Hayden Panettiere’s face was purple when she was found near a pile of white powder, a straw and several pressed pills laced with fentanyl, according to a new detailed coroner’s report.
The 36-year-old actress had been in rehab mere weeks before dying at a Greenville, S.C., Airbnb on Aug. 16, the Greenville County, S.C., medical examiner’s office said in a report released Tuesday. Her death was ruled an accidental overdose, Greenville County Coroner Mike Ellis said a statement provided to the Daily News, with no sign of foul play or trauma.
Panettiere’s death resulted from a toxic mix of the synthetic opioid fentanyl; 4-ANPP, a fentanyl-related chemical; the anti-anxiety medication alprazolam, better known by its brand name Xanax; methocarbamol, a muscle relaxant; and quetiapine, or Seroquel, an antipsychotic prescribed for treating schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder, Ellis’s statement said.
The initial 911 call came in at 1:51 p.m. on Aug. 16 about a “reported cardiac arrest,” according to the statement. First responders and EMTs arrived to find “a female in cardiac arrest,” the coroner said. Panettiere was pronounced dead 41 minutes later, at 2:32 p.m., after “advanced cardiac life support measures” failed to resuscitate her.
A senior deputy coroner investigating the scene found blue pressed pills and a straw on a nearby table, and a white powdery substance in a sunglasses case in her suitcase, the coroner’s office said in the report, obtained by The Associated Press. The investigator interviewed two men who were with Panettiere, though the report redacted the names of Brian and Zach Hickerson, the former her on-again-off-again boyfriend.
One of them said he’d seen her putting on makeup at 10:30 that morning, gone back to bed, and slept until being awakened by a knock on the bedroom door. Panettiere was on a sofa bed, slumped face down in a sitting position over her crossed legs, and had turned deep purple, the man said. He administered two doses of Narcan before calling 911, the report said, also confirming she had received the drug.
The man told the investigator he knew nothing about Panettiere’s illegal drug use but noted “she was very good at hiding them.”
Her father, Alan “Skip” Panettiere, told the investigator that the “Heroes” and “Nashville” alum had been planning to celebrate her 37th birthday in Greenville five days later, then fly to visit her daughter in Ukraine.
Greenville police along with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration are investigating Panettiere’s death and seeking ties to an alleged longtime drug dealer of hers based in Los Angeles.
Family publicist Kasey Kitchen, asked for comment, told AP only that “the investigation is still ongoing and the case is complex.”
Panettiere was memorialized Sunday by friends and loved ones in Malibu.