Hayden Panettiere had recently completed a stint in rehab and was surrounded by drug paraphernalia when she was found unresponsive last month in an Airbnb in South Carolina, according to a newly released coroner’s report.
On Tuesday, the coroner’s office announced the exact cause of her death — a toxic mixture of the powerful opioid fentanyl, anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety drugs and a muscle relaxant.
The latest report, obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday, said that on Aug. 16, a senior deputy coroner attended the scene at the Airbnb apartment in Greenville, S.C., shared by Ms. Panettiere, her on-again off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson. The investigator found a small, clear plastic bag with blue tablets that appeared to be pills and a cut straw, which later tested positive for fentanyl.
The investigator also found multiple prescription bottles on a kitchen table; a small lunch box with glass vials, prefilled and empty syringes in the refrigerator; and a small, clear plastic bag containing an unidentified white powdery substance inside a gray sunglass case.
Her death, days before her 37th birthday, was ruled an accident and the autopsy found no signs of trauma that could have contributed to it.
The report said that a man in the apartment had witnessed Ms. Panettiere applying makeup around 10 a.m. that morning and then they ate a bowl of cereal together before he fell back asleep. She was found that afternoon wearing a yellow sweatshirt and jogging pants and sitting with her legs crossed, face down and unresponsive on a sofa bed.
Brian Hickerson noticed she was turning purple, the report added, and administered two doses of nasal Narcan before calling 911.
When emergency medical workers arrived at the scene, according to a police statement last month, they administered advanced cardiac life support and resuscitation efforts for 30 minutes without success. The actress, best known for her roles on “Heroes” and “Nashville,” was then pronounced dead.
The latest report outlined a conversation between the investigator and a man at the scene who said Ms. Panettiere had a history of drug, alcohol and nitrous oxide abuse and that she had recently been in a drug rehab facility in Malibu, Calif. Her father later said in an interview with the police that she had spent two or three weeks in rehab, according to the report.
The other drugs found in Ms. Panettiere’s system included alprazolam, the generic version of Xanax, which according to the Cleveland Clinic is used to treat anxiety. The autopsy also found methocarbamol, the generic version of the drug known as Robaxin, a muscle relaxant. It also detected quetiapine, the generic version of Seroquel, an antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.
The report said that one of the men in the apartment said he was unaware whether Ms. Panettiere had used any illegal drugs that day or the day before, when she and Brian Hickerson arrived from Los Angeles. But he added, “‘she was very good at hiding them.’” He had administered Narcan to her before, he said.
Brian Hickerson has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the death. In 2020, Ms. Panettiere began sharing detailed allegations of his repeated physical abuse of her with the authorities in Los Angeles, and he was arrested on domestic violence charges. After pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring Ms. Panettiere, Mr. Hickerson was sentenced to 45 days in jail, several years of probation and domestic violence classes.
According to the detailed report, the investigator was also told that Ms. Panettiere had planned to spend her birthday, Aug. 21, in Greenville. She then wanted to travel to Ukraine to visit her 11-year-old daughter, who lives with her father, the Ukrainian champion boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
Ms. Panettiere had spoken openly about her struggles with drugs, alcohol and debilitating chronic pain. She wrote in her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” which was published in May, that her history with drugs began as a child.
This spring she told Women’s Health that she had been injured several times during her acting career, including being bucked off a zebra while shooting “Racing Stripes” and repeatedly falling while learning to figure skate for the movie “Ice Princess.” Two vertebrae in her neck were smashed at one point, she said.
Nick Madigan contributed reporting from Greenville, S.C.
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