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Hayden Panettiere | Source: Getty Images
Hayden Panettiere’s Companion on Her Final Flight Out of Los Angeles Identified as Police Open Investigation
She boarded a flight out of Los Angeles with someone tied to one of the darkest chapters of her life — and less than 24 hours later, she was gone.
Hayden Panettiere’s death on Sunday, August 16, 2026, at age 36 has left fans searching for answers, and the details trickling out only raise more questions.
Behind the headlines sits a story that stretches back years, touching on old wounds, a health complaint she’d been managing quietly, and a statement she made just months earlier addressing accusations that had followed her for years.
Now, as police in South Carolina confirm that an investigation is open, the pieces of Panettiere’s final days are starting to come together.
Police Confirm Investigation Into Her Death
Panettiere’s father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her passing in a statement Sunday night, five days before what would have been her 37th birthday. “It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he said, according to a statement obtained by NBC News.
Her publicist, Kasey Kitchen, said the actress’s death was under investigation but offered no further details at the time. Police in Greenville, South Carolina, said officers and EMS personnel responded to a report of an unresponsive woman at around 1:50 p.m. Sunday.
She was pronounced dead at the scene and later identified as Panettiere. An acquaintance had placed the 911 call. Investigators said the preliminary findings had not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances, but the case remains under review by the Greenville Police Department alongside the Greenville County Coroner’s Office.
The Man Who Flew With Her Out of Los Angeles
One day before she died, Panettiere left Los Angeles — and she wasn’t alone. Sources with direct knowledge told TMZ that she flew south from LA on Saturday with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson. Sources said Hickerson’s family was aware of the trip.
The pairing carries weight. Hickerson and Panettiere’s relationship has been marked by turmoil dating back to 2018, and in April 2021, he was sentenced to 45 days in jail after pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse, cohabitant, or girlfriend, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office confirmed to People.
Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson had a notoriously turbulent relationship, including an incident where Hickerson was sentenced to 45 days in jail following domestic violence charges. Though they later reconnected as sober friends, his presence on her final flight has caught widespread attention. | Source: Getty Images
Court records showed Hickerson faced eight charges tied to alleged abusive incidents between May 2019 and January 2020, including four counts of corporal injury on a cohabitant and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.
He was also sentenced to four years of probation, 52 domestic violence classes, $500 in restitution, and a five-year protective order. At the time, Panettiere spoke out about the alleged abuse.
“I am coming forward with the truth about what happened to me with the hope that my story will empower others in abusive relationships to get the help they need and deserve,” she said. “I am prepared to do my part to make sure this man never hurts anyone again.”
Despite that history, the two remained connected. By March 2026, they were photographed together again, this time under very different circumstances.
The Health Issue She’d Been Managing for a Year
A source close to Panettiere told TMZ she had reportedly been complaining about back pain for the past year — a detail that adds new context to a scene captured just five months before her death.
In March 2026, Panettiere was photographed leaving Los Angeles International Airport on crutches, with Hickerson at her side rolling her carry-on.
Her representative addressed the sighting in a statement to E! News: “Hayden has been privately managing a temporary nerve condition, which is the reason she was seen using crutches. She is recovering well and is on the mend.”
Panettiere herself offered a brief explanation in footage obtained by TMZ as she loaded her luggage into a car. “Just had some pinched nerves in my lower back, but I’m feeling good,” she said. Sources close to the situation insisted at the time that despite stepping out together, Panettiere and Hickerson were “just friends.”
Her Statement Amid Claims She Abandoned Her Daughter
Months before her death, Panettiere addressed a different kind of pain — accusations that had trailed her for years. Speaking on Jay Shetty’s podcast in May 2026, she pushed back directly against claims that she had given up custody of her daughter, Kaya, and walked away.
“The idea that anybody would think that I would just give away my child and be okay with it is heartbreaking,” she said, “couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Kaya, whom Panettiere shares with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko, has lived primarily in Europe since she was roughly two and a half years old, after Klitschko decided it would be best for her. Panettiere said the decision devastated her at the time. “I went like a mother lion,” she said. “I would have burnt the world down for my child.”
