Brian Hickerson allegedly administered Narcan to Hayden Panettiere the day she died, according to his brother Zach Hickerson, who provided a detailed account to TMZ in a statement released Friday, August 21, what would have been Panettiere’s 37th birthday.
Zach said he offered the statement to address what he described as “a lot of assumptions, speculations and accusations” circulating since her death, adding, “The truth will come out as the authorities complete and release additional details from the investigation. And that is important because the people who loved and adored Hayden deserve the truth.”
According to Zach’s account, he and Brian had traveled to Greenville, South Carolina, with Panettiere, and he’d spoken with his brother that Sunday morning about plans to get lunch and play indoor golf after church.
When he couldn’t reach either Brian or Panettiere afterward, he assumed they’d fallen back asleep and drove to their Airbnb rental to check on them.
“When I left church I called and texted both of them,” Zach said.
“When I didn’t reach Brian or Hayden, I just assumed maybe they fell back asleep so I drove over and went to the Airbnb.”
After waking Brian from a nap, the brothers went to check on Panettiere and found her unconscious.
Zach said he called 911 while Brian administered Narcan nasally in an attempt to revive her.
Panettiere, best known for Heroes and Nashville, died August 16 at age 36 after being found unresponsive at the Judson Mill Lofts apartment complex.
A redacted police incident report obtained by multiple outlets confirmed both Hickerson brothers were present at the scene, the responding officer noted Zach was visibly emotional while EMTs worked to revive her, while Brian didn’t become visibly emotional until she was pronounced dead.
The report also noted Brian showed officers a bag of medication he said Panettiere had been taking.
Neither brother has been named a suspect or person of interest in the investigation.
The Greenville County Coroner’s Office has said an autopsy found no signs of trauma that would have contributed to her death, with police confirming no signs of foul play.
A final cause of death remains pending.
The circumstances surrounding her death sit against the backdrop of a documented history of abuse in her relationship with Hickerson, who the two first met in 2018.
He was convicted in 2021 on two felony counts of injuring a girlfriend following incidents between 2019 and 2020, and served jail time as part of his sentence.
