Accidental Overdose Ruling Prompts South Carolina Police to Close Hayden Panettiere Death Investigation

Police close local investigation

Greenville police said Wednesday that they had ended their investigation into Panettiere’s death. The department said the decision followed the medical examiner’s determination and the investigation’s findings. Panettiere was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville on Aug. 16. Paramedics pronounced her dead at age 36. She starred in the television series Heroes and Nashville.

Federal inquiry remains uncertain

It is unclear whether federal authorities are conducting a separate examination. In a petition filed in California court last month, Panettiere’s former fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko, said federal law enforcement agents investigating her death had taken some of her property.

The petition also referred to an unnamed nonrelative who was seeking to sell property. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not immediately respond to emailed questions Wednesday. Greenville police Sgt. Diana Munoz said she could not comment on whether other agencies were investigating.

Court protects property for daughter

In her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, published in May, Panettiere wrote about addiction to alcohol and postpartum depression after her daughter’s birth in 2014. The girl went to live full-time with Klitschko when she was two. Panettiere’s father told investigators she had planned to visit her daughter in Ukraine days after her death.