Boyfriend and brother were present at South Carolina apartment where Hayden Panettiere died, police report says

South Carolina police released a report indicating that Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were in the Greenville apartment where actress Hayden Panettiere was found unresponsive on Sunday afternoon. A responding officer met the brothers and observed paramedics performing CPR before the emergency team declared Panettiere dead at 2:31 p.m.

The report noted that "the patient did not seem to have any obvious physical reasons to be unresponsive" and that officers saw no signs of trauma or foul play. An autopsy confirmed the absence of injuries, and the cause of death remains under investigation.

Panettiere, who would have turned 37 on Friday, had previously spoken publicly about her struggles with alcohol addiction, postpartum depression and a tumultuous relationship with Hickerson, who was convicted of felony abuse in 2020 and later sentenced to probation and counseling. He recently sought to have his conviction reduced to misdemeanors, a request that a Los Angeles judge denied.

"I observed Zach to be very emotional while EMS were working on Hayden. Brian did not become emotional until EMS declared her officially deceased," the officer wrote in the report.

The police document, heavily redacted, also omitted details of a conversation the officer had with Brian Hickerson after the declaration of death and a list of medications Panettiere had been taking.

In her memoir released in May, Panettiere wrote about hoping her boyfriend's jail time would prompt change without causing lasting trauma. Her ex-husband, boxer Wladimir Klitschko, posted a statement saying he would ensure their daughter remembers her mother.

Panettiere's career began as a child actor on soap operas and later included notable roles in "Heroes" and "Nashville," earning multiple award nominations. Her younger brother, actor Jansen Panettiere, died in 2023.