The brother of Hayden Panettiere’s polarizing boyfriend reportedly discovered the 36-year-old “Heroes” star’s body in a South Carolina Airbnb Sunday.
Zach Hickerson found Panettiere in a living room chair while his brother, Brian Hickerson— the actor’s on-and-off boyfriend — was asleep in a bedroom, according to TMZ. Brian was reportedly home when Panettiere died. Her cause of death is expected to be determined by a toxicology report. Authorities said an autopsy showed no signs of trauma.
“EMS personnel initiated advanced cardiac life support measures; however, resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and the individual was pronounced deceased at 2:32 PM,” Greenville County Coroner’s Office said in a statement.
TMZ said Narcan was found on the premises. It’s not clear if that nasal spray meant to combat opioid overdoses was administered to Panettiere.
Friends and family members were concerned that she was again spending time with Brian, who pleaded no contest to domestic violence charges in 2021.
“This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death and that was Brian Hickerson,” her estranged mother Lesley Vogel told NBC News on Tuesday.
Vogel and her daughter had been at odds before Panettiere died.
An unidentified Panettiere associate told US Weekly “That relationship and association had led her down a dark path in the past,” which alarmed her friends.
Neither Hickerson brother has been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Panettiere’s death. NBC News said Brian appeared emotional after learning she’d died.
Panettiere wrote about her struggles with addiction and other matters in her recently released memoir “This Is Me: A Reckoning.” She said that she entered recovery in 2020 and achieved sobriety.
“I feel like I have a second chance,” she told People in 2022.
