Hayden Panettiere and her alleged drug dealer exchanged a “slew of messages” right up until the week of her suspected overdose death, it was reported Tuesday, amid claims peddlers dropped bags off at her Hollywood home for five years.
The actress, 36, and her “long term dealer,” whom she appeared to meet in Los Angeles before catching a flight to South Carolina the day before her Aug. 16 death, were said to be very specific in their communications about buying black market drugs, sources told TMZ.
“There are a slew of messages about drugs,” one source added, revealing the texts are at the forefront of the ongoing Drug Enforcement Administration investigation.
Authorities are reportedly “zeroing in on a potential drug dealer” as part of their investigation into the former child star’s death but residents who lived near to the actress in West Hollywood claimed they saw two women – thought to be in their early 20s – and a man in his mid 30s “frequently” visit the star from 2021.
Panettiere would answer the door and just grab the bags. It’s not known what was inside the bags.
“They never stayed, they’d just leave,” one source told TMZ.
The man reportedly dropped a bag off containing the name “Brian” just a week before her death. It’s unclear if the bag was for her on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson.
“Heroes” and “Nashville” star Panettiere was found dead in an Airbnb after just taking one pill believed to be oxycodone laced with fentanyl, but coroners have not released an official cause of death.
Narcan, which is used to reverse an opioid overdose, was reportedly found in the property.
Hickerson has already met with DEA officials as part of the investigation but it’s not known what he disclosed during his conversation with law enforcement.
Fentanyl-laced pills have been flooding the streets of the country in recent years. The DEA seized more than 47 million fentanyl-laced pills and nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder in 2025.
“Synthetic opioids like fentanyl contribute to nearly 70% of overdose deaths,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
“Even in small doses, it can be deadly. Over the last few years, nonfatal and fatal overdoses involving fentanyl have continued to rise.”
President Trump classified fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction”in a December 2025 executive order.
“No bomb does what this is doing,” he said.
The order described the largely China-sourced synthetic opioid as “closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic.”
Panettiere hasn’t been the only high-profile death linked to the deadly drug.
Robert De Niro’s grandson, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, died of an overdose in July 2023 after consuming fentanyl-laced opioid pills.
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