Sources believe Hayden Panettiere died after taking an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl. She was 36 when officers and emergency medical personnel responded to her at the Judson Mill Lofts in Greenville, South Carolina, shortly before 2 p.m. on August 16.
Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:32 PM, and a preliminary autopsy found no signs of trauma that would have contributed to her death. The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said, "The cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies."
Judson Mill Lofts in Greenville
The Greenville County Coroner’s Office and Greenville City Police Department opened parallel investigations after the response at the apartment complex. Police said a preliminary investigation found no signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances, while TMZ reported that the Drug Enforcement Administration joined the multi-agency case Earlier in August.
TMZ also reported that Panettiere had a longtime drug dealer in Los Angeles who allegedly supplied black-market prescription drugs, including oxycodone, and that the alleged dealer was the target of a DEA investigation. Authorities were working to determine that person’s relationship with Panettiere and trace the pill back to its source.
Hayden Panettiere and ABC News
The working theory now points to a black-market prescription pill, but the coroner’s office has not publicly fixed the cause of death while toxicology remains pending. Panettiere’s representative told News, "It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her -- and to the millions who watched her onscreen,"
That leaves the next step in the same place investigators already are: waiting on additional studies that can match a suspected pill, a possible fentanyl exposure, and the findings from the death investigation.
