A newly released police report from the Greenville Police Department has confirmed that Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were both present inside the South Carolina apartment where Hayden Panettiere died on Sunday, and one detail in the report has stopped people in their tracks.
According to the document, Zach Hickerson was described as "very emotional" as paramedics declared Panettiere dead. Brian, who had been in an on-off relationship with the actress for around eight years, showed no emotion.
After she was pronounced dead at 2.32pm, Brian showed officers a bag of medication Panettiere had been taking at the time of her death. The report does not specify what the medication was. Sources told TMZ that Narcan, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, was found on a mattress inside the rented Airbnb apartment. The 911 dispatch audio referenced both cardiac arrest and a suspected overdose.
An autopsy completed the following day found no signs of trauma contributing to her death. The official cause remains pending toxicology results, which are expected to take several weeks. Police have indicated no signs of foul play.
The timeline shows that Panettiere and Hickerson flew together from Los Angeles to South Carolina on Saturday August 15. She was found unresponsive the following afternoon.
Court records reveal that just three days before her death, a judge rejected Hickerson's attempt to have his felony domestic violence charges expunged. He had been arrested in 2019 for felony domestic violence against Panettiere, pleaded no contest in 2021, and was sentenced to 45 days in prison and four years probation. A five-year restraining order was also issued. Despite this, the pair got back together.
In her memoir published just three months before her death, Panettiere wrote that Hickerson had beaten her so severely she had to hide indoors for weeks to conceal her injuries from the public.
Since her death, Hickerson has deleted his Instagram account after fans flooded his posts with accusations. He has made no public statement and has not been accused of any criminal involvement in her passing.
Panettiere leaves behind her 11-year-old daughter Kaya, who lives with her former partner Wladimir Klitschko.
