambulance
An interior shot shows the Mini Clubman’s airbag had blown out along with most of the decor being burnt through following the crash
Pictures and video showed her looking dazed at the wheel after the first crash, with a witness capturing her with a bottle with a red top on it in her car. It is not clear what was in the container but it looked like a vodka bottle
Before the crash, a slurring Anne Heche joked on a podcast about drinking vodka with wine chasers – claiming at the time that she was having a ‘very bad day.’ The episode of ‘Better Together’, which she co-hosts, aired just hours before she crashed her car into the house.
She and co-host Heather Duffy even tell the audience at one point that Refined – a vodka distillery which sponsored one of their shows – provided them with free alcohol.
‘We each have a bottle in front of us because our friends sent us a bottle of Refined and I think we even did a bad commercial for them in the beginning of our days.
‘Dr. Rahm said that we should be drinking vodka instead of wine,’ Duffy says, to which Heche adds, ‘and we listened, and we are drinking it.’
Duffy then reveals they are using wine to chase down the vodka, before Heche reveals: ‘Today’s been a very unique day.
In Friday’s episode of Better Together, Heche appears to slur her words as she and co-host Heather Duffy tell the audience they are drinking vodka with wine chasers. The two co-hosts are pictured in an earlier podcast
Heche, 53, goes on to talk about how she was having a bad day in the most recent podcast episode. It is unclear whether it was recorded on Friday before her crash, or if that is just when it aired. She is pictured here in an earlier podcast
‘I don’t know what happened, sometimes days just suck and I don’t know if you ever have them [but] some days, those no good, very bad days, and some days days just end up like this.
‘Sometimes days just suck and I don’t know if you ever have them, but you know some days, Mama says just gonna be like this,’ she continues. ‘Some days there’s those no good, very bad days.
‘And I don’t know why some days just end up like this, and things don’t really rock me like that.’
She later revealed how she has had a tough week, explaining how people interrupted her meditating at her apartment.
It remains unclear if the podcast was recorded on Friday, or if that is just when it aired.
EXCLUSIVE: Anne Heche’s son, 20, is comforted by two female friends at his LA home as his mother recovers in hospital from horrific burns in fiery car crash
Anne Heche’s eldest son, Homer Laffoon, spent his Saturday in the company of two young women.
Laffoon, 20, is the son of the troubled actress and her former husband, Coleman ‘Coley’ Laffoon. The couple were married in September 2001 and split in February 2007.
In exclusive DailyMail.com photos, Laffoon is seen shirtless showing his two female friends to the door. His two dressed-up friends leave his home in Los Angeles, Calif.
In exclusive DailyMail.com photos, Laffoon is seen shirtless showing his two female friends to the door. His two dressed up friends leave his home in Los Angeles, looking as though the trio pulled an all-nighter
It’s unclear if Laffoon is in a relationship with either of his female friends. The star’s son makes no reference to a girlfriend on his various social media accounts
It’s unclear if Laffoon is in a relationship with either of his female friends. The star’s son makes no reference to a girlfriend on his various social media accounts.
Her second son, Atlas, was born to Heche and actor James Tupper in 2009. He was born just days after her marriage to Laffoon’s father officially ended. Heche and Tupper split in 2018.
Following Heche’s car crash on Friday, in which she first slammed into a garage at an apartment building, then careered into a home in her blue Mini Clubman leaving her ‘severely burned’ and ‘intubated’ in a Los Angeles hospital, Tupper posted a photo of his former partner and wrote on Instagram: ‘Thoughts and prayers for this lovely woman, actress and mother tonight anneheche. We love you.’
On his Instagram page, Laffoon takes his mother’s name going by Homer Heche.
Laffoon, 20, is the son of the troubled actress and her former husband, Coleman ‘Coley’ Laffoon
On his Instagram page, Laffoon takes his mother’s name, going by Homer Heche
Laffoon graduated from high school in the summer of 2020, according to Heche. The ceremony was held in the parking lot of the Rose Bowl stadium in Los Angeles
Anne Heche, pictured here with her ex-husband Coley Laffoon in 2002, was involved in multiple car crashes on Friday in which she first slammed into a garage at an apartment building, then careered into a home in her blue Mini Clubman leaving her ‘severely burned’ and ‘intubated’ in a Los Angeles hospital
Laffoon graduated from high school in the summer of 2020, according to Heche. The ceremony was held in the parking lot of the Rose Bowl stadium in Los Angeles. In an interview, the Donnie Brasco star took the opportunity to rail against Covid-19 protocols in California.
His famous mother told Page Six: ‘He’s 18. Excitedly looking forward to this major event in his life. So where was it held? In a parking lot. The Rose Bowl parking lot in LA.’
Following her divorce from Coley Laffoon, the pair became embroiled in a bitter custody dispute that took ten years to resolve
‘We had to enter wearing masks. Cars were spaced far apart. Nobody allowed outside their vehicle. The graduates onstage were masked and allowed only one second to remove that and mumble thank you. It was surreal. Bizarre.’
She concluded: ‘Your pass was preprinted out. You were allowed one car per family. No extra guests. Allowed photos were without the graduate’s face being visible. The security stationed around all wore black masks. Everything else nearby was boarded up, locked up, chained up. It was watching California disintegrate.’
Since birth, Heche has said that her two sons share a close and intimate bond. She told People Magazine in 2011 when Laffoon was nine and Atlas was two: ‘The two are having an incredible bond right now. They already look out for each other.’
Despite splitting in 2007, as recently as 2017 Heche and Coleman Laffoon had to renegotiate their child support and custody arrangements.
The pair agreed at the time to share custody of then-14-year-old Homer Laffoon. Back in 2014, Heche lost primary custody of her son.
Heche and Laffoon’s divorce was finalized in March 2009, and according to court documents obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, the actress had to cough up $3,700 a month in child support as well as a $500,000 lump sum. She also had to pay 75 percent of Homer’s private school tuition.
Heche disclosed in a 2007 interview on The View that her son, then seven, flew to be with her twice a month from his home in Los Angeles to Vancouver were she was shooting her show, Men in Trees. She told the hosts: ‘Homer flies a lot … twice a month to see me. It’s hard. You’ve to got to open up your heart as if he’s right in front of you.’
During their custody dispute, Heche was accused of cursing in front of her son and berating his father in front of him, she was also accused of not caring for her son when he visited on set, instead leaving him with aides and of showering with her son and new then-new boyfriend, James Tupper, while wearing bathing suits.
In retaliation Heche said that Coley Laffoon would regularly watch pornography and gamble while he was supposed to be looking after their son. During an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Heche called her ex as ‘lazy a**.’
Following the end of Heche’s relationship with James Tupper, she became involved in an equally fiery custody fight.