Police Report Details
A police report released Wednesday states that Hayden Panettiere's on-and-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother Zach Hickerson were at the South Carolina apartment where the actor died. A Greenville police officer who responded to the residence was met by the brothers and observed paramedics performing CPR on an unresponsive woman. The officer noted, "The patient did not seem to have any obvious physical reasons to be unresponsive." Emergency workers declared Panettiere dead at 2:31 p.m. local time.
The police report is heavily redacted, including details of Brian Hickerson's conversation with police and a list of medications Panettiere was taking. The officer spoke first with Zach, who said the unresponsive woman was his brother's girlfriend. The officer observed that Zach was emotional, while Brian did not become emotional until emergency workers declared her dead.
Investigation Ongoing
No cause of death has been determined, and the investigation remains under way. An autopsy found no signs of trauma, and police said they saw no signs of foul play. The county coroner's office said in a report released Sunday that the investigation remains active and ongoing. The Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the investigation, according to a report by Atlanta Black Star.
Brian Hickerson's History
Panettiere and Brian Hickerson had a tumultuous relationship for years, with allegations that he physically abused her. He was charged in 2020 with multiple counts of felony abuse and pleaded no contest to two counts of injuring a spouse or partner, receiving a 45-day jail sentence, four years' probation, domestic violence classes, and a $500 restitution order. Panettiere was granted a five-year protective order against him. He completed the terms and recently asked a judge to reduce his conviction to misdemeanours; that request was denied Thursday by a Los Angeles judge.
Panettiere wrote about Hickerson's time behind bars in her memoir, "This Is Me," which came out in May. She wrote that she wanted him to be in jail just long enough to scare him but not long enough to make him worse. Atlanta Black Star reported that residents of Panettiere's West Hollywood condominium building received a warning about Hickerson in August 2025, with a flyer including his photo and instructions to call police if seen. A former neighbor, Mia Terrazas, said she had been frightened of Hickerson and claimed he lived in the condominium for roughly two years.
Final Days
Atlanta Black Star reported that Panettiere and Brian Hickerson reconnected about two weeks before her death and traveled from Los Angeles to South Carolina on Saturday, a day before she died. The report also said Zach Hickerson discovered her body while his brother was sleeping in another room.
The police report indicates that the brothers were at the apartment when the officer arrived. The report does not provide further details about the circumstances.
Background and Career
Panettiere, who would have turned 37 on Friday, was open about her struggles with alcohol addiction and postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter Kaya. Her daughter, now 11, has lived with Wladimir Klitschko in Ukraine full-time since the age of 2. Panettiere entered rehab in 2015 while filming "Nashville." In a podcast interview with Jay Shetty in May, she said, "I think there's been this very common misconception that I just gave up my child. That could not be farther from the truth."
Her younger brother, Jansen Panettiere, died of a heart condition in 2023 at age 28. Her parents are Skip Panettiere, a former New York City fire captain, and Lesley Vogel, a former soap opera star; they became estranged from their daughter. Panettiere rose to fame in "Heroes" and "Nashville," winning three Teen Choice Awards for her role in "Heroes" and receiving a Grammy nomination for a children's spoken word album.
Her father, Skip Panettiere, made a statement asking for privacy during the investigation.