Hayden Panettiere was 36 years old when she was found dead in an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday, August 16, 2026.
The autopsy found no signs of trauma. No blows, no visible violence.
But the 911 calls made by her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach, mention something different: a possible overdose and CPR efforts.
Hickerson handed police a bag of medications that, he said, the actress regularly took. None of this has been confirmed yet — toxicology results can take weeks to come back.
What is new is the DEA. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the same agency that pursues cartels and drug-trafficking networks at the federal level, has joined the investigation alongside Greenville police and the coroner’s office.
Its involvement does not confirm a crime or an overdose, but it does open the door for the case to cease being a local file and move into federal hands.
Panettiere had written in her memoir, published as recently as May, about years of addiction and postpartum depression.