Hayden Panettiere died from an overdose involving fentanyl. She had just
gone to rehab, coroner says
[September 23, 2026]
By JEFFREY COLLINS
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — 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 obtained by The
Associated Press.
Panettiere, 36, was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville,
South Carolina, on Aug. 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.
Authorities found pills and powder in her apartment
A more detailed report released to the AP said a senior deputy coroner
who came to 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 talked 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.
Panettiere was found face down, sitting with her legs crossed
One of the men said he saw Panettiere putting on makeup at 10:30 a.m.
the day she died.
He went back to sleep and woke up 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 The Associated Press that “the
investigation is still ongoing and the case is complex.”
Greenville Police confirmed Tuesday that their investigation into
Panettiere's death is continuing.
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Hayden Panettiere arrives at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept.
20, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
 Paramedics responded to Panettiere's
apartment last month after a 911 call and performed 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’s early fame brought success and struggle
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 and acknowledged being addicted
to alcohol 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.
Panettiere also talked about her long relationship with Hickerson
and allegations that the aspiring actor physically abused her.
He was charged in 2020 with multiple counts of felony abuse, and he
pleaded no contest to two counts of injuring a spouse or partner and
served a short time in jail due to the case. He was sentenced to
four years of probation and anger management and Alcoholics
Anonymous meetings.
Hickerson completed the terms and recently asked a judge to reduce
his conviction to misdemeanors; that request was denied.
In 2015, Panettiere said she was in a horrible cycle of using
alcohol and drugs to battle depression and anxiety and had to find a
way out of the darkness. She had also entered rehab while filming
the show “Nashville.”
“I was the one who put myself in the first treatment center. I was
drowning,” she said in a 2023 interview with Women’s Health
magazine.
As a child, Panettiere acted in commercials and soap operas,
including as the ever-troubled Lizzie Spaulding on “Guiding Light.”
In “This Is Me,” she wrote that the traumas her character endured,
from being kidnapped to killing her mother’s boyfriend, led her to
associate “catastrophe with adoration.”
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