Gayle King reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the investigation into Hayden Panettiere’s death. Panettiere died on Sunday at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, and the case now has a federal agency assisting the Greenville City Police Department in South Carolina.
Panettiere was 36. In May, she released This Is Me: A Reckoning, a memoir described as offering “a rare and intimate glimpse into her life behind closed doors, opening up about postpartum depression, addiction and recovery, trauma, domestic abuse, and loss.”
Greenville Police at Easley Bridge Road
Greenville police said an officer arrived at the residence on Easley Bridge Road in Greenville responding to an EMS assist for an unresponsive individual. The officer said Panettiere was with Brian Hickerson and Zack Hickerson when she died, and officials arrived on scene to assist in the investigation while the coroner was also there.
The local report gives the investigation its shape: a residence, an emergency response, and two agencies working the same death case. That is the practical change for readers following this story — the inquiry is no longer limited to one local department.
Brian Hickerson and medication
Police said it is unknown if Panettiere was using drugs or alcohol at the time of her death, even though Brian Hickerson showed officers a bag of medication that Panettiere was taking. That detail leaves the case in a narrower, more complicated lane, because the cause and manner of death are still pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies.
ABC News has reached out to representatives of Panettiere for comment. Panettiere is survived by her daughter Kaya, whom she shared with Wladimir Klitschko.
This Is Me: A Reckoning
Panettiere’s memoir already put her private struggles on the record before this death investigation opened. The book’s May release, plus the new federal involvement, means the story now sits at the intersection of public record, medical review, and police work — and the unanswered question remains what caused Hayden Panettiere’s death.
