Hayden Panettiere died from accidental overdose, coroner finds

Actor Hayden Panettiere died from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl, and had been in rehab just weeks before, according to a coroner’s report.

Panettiere, 36, was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville , South Carolina, on August 16. Her on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach Hickerson were at the home.

A combination of fentanyl and its chemical byproduct, as well as the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam – a muscle relaxer and a drug used to treat major depression and other serious mental health disorders – was found in Panettiere’s system, according to a statement from the Greenville County Coroner’s Office .

A more detailed report released to The Associated Press said a senior deputy coroner who visited the Airbnb apartment to investigate Panettiere’s death found blue pressed pills and a straw on a table that would later test positive for fentanyl. A white powdery substance was found in her suitcase in a sunglasses case, according to the report.

When the investigator called Panettiere’s father, he said she planned to spend her birthday five days later in Greenville, then head to Ukraine to visit her daughter.

The investigator spoke to two men in the apartment with Panettiere. Both names were blocked out, but police have said her boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were with her.

One of the men said he saw Panettiere putting on makeup at 10.30am the day she died.

He went back to sleep and woke to a knock at the door. Both men found Panettiere face down in a sitting position on a sofa bed with her legs crossed. He said that wasn’t unusual, but he couldn’t wake her and noticed she was deep purple. He administered two doses of Narcan and then called 911 when she didn’t respond, according to the report.

The investigator wrote in her report that the man told her he didn’t know if Panettiere used any illegal drugs in the past two days, but “she was very good at hiding them”.

Asked for comment on the coroner’s initial report, Kasey Kitchen, a publicist for the family, told AP: “The investigation is still ongoing and the case is complex.”

Greenville Police confirmed Tuesday that their investigation into Panettiere’s death is continuing.

Paramedics attended Panettiere’s apartment last month after a 911 call, performing CPR and other advanced resuscitation efforts for more than 40 minutes before she was declared dead. The autopsy found no signs of trauma that could have contributed to her death, Greenville County Coroner Mike Ellis said in a statement.

Panettiere soared to fame in the TV shows Heroes and Nashville . In her memoir This Is Me , released in May, Panettiere described lifelong scars from her early fame, acknowledging an alcohol addiction and enduring postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter, Kaya, with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014.

She also endured family struggles and tragedy. Her parents’ marriage was strained and eventually ended. Her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, who was also an actor, died of a heart condition in 2023, at age 28.