Hayden Panettiere death ruled accidental as police close case; fentanyl among drugs

South Carolina police have formally ended their inquiry into the death of Hayden Panettiere, ruling that the Nashville and Heroes actor died by accident and leaving any remaining questions about the case to federal authorities.

The Greenville Police Department told Entertainment Weekly that it reached its conclusion after reviewing the medical examiner’s findings along with its own investigation. Officials had already said they were not treating the death as suspicious. Panettiere, 36, was found in cardiac arrest at a home in Greenville on August16.

The closure follows a coroner’s report, reviewed last month by the Associated Press, which found that she died from an accidental overdose of several substances, fentanyl among them. Her death came shortly after a stay in a rehabilitation facility.

The police decision may not be the final word. The AP reports that it is still unclear whether federal investigators will keep pursuing the matter on their own. In a filing with a California court last month, Panettiere’s ex-fiancé, former heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko, said federal agents had taken some of her belongings as part of a separate inquiry. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not immediately answer the AP’s emailed questions.

Panettiere and Klitschko had a daughter, Kaya Evdokia Klitschko, now 11. In 2018, while Panettiere was dealing with postpartum depression and addiction, she agreed to give Klitschko full custody.

Her career began almost before she could walk. At 11 months old, in 1990, she appeared in a commercial for a Playskool toy train. Television became her home from there. She broke out as cheerleader Claire Bennet on NBC’s superhero drama Heroes, and she later played Juliette Barnes, a driven country-pop star, opposite Connie Britton on Nashville from 2012 to 2018.

That role gave her a lasting place in music as well. Her vocals were central to the show’s soundtrack albums, released through Big Machine Records, which reached the Billboard charts. Before Nashville, she had recorded songs as a teenager for family films and teen-pop compilations. During her Heroes years she signed with Hollywood Records, which released her 2008 single “Wake Up Call.”

In a statement after her death, her father, Skip Panettiere, called her “an incredible light and a force of nature.” He said she brought deep love and happiness to the people close to her and to the millions of viewers who watched her on screen.