Hayden Panettiere died from accidental overdose of fentanyl, other drugs: coroner

The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said that her “cause of death has been ruled as toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, Alprazolam, Methocarbamol, and Quetiapine,” per NBC News. 4-ANPP is a precursor used in the manufacturing of fentanyl, Alprazolam is used to treat anxiety and panic disorders, Methocarbamol is a muscle relaxant, and Quetiapine is an antipsychotic.

The coroner’s office said there were no signs of trauma that would have contributed to Panettiere’s death, and said her death was accidental. The Greenville Police Department said there were no signs of foul play during the initial response to the South Carolina apartment where Panettiere died and the following investigation.

Kasey Kitchen, a publicist for the family, told the Associated Press in response to the coroner’s report that “the investigation is still ongoing and the case is complex.” Greenville Police confirmed on Tuesday that their investigation was ongoing.

Authorities responded to Panettiere’s apartment in August in response to a 911 call. They attempted resuscitation efforts for over 40 minutes with no success, and Panettiere was declared dead.

At the apartment at the time of her death were her on-again-off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother. Hickerson had previously pleaded no contest to two felony counts in April 2021 for domestic violence against Panettiere. Hickerson had shown authorities at the time of her death what a police report described as a “bag of medication” he said she was taking.

A DEA agent told NBC News in August that investigators were likely attempting to reconstruct Panettiere’s final days. They will use forensics to exploit her telephone, try to re-create the last two or three days of her life from looking at text messages, looking at phone calls, looking at interaction with people on social media,” said Bill Bodner, who probed the overdose deaths of Michael Jackson, Matthew Perry and other celebrities.

“Once there’s a timeline of what she was doing before her death, it becomes easier to kind of find where that drug distribution took place that killed her,” Bodner added.