Greenville, South Carolina, police are investigating whether criminal conduct played a role in the death of actress Hayden Panettiere, according to law enforcement sources cited by TMZ.
Ms. Panettiere, 36, best known for her roles in “Heroes” and “Nashville,” was found unresponsive Sunday inside a Greenville apartment and pronounced dead at 2:31 p.m. Investigators are running the death probe alongside the Greenville County Coroner’s Office to determine a cause and manner of death, a law enforcement source told TMZ, adding that the case was flagged because her death was “unexpected” for a 36-year-old. Her autopsy was completed Monday and showed no signs of trauma, though toxicology results remain pending.
Police showed up at the family home of her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, Wednesday morning, TMZ reported, apparently seeking information about circumstances connected to her death.
Mr. Hickerson’s brother, Zach Hickerson, found Ms. Panettiere unresponsive inside the apartment the couple was sharing while Mr. Hickerson slept in another room, according to TMZ. The two brothers called 911, according to a partially redacted Greenville Police Department incident report obtained by CBS News. The responding officer, identified in the report as Matthew Bryan, wrote that Ms. Panettiere “did not seem to have any obvious physical reasons to be unresponsive.”
Mr. Hickerson showed officers a bag of medication Ms. Panettiere had been taking, the report says, though the specific medications were redacted. Bryan’s report also noted that surveillance footage showed Ms. Panettiere and the Hickerson brothers coming and going from the apartment complex in the hours before her death.
Dispatch audio referenced a possible overdose, and TMZ reported that Narcan was administered, though it was unclear to whom.
Mr. Hickerson and Ms. Panettiere had an on-and-off relationship dating back several years, including a 2019 arrest of Mr. Hickerson on a domestic-violence allegation that Ms. Panettiere later detailed in her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning.”
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