No, Anne Heche wasn’t murdered because she was working on a movie about Epstein

A spokesperson for the actor Anne Heche announced on Aug. 14 that Heche had been "peacefully taken off life support" following a fiery car crash more than a week earlier. 

But a conspiracy theory spreading on social media asserts the 53-year-old was killed at the hands of the so-called illuminati, a secret society some believe control the world’s affairs. "Illuminati," translated from Latin, means "revealed" or "enlightened" and refers to an old Bavarian secret society that sought to infiltrate powerful institutions like monarchies to promote Enlightenment ideals. Starting in 1972, conspiracy theorists started to claim the Illuminati was seeking worldwide universal control.

 "Sacrifice hit," reads the text above a video that appears to show a struggling Heche being carried from the crash scene on a stretcher. "Popular actress Anne Heche was alive and tried to escape body bag after fiery crash. She was later pronounced dead she was currently working on movie titled ‘The Girl in Room 13’ about the Jeffrey Epstein ring." 

One account sharing the clip wrote on Instagram that "someone is clearly not dead tho and this is a cover up this was an Illuminati hit."

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

According to police and news reports, a car Heche was driving crashed into a Los Angeles home Aug. 5. Heche "sustained significant injuries," according to the Los Angeles Police Department. She was treated by members of the Los Angeles Fire Department and taken to a local hospital. 

Featured Fact-check

Social Media

stated on October 28, 2024 in in social media posts

"Nicki Minaj just endorsed Donald Trump for President.”

TV news footage did show a woman at the crash scene sitting up on a stretcher and struggling as firefighters carried her to an ambulance, but Heche hadn’t yet been pronounced dead. 

She was critically injured at that point, however. It took 65 minutes to extinguish the fire and rescue her, USA Today reported. Heche sustained burns and a severe anoxic brain injury in the crash. Seven days later, she was pronounced brain dead.

We found no evidence to support the claim that she was murdered, much less because she was working on a movie about sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes. 

Heche had already finished filming the Lifetime movie "Girl in Room 13," scheduled to air in September. According to a description of a trailer Lifetime posted on YouTube, the movie tells the story of Grace, who is addicted to opioids but ready to "turn her life around" under the watchful eye of her mother, played by Heche. However, when a friend coerces Grace into meeting Richie, a former love interest and drug dealer, "she finds herself imprisoned in a hotel room with no way out." 

"Richie repeatedly violates Grace, forces her to consume drugs and alcohol, and starves her — all to break her down so that she becomes compliant and can be sold into human trafficking," the description says. "Refusing to give up on her daughter even when her husband and local police believe Grace has returned to a life of using, Janie starts an all-out hunt to find Grace."

The movie is not about Epstein, the financier who was accused of sex trafficking and assaulting dozens of girls. He died in jail in 2019 before he could face those criminal charges in court. 

We rate this post Pants on Fire.