Hayden Panettiere's ex-boyfriend was at scene when she died, police report says
Hayden Panettiere’s onetime boyfriend and his brother were at the South Carolina apartment complex where the “Heroes” actor went into cardiac arrest and died Sunday, according to a police incident report obtained by NBC News.
In the heavily redacted report, the Greenville Police Department said Panettiere’s on-again, off-again partner, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson, were at the scene inside the apartment complex, Judson Mill Lofts.
The responding officer, identified in the report as Matthew Bryan, said he first spoke with Zach Hickerson, who was “very emotional” while emergency medical services professionals were “working on Hayden.”
The report goes on to say that Brian Hickerson did not become visibly emotional until EMS declared the 36-year-old actor dead.
Brian Hickerson showed police a “bag of medication” that Panettiere was taking at the time of her death, the report added.
Bryan, the responding officer, said he was wearing a body camera throughout the emergency response. The video recorded on that camera has not yet been publicly released.
Brian and Zach Hickerson did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on Monday and Tuesday.
The Greenville County Coroner’s Office has said Panettiere’s cause of death is pending further investigation.
In a statement, officials said an autopsy was completed Monday and “no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death.”
Authorities received a 911 call around 1:50 p.m. Sunday about a “reported cardiac arrest” at the apartment complex, according to the coroner’s office. Police said an acquaintance of Panettiere’s made the 911 call.
“Panettiere was found unresponsive inside the residence, where she had been temporarily staying,” the coroner’s office said.
The first responders initiated cardiac life support measures, but resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, the statement added. Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m.
Panettiere’s romantic relationship with Hickerson, an aspiring actor from South Carolina, appeared to end in 2020 amid allegations of domestic violence.
She wrote about some of those experiences in her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” which was published three months before she died.
In the book, Panettiere wrote that one night, Hickerson beat her so badly that she did not leave the house for weeks. She wrote that she hesitated to report the alleged abuse to police because she did not want the public to find out.
Hickerson was arrested on May 2, 2019, based on an allegation of injuring a spouse or girlfriend, according to Los Angeles County criminal court records.
He pleaded no contest on April 20, 2021, and was sentenced the next year to four years’ probation.
Panettiere requested a restraining order against Hickerson on July 14, 2020. The court docket reviewed by NBC News does not identify the victim in the case of injuring a spouse or girlfriend, and the outcome of the request for a restraining order is unclear from the case record.
In a statement in 2020, Panettiere said she was going public about the abuse to inspire others in abusive relationships to seek help.
“I am prepared to do my part to make sure this man never hurts anyone again,” Panettiere said.
Hickerson’s criminal defense attorney in the case did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.
Panettiere was best known for her television roles as a high school cheerleader endowed with special powers on NBC’s “Heroes” and a country music star on ABC’s “Nashville.”
Rudy Chinchilla contributed.
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