Police visited Hayden Panettiere's on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson at his family home just days after the TV star passed away at the age of 36. The Heroes star was found unresponsive at an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, with Mr Hickerson on Sunday (August 16). She sadly passed away at around 1.30pm when Brian was asleep in a bedroom inside the apartment.
The brothers reportedly called 911 after they failed to wake her up, with the child star announced dead at the scene at 1.51pm local time. On Wednesday (August 19), two uniformed officers were snapped at the Hickerson's property in Greenville, TMZ reports.
Police Visit and Investigation
It remains unknown why the police were at the property or if they spoke to Brian and his family members. It is believed that Panettiere had suffered a suspected overdose when paramedics failed to revive her. Authorities are yet to confirm that an overdose was the cause of Hayden's death, as the coroner's findings remain pending. Detectives have said a preliminary investigation hasn't indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.
Mother's Statement and Relationship History
It comes after Hayden Panettiere's mother, Lesley Vogel, slammed the pair's rekindled relationship in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday (August 18). She told the outlet: "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."
It is understood that the couple had travelled from L.A. to South Carolina together the day before her passing. According to the heavily redacted report released by Greenville Police, Brian did not become visibly emotional until the emergency medical services (EMS) declared she had died. He also showed officers a bag of medication that Hayden was taking at the time of her death. His brother, Zach, also witnessed her death and was "very emotional" as the EMS professionals were "working on Hayden".
Past Abuse Allegations and Legal History
The Scream star was first linked to Hickerson in 2018, however their on-off relationship quickly became tumultuous, with Hickerson arrested several times on domestic violence charges. Panettiere had spoken about her troubled childhood in the spotlight months before her death, and even revealed intimate details about her relationship with Hickerson in her recent memoir. In her book, titled This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere alleged that Hickerson beat her so severely that she had to stay housebound for weeks to keep her injuries from the public. She said she tried to keep the alleged abuse from the police because she feared the public would find out.
Hickerson was arrested in May 2019, with court records showing he was charged with one count of injuring a spouse or girlfriend, according to NBC News. He pleaded no contest to the allegations in April 2021 and was sentenced to four years' probation. Their relationship appeared to end in 2020, and in July that year, she filed for a restraining order against him. The outcome of her request is not stated in the court records. The actress had not revealed that she was seeing Hickerson again, and it remains unclear why he and his brother were in the South Carolina apartment where she died.
