Greenville closes probe into Panettiere's death
Police ended the investigation after a coroner ruled the overdose accidental, leaving federal questions unanswered.
By Gabriela Ivanov ·
Police in Greenville, South Carolina, ended their investigation into the death of actor Hayden Panettiere on Wednesday. The closure followed a medical examiner’s determination that her August death was an accidental overdose. Greenvile police confirmed the decision in a statement, noting it relied on both the coroner’s ruling and their own investigative findings.
Paramedics found Panettiere unresponsive in a Greenville apartment on August 16. She was pronounced dead at the age of 36. A coroner’s report obtained by the Associated Press last month identified fentanyl and other drugs as the cause. The report also noted she had been in rehabilitation for addiction just weeks before her death.
Two men were present at the apartment at the time: Brian Hickerson, Panettiere’s on-and-off boyfriend, and his brother, Zach Hickerson. Panettiere’s father told investigators that she had plans to visit her daughter in Ukraine days after she died.
Questions remain about whether federal agencies are still examining the case separately. Wladimir Klitschko, Panettiere’s ex-fiance, filed a petition in a California court last month. He stated that federal law enforcement agents and an unnamed nonrelative had taken some of her property. Klitschko sought to protect the assets for their 11-year-old daughter, who is Panettiere’s sole heir.
The California court granted Klitschko legal standing this month to manage the property. Sgt. Diana Munoz of Greenville police said she could not comment on whether other agencies are investigating. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment on Wednesday.
In a memoir published in May titled “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” Panettiere described her struggles with alcohol addiction and postpartum depression following her daughter’s birth in 2014. The girl moved in with Klitschko full-time when she was two years old.
Greenville police have not announced further public steps in the case. The file is now closed on the local level, pending any separate federal actions.