The star also directly confronted painful public rumors regarding the custody arrangement of her daughter, Kaya. She forcefully shut down claims that she had willingly given away her child to live in Europe with ex Wladimir Klitschko. | Source: Getty Images
She explained that by the time she felt healthy enough to fight the arrangement, Kaya had already built a life abroad — friends, extracurricular activities, and fluency in multiple languages. Pulling her out of it, Panettiere said, would have been selfish.
“She in no way feels abandoned — and that’s something that I’ve made sure to stay on top of and be very aware of,” she said.
Why She ‘Sought Treatment’
The custody arrangement traced back to a period Panettiere described as one of the hardest of her life. She told Shetty she had been battling postpartum depression, anxiety, and substance abuse in the years following Kaya’s birth, and that she made the choice herself to get help.
“The misconception is that I have been in the past forced into treatment when, in fact, I have been the one who sought it out,” she said.
She described losing herself while trying to act her way through the depression, saying the people around her, including Klitschko, didn’t initially understand what was happening.
“I didn’t know what was going on,” she said. What followed, she explained, was years of cycling through depression, anxiety, alcoholism, and substance abuse as she searched for a way out.
Panettiere had spoken about this period before. In an April 2023 interview with The New York Times, she recalled a moment when she no longer recognized herself. “My eyes were yellow,” she said, adding that doctors told her at 27 that her liver was failing and she was septic.
She left “Nashville” during its fourth season in 2015 to enter treatment. She re-entered treatment again in 2021 for eight months. By the time of that Times interview, she said she’d been sober for nearly two years.
A Family Already Familiar With Loss
Panettiere’s death comes just over three years after her only sibling, Jansen Panettiere, died unexpectedly at 28. The family confirmed at the time, in a statement to CNN, that a medical examiner cited cardiomegaly, or an enlarged heart, coupled with aortic valve complications as the cause.
Jansen had followed his sister into acting as a child, later building a career as a voice actor best known for playing Shovelmouth in 2006’s “Ice Age: The Meltdown.”
Panettiere spoke about the toll of that loss in a September 2024 appearance on Today, admitting she still wasn’t sure she’d fully processed it. “When you lose somebody that you saw in all the important moments in your life, standing right next to you, it just rocks your world,” she said. “I want to leave this world a better place in his name.”
Read also
In Interviews, Hayden Panettiere Addressed Rumors About Her Relationship With Her Daughter – Details
Hayden Panettiere Once Felt ‘Guilt Ridden’ over Daughter Kaya – Details About Kaya’s Life and Her Relationship with Her Mom
Hayden Panettiere Opened Up About the Dark Side of Growing Up on Screen — Including a Disturbing Encounter with a Famous Man She Kept Secret for Years
A Memoir Just Months Before Her Death
Panettiere had spent the months before her death opening up more than ever. Her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” was released in May 2026, and in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter tied to its release, she said writing it forced her to revisit her most painful memories, including her brother’s death and her strained relationship with her mother.
She reflected on being pushed into acting as a child, saying she felt like “a little soldier” who was never given the option to say no. That upbringing, she said, contributed to the people-pleasing and self-harm through substance abuse that followed her into adulthood.
Panettiere first broke out as Claire Bennet in “Heroes” and later starred as Juliette Barnes in “Nashville,” alongside earlier roles in “Remember the Titans,” “Bring It On: All or Nothing,” and the “Scream” franchise. She had told The Hollywood Reporter she hoped to return to directing, producing, and even comedy in the years ahead.
Her Final Public Moment
One month before she died, Panettiere shared what would become her last Instagram post. On July 27, she posted a black-and-white photo of herself with friend Randall Slavin, his arm around her as she stuck out her tongue for the camera.
“Good times and good friends,” she captioned it. Slavin commented underneath at the time: “Love this. Good times babe. Xxx.”
It now stands as one of the last glimpses of Panettiere before her family confirmed her death on August 16 — a quiet, joyful moment before the investigation into her final hours began.
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