DEA Joins Investigation Into Hayden Panettiere’s Death
The federal drug agency's involvement signals investigators are examining whether narcotics played a role in the actress's death, as toxicology results remain pending.
The Drug Enforcement Administration has joined the investigation into Hayden Panettiere’s death, according to sources who spoke with ABC News and the New York Times on Wednesday. The Greenville City Police Department in South Carolina remains the lead agency on the case, with the DEA now assisting.
Panettiere, 36, was found unresponsive Sunday at a residence on Easley Bridge Road in Greenville. A responding officer said the actress had been staying with her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother, Zack, both of whom were present when emergency medical services arrived. Panettiere was in cardiac arrest when medics reached her, and resuscitation efforts failed; the coroner’s office pronounced her dead at the scene at 2:32 p.m.
The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said Monday that her cause and manner of death remain pending toxicology results, a process that typically takes several weeks. An autopsy conducted the same day found no signs of trauma. The police report noted it was unclear whether Panettiere had used drugs or alcohol before her death, though the responding officer said Hickerson showed them a bag of medication she had been taking.
The DEA typically becomes involved in death investigations when evidence points toward narcotics, often to trace how a controlled substance reached the person who died. The agency has taken similar roles in past celebrity cases, including the 2023 death of “Friends” star Matthew Perry, an investigation that led to five convictions, among them two doctors and a supplier who came to be known as the “Ketamine Queen.”
Panettiere had spoken publicly for years about her struggles with alcohol and opioids, describing in a 2022 interview how she was first given medication to manage nerves before press interviews at age 15. She published a memoir in May, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” detailing her addiction, postpartum depression and recovery process in unflinching terms. Representatives for the DEA, the Greenville police department and Panettiere’s family have not responded to requests for comment.
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