James Ransone saved his neighbour from being sexually assaulted

Molly wrote on Instagram: "I found out yesterday that @jamesransone died.

"I'm usually private but I want to publicly say I am so grateful that this man existed and don't know if the trajectory of my life would be the same if he hadn't.

"We were neighbors in Chinatown. Friendly, overlapping social circles. I was attacked at the threshold of our building. I screamed for help. No one came.

"My attacker put his hands around my throat so I would stop making noise. I couldn't breathe. I remember the certainty that I was going to die or be raped as I was choked unconscious.

"PJ heard my screams and ran to help. He came running shirtless, carrying a bat or pipe - I'm not sure which, because I never saw him in action. He scared my attacker, who ran.

"PJ chased him to the building he fled to.

"Because of the chase, the police were able to identify him, a repeat sexual offender. ??PJ saved me.

"I'm not sure if I would have the same life if he hadn't run down that night.

"Even as an adult, I'm not sure how I would have handled the weight of what could have happened or how long it would take to heal - I was already emotionally fragile."

James had publicly spoken in the past about his past struggles with addiction and alleged childhood abuse, and Molly felt he was "haunted" by his experiences.

She continued: "What's especially hard for me with PJ's passing is that he lived with that kind of violence. What I was spared, he endured in a different form, at an age where there is no emotional defense, and the self is still forming. I get the sense that PJ's life was haunted by what happened to him then. This world is rarely gentle to people who are hurt, vulnerable, acting out."

The woman admitted she regretted never reaching out to her former neighbour in subsequent years to thank him for helping her.

She wrote: "Over the years, I have thought of PJ from time to time. I wanted to reach out to him to let him know how grateful I was that he ran towards my screams. I didn't. I regret that."

Molly ended her post by sharing a link to a GoFundMe set up in the wake of the Black Phone star's death to support his children.

James spoke about the incident several times over the years.

In 2016, he told the Jim and Sam Show: "I was watching TV with my then-girlfriend at the time. I was in just pyjama bottoms. It was like April, and it was raining a little bit. And I hear this scream for help. I hear this commotion, and I run."