Greenville police rule Hayden Panettiere's death accidental, closing investigation

Mixed · 2Greenville Police Department announced on Wednesday 28 October that Hayden Panettiere's death has been ruled accidental. 1 2 Mixed · 2In its statement, the department said the ruling was "based on the Medical Examiner’s determination and the findings of the investigation", and that it brings the police investigation to a close. 2 1 Right · 1Panettiere died on 16 August at age 36; Fox News says she was found unresponsive at an apartment in Greenville. 2

Left · 1According to CBS News, emergency responders were called on the afternoon of 16 August to a residence where she had been staying, and she was pronounced dead there despite "advanced cardiac life support measures", the Greenville County Coroner's Office said. 1 Left · 1CBS News reports that last month a South Carolina coroner confirmed she died from an accidental drug overdose that included fentanyl, with no signs of trauma. 1 Mixed · 2The coroner's office said in September that the cause of death was the toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, alprazolam, methocarbamol and quetiapine, and that the manner of death was accident. 3 4

Mixed · 2Deadline reports that investigators had been looking into whether she obtained illicit and possibly counterfeit drugs from a dealer in Southern California; the Daily Mail cites TMZ sources, unverified, who said authorities believed she consumed a single fentanyl-laced oxycodone pill. 5 3 Left · 1A police report obtained by CBS News says her on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were at the scene and made the 911 call. 1 Left · 2The police report, as described by The Independent and NBC News, says Hickerson handed investigators a "bag of medication" she was taking; NBC adds that the coroner's report said she had been in rehab weeks earlier. 6 4

Left · 1The Drug Enforcement Administration was among the authorities that had investigated the circumstances, and police earlier said a preliminary investigation had not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances. 1 Centre · 1The BBC says it is unclear whether the DEA's involvement has also concluded, and that Greenville police could not say what the DEA was investigating. 7 Mixed · 2Panettiere's mother, Lesley Vogel, said after the coroner's report that her daughter was a "fighter" and that she had "never heard Hayden speak of fentanyl"; Panettiere's representative had earlier called unsourced reports "unverified hearsay". 4 3

Left · 1Separately, her former fiancé Wladimir Klitschko was appointed on 8 October as temporary guardian of the estate of their 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, and has raised concerns that some of Panettiere's belongings were sold to a pawn shop. 6