The Drug Enforcement Administration has made a lengthy text-message thread between Hayden Panettiere and her alleged drug dealer the centerpiece of its investigation into the actress’s death, according to reporting from TMZ.
The entertainment outlet reported Tuesday that the messages span years and include what it described as numerous references to obtaining black-market pills. TMZ characterized the exchanges as “incriminating” and said they continued up until the week Panettiere was found dead in a South Carolina rental property.
Panettiere, who starred in “Nashville” and “Heroes,” was 36 when she died on August 16.
Search Warrant Executed in West Hollywood
In a second report published the same day, TMZ said DEA agents executed a search warrant at Panettiere’s West Hollywood condominium on August 25 — roughly nine days after her death. Agents were looking for evidence of black-market drugs as well as anything that could connect those substances to a specific dealer, according to the report. The search also covered drug paraphernalia and any medications on the premises, whether prescription or recreational.
Citing neighbors, TMZ reported that three individuals — two women and one man — had been seen coming and going from the building during the years Panettiere lived there, delivering small bags the neighbors believed held drugs. The man reportedly visited the residence in the week before her death.
Toxicology Results Pending
A full toxicology report has not yet been completed, but early accounts suggest Panettiere died after ingesting an oxycodone pill that had been laced with fentanyl, according to TMZ.
Her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother, Zach Hickerson, discovered her unresponsive on the afternoon of August 16 at a Greenville, South Carolina, Airbnb the couple was sharing. Zach Hickerson said in a statement that he called 911 while his brother administered naloxone — the overdose-reversal medication sold under the brand name Narcan — and that the two performed CPR until emergency personnel arrived. Their efforts to revive her were unsuccessful.
Brian Hickerson reportedly handed over a bag of medication that had belonged to Panettiere, though the outlet did not specify what the bag contained.
Prosecution Modeled on Perry and Miller Cases
The DEA has been involved since the early stages of the investigation, with the apparent aim of pursuing Panettiere’s supplier in the same manner authorities went after the dealers who supplied fatal doses to “Friends” actor Matthew Perry and rapper Mac Miller, according to TMZ.
That comparison points to a recent pattern of federal prosecutors treating overdose deaths of public figures as potential drug-distribution cases rather than simple accidents. In both the Perry and Miller investigations, the DEA and other agencies traced drugs backward from the person who died to the individuals who provided them, resulting in criminal charges against multiple defendants.
Whether the Panettiere inquiry follows a similar arc will likely depend on what agents find in the seized messages and at the West Hollywood condo. No arrests or charges have been announced, and the DEA has not publicly confirmed the existence of the text thread or the search.
The pending toxicology report will also be central to any eventual case, since it would establish an official cause of death and could identify the specific substances present in Panettiere’s system at the time she died.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/incriminating-texts-with-drug-dealer-focus-of-probe-into-hayden-panettieres-death