Boyfriend's Brother Reveals Details of Hayden Panettiere's Final Moments
Two Greenville Police Department cruisers pulled up to a home owned by Brian Hickerson's grandmother on Wednesday morning. Officers knocked on doors, received no answer, left, and returned roughly 90 minutes later for a welfare check.
- Zach Hickerson, 38, was home at the time; neither brother answered the door.
- Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m. on August 16 after cardiac life-support measures failed.
- Brian Hickerson gave officers a bag of medication Panettiere had been taking; names were redacted in the police report.
- 3 days before her death, a judge denied Hickerson's second bid to reduce his felony convictions to misdemeanors.
Why it matters: Panettiere's death remains under investigation. Police said Monday there were no initial signs of foul play or trauma, but dispatch audio captured officers referencing an overdose.
- Zach Hickerson discovered Panettiere unresponsive in a chair in the Airbnb living room; Brian was asleep in another room.
- Panettiere's mother, Lesley Vogel, told NBC News that Brian Hickerson was "this person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time."
How 37 sources split on this story
Where they split: Coverage splits on whether to center Hickerson's domestic violence history or treat his presence as circumstantial to a death police have not called suspicious.
Center coverage, 10 sources: The center focuses on the visual record — Hickerson appearing publicly for the first time since the death — and sticks closely to what police and the incident report confirm.
Left coverage, 11 sources: The left foregrounds Hickerson's documented abuse and Panettiere's mother's condemnation, framing his presence at her death as the culmination of a dangerous relationship she struggled to escape.
Right coverage, 16 sources: The right treats the police visit as a factual development in an unresolved investigation, recounting the relationship's legal history without drawing conclusions about Hickerson's culpability.
What’s next: The coroner's office is awaiting further investigation results before ruling on cause and manner of death.
- Police have not named anyone as a suspect or indicated criminal conduct by either brother.
- What medications were in the bag Hickerson gave police, and what role, if any, did they play in Panettiere's death?
- Will investigators seek to interview Brian or Zach Hickerson formally, and on what basis?
