Hayden Panettiere death: fentanyl probe continues

Actress was found with 'pills' when she died last month

Hayden Panettiere allegedly exchanged "a slew of messages" with a long-time drug dealer before her death, as investigators examine the circumstances surrounding a suspected fentanyl-laced pill.

According to The Sun, sources said the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is investigating messages between Panettiere and the alleged dealer about drugs, with some conversations dating back years.

Panettiere, 36, died last month after travelling from Los Angeles to South Carolina with a bag containing "various pills".

She was with her on-off ex-boyfriend Brian Hickerson at a rental property in Greenville when she is believed to have taken a fentanyl-laced Oxycodone tablet from the medication bag in the early hours of August 16.

Police said Hickerson found Panettiere unresponsive and gave her Narcan, a medication that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.

Investigators are reportedly now attempting to trace the pill back to the alleged long-time dealer.

No arrests have been made and the official toxicology report has not been released, according to the report.

Hickerson reportedly met DEA investigators last week and handed over a bag of Panettiere's medications, which sources claimed could "reveal other pills laced with the deadly drug" fentanyl.

The actress had previously spoken openly about her struggles with substance abuse.

She said her addiction worsened following the birth of her child in 2014 and that she turned to alcohol while dealing with postnatal depression.

She later entered rehabilitation and underwent "intensive therapy".

Panettiere also recalled being offered "happy pills" at 15 before a red-carpet appearance. She said: "They were to make me peppy during interviews.

"I had no idea that this was not an appropriate thing, or what door that would open for me when it came to my addiction."

Panettiere first appeared on-screen at 11 months old in a 1990 Playskool toy train commercial. By five, she had appeared in more than 50 commercials. She told Gayle King on CBS Mornings on May 18, 2026 that she first appeared in a soap opera when she was four. She landed a role as Sarah Roberts on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live from 1994 to 1997, followed by Lizzie Spaulding on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light in 1996 and again from 1997 to 2000. While on Guiding Light, Panettiere's character Lizzie battled leukemia. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society gave her its Special Recognition Award for drawing the attention of daytime viewers to the disease and for improving national awareness. She made her feature film debut at age nine, as the voice of Princess Dot in A Bug's Life (1998). Her first released film was The Object of My Affection (1998) at eight, in which she appears briefly as a mermaid in the school play in the opening scene. In 1999, she played the girl on a sinking sailboat in Message in a Bottle.