Police conduct welfare check on Hayden Panettiere's ex after her death

South Carolina police performed a welfare check at the Greenville home of Brian and Zach Hickerson, the brothers who were present at the townhouse where actress Hayden Panettiere was found unresponsive and later died, according to a heavily redacted police report. Officers knocked on the residence on Wednesday morning, left after receiving no response, and returned later for a brief check before departing.

The Greenville County Coroner’s Office said the cause and manner of Panettiere’s death remain under investigation and that no obvious signs of trauma were observed. Emergency medical personnel attempted advanced cardiac life support measures, but were unable to revive her.

"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," Panettiere’s mother Lesley Vogel told NBC News.

The report notes that Zach Hickerson identified Panettiere to authorities as “his brother’s girlfriend.” When she became unresponsive, Brian Hickerson reportedly became emotional and later showed officers a bag of medication he said she had been taking.

Panettiere’s 2023 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, detailed her abusive relationship with Hickerson, who had previously pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring her. He has unsuccessfully sought to have those convictions reduced to misdemeanors.

Although police have not linked Hickerson to the actress’s death, the investigation continues as authorities examine all circumstances surrounding the incident.