The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has joined the investigation into the death of Hayden Panettiere, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to ABC News on Wednesday. The actress, known for her roles in the series Heroes and Nashville and the Scream film franchise, died on Sunday at the age of 36 in an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina.
The Greenville County Medical Examiner's Office reported on Monday that the cause and manner of her death remain pending further investigation, and that there were no obvious signs of trauma. However, according to reports, officials were heard discussing a possible "overdose" and "cardiac arrest" in a 911 call made at the time of her death. A police report also indicated that her on-and-off boyfriend Hickerson and his brother were in the South Carolina townhouse when the actress was pronounced dead by authorities. Subsequently, police visited Hickerson, according to a police report filed.
Panettiere had been open about her struggles with alcohol and opioid addiction, detailing her experiences in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, released earlier this year. According to TMZ, DEA agents will assist the parallel investigations currently underway by the Greenville County Medical Examiner's Office and the Greenville Police Department.
The investigation into Panettiere's death is not the only high-profile celebrity death case in which the government agency has become involved in recent years. The Los Angeles Police Department also partnered with the DEA in 2023 after high levels of ketamine were found in the system of Matthew Perry, star of the series Friends, who died at the age of 54. The prolonged multisectoral investigation resulted in five arrests and convictions, including two doctors and a distributor nicknamed the "Ketamine Queen", for distributing the drugs that led to Perry's death.
