Hayden Panettiere boyfriend Brian Hickerson was at Judson Mill Lofts in South Carolina when the 36-year-old died after going into cardiac arrest. Police said he was there with his brother, Zach Hickerson, as emergency medical services worked on her.
A Greenville Police Department incident report placed Brian and Zach Hickerson at the scene after a 911 call around 1:50 p.m. Sunday about a reported cardiac arrest. Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m., giving the response a narrow, documented window that now sits at the center of the case.
Judson Mill Lofts response
Matthew Bryan, the responding officer, first spoke with Zach Hickerson, who was described as “very emotional” while EMS professionals worked on Panettiere. The report said a body camera recorded the emergency response, and first responders tried cardiac life support before resuscitation efforts failed. That sequence puts the scene in concrete terms: who was present, when help arrived, and when the effort ended.
Brian Hickerson then showed police a bag of medication Panettiere was taking at the time of her death. That detail adds a complication the public still needs to sit with: police have a medication lead, but the Greenville County Coroner’s Office said the cause of death remains pending further investigation.
Greenville County Coroner
An autopsy completed on Monday found that “no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death.” That narrows the focus to a medical explanation rather than a violent one, even as the final determination remains open. For readers following the case, the practical takeaway is simple: the scene is documented, the response is documented, and the official cause still is not.
The relationship history also explains why Brian Hickerson’s presence matters beyond the apartment complex. Panettiere’s relationship with him had already been marked by allegations of domestic violence, and she wrote in This Is Me: A Reckoning that he beat her so badly that she did not leave the house for weeks. He was arrested on May 2, 2019, later pleaded no contest on April 20, 2021, and was sentenced the next year to four years’ probation, before Panettiere requested a restraining order on July 14, 2020.
The unanswered point now is the medication itself: what Panettiere was taking, and whether it played any role in her death. Until the coroner finishes the investigation, that is the detail that still controls the story.
