A preliminary investigation into the death of Hayden Panettiere, a 36-year-old actress known for her work in the TV shows Nashville and Heroes, did not produce evidence of “foul play or suspicious circumstances,” the Greenville, South Carolina, Police Department said in a statement Monday.
Emergency responders found a woman in cardiac arrest Sunday at an apartment complex west of downtown Greenville, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office said in a statement Monday. Despite advanced cardiac life support measures, the statement said, the woman was pronounced dead at 2.32pm. She was later identified as Panettiere.
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The cardiac arrest appeared to have been caused by a drug overdose, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an continuing investigation.
An autopsy performed on Monday showed no signs of trauma that contributed to the death, the statement by the coroner’s office said. The cause and manner of death remain pending, and it could take up to three months for the full autopsy results to be returned.
The Police Department said that an acquaintance of Panettiere’s called 911 just before 2pm Sunday but did not disclose the identity of the caller.
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The person with knowledge of the situation said that Panettiere was with Brian Hickerson, a former boyfriend, at the time of her death. It was unclear whether he called 911.
Attempts to reach Hickerson were not immediately successful. A lawyer listed for him in a recent court filing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to Panettiere’s memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, which she published this year, she met Hickerson in 2018 in Los Angeles. The two dated on and off for several years. Court records show that in 2021, Hickerson pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring Panettiere.
On Monday, at least three police cars were parked near the apartment complex, the Judson Mill Lofts, as a news media helicopter hovered above. Nick Simmons, the property’s manager, said in a statement that the complex was “cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities.”
He added, “Out of respect for the individual involved, their family and the privacy of our residents, we are not able to provide any additional information or comment at this time.”
Panettiere first appeared onscreen as an infant, acting in a commercial when she was 11 months old. Her breakout role came in 2000, when she played a coach’s daughter in the Denzel Washington-led Remember The Titans.
She went on to find acclaim in a pair of TV series: as a high school cheerleader with a supernatural ability to regrow her body parts in Heroes (from 2006 to 2010) and as a rising music star in Nashville (which ran from 2012 to 2018). Panettiere also appeared in two sequels of the Scream horror movies.
It was little secret that Panettiere had struggled with mental health issues and drug and alcohol abuse. She told The New York Times in 2023 that at one point in her life she would regularly wake up shaking. When she was not drinking alcohol, she said, she was taking opioids in hopes of not drinking.
Panettiere also said that she had suffered from body dysmorphia as a result of invasive tabloid press coverage when she was a teenager. - ©2026 The New York Times Company
