Hayden Panettiere Death Ruled Accidental, Case Closed

The Greenville Police Department closed its probe into the actress's August 16 overdose, more than two months after a coroner cited five drugs in her system.

The Greenville Police Department said Wednesday it has closed its investigation into Hayden Panettiere's death, confirming what a coroner had already concluded weeks earlier: the 36-year-old actress died by accident.

"Based on the Medical Examiner's determination and the findings of the investigation, Hayden Panettiere's death has been ruled accidental," the department said in a statement, adding that it has "concluded its investigation."

The Greenville County Coroner's Office had already determined in September that Panettiere died from the toxic effects of five substances found in her system, fentanyl, 4-ANPP, alprazolam, methocarbamol and quetiapine, according to her toxicology report. An autopsy turned up no signs of trauma.

Panettiere was found unresponsive on August 16 at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina. Page Six has reported it was an Airbnb. Her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were both present. Zach reportedly walked in and found her unresponsive on a sofa bed while Brian slept in another room. One of them administered two doses of Narcan before calling 911 and starting CPR. Emergency crews tried to revive her but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Even after the coroner's ruling, police kept the file open to chase down how Panettiere got the drugs, including whether a counterfeit dealer was involved. That line of inquiry appears to have gone nowhere conclusive, since the case is now shut with no charges mentioned.

Page Six has also reported that Panettiere had overdosed once before and quietly checked into a rehab facility in Malibu, spending two to three weeks there before being released just weeks ahead of her death. That detail came from her father, Alan "Skip" Panettiere, who told investigators his daughter had battled addiction since her early twenties and that things got worse after postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter, Kaya.

Hickerson's own history with Panettiere has drawn scrutiny through all of this. The two started dating in 2018 after her split from ex-fiance Wladimir Klitschko, and their relationship saw multiple domestic violence allegations and arrests. In 2021, Hickerson pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or cohabitant and was sentenced to 45 days in jail with four years of probation.

Panettiere had written candidly about addiction and mental health in her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, released just three months before she died. She described withdrawal in brutal detail, writing that her body shook as her nervous system tried to regulate without alcohol's depressant effects.

A month after her death, Klitschko filed for temporary guardianship over Kaya's estate, a legal step tied to the probate of Panettiere's own estate, since Kaya, 11, is a minor who cannot hold that standing herself. The filing is still working through the courts.

A private memorial in Malibu on September 19 drew roughly 150 people, including Nashville co-stars Connie Britton and Charles Esten. Kaya has mostly lived with Klitschko in Europe since her parents separated in 2018, and with the police file now closed, attention shifts back to the probate court handling what Panettiere leaves behind.