Hayden Panettiere traveled from Los Angeles to South Carolina on Saturday. Less than a day later, she was pronounced dead inside a home rental at 36.
Witness accounts, dispatch audio, and new photos now trace Hayden Panettiere’s final hours in Greenville, but one major question remains unanswered: Why was she there?
Hayden starred as Juliette Barnes on “Nashville,” the television series that ran for six seasons. Her role on the country music drama became one of her best-known television performances. | Source: Getty Images
August 15, 2026: Hayden Arrives at a Greenville Rental
Hayden flew from Los Angeles to South Carolina on Saturday, with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, TMZ detailed in its account of her death.
She stayed at a unit in Judson Mill Lofts in Greenville. Page Six confirmed the apartment was being used as an Airbnb rental. A resident of the complex said they did not see Hayden leave the unit after she arrived.
Hayden and Brian Hickerson were photographed together in Los Angeles in January 2019. More than seven years later, multiple reports said the on-and-off couple flew from Los Angeles to South Carolina together on August 15, 2026. | Source: Getty Images
“I was shocked, as I’m sure everyone in Greenville was, to find out she was here,” the neighbor told the media.
August 16, 2026: A Friend Calls 911 After Hayden Is Found Unresponsive
A friend called 911 at 1:51 p.m. Sunday to say Hayden was unresponsive and in cardiac arrest.
Emergency medical workers responded and began trying to revive her. Paramedics performed chest compressions and advanced cardiac life support.
A photo shared by TMZ on X showed a fire truck and ambulances outside the complex. The same outlet said another image showed a Greenville County coroner’s vehicle in front of the same building.
A resident separately recalled that police had been at the property from around noon.
Dispatch Audio Reveals What Responders Were Told
The dispatch audio added more detail about what emergency crews were being told as they responded. The patient was described as an “unidentified female” in “cardiac arrest.”
Within minutes, the audio indicated that CPR was in progress for an “overdose.” Medics were also described as being sent to perform CPR on someone who had overdosed.
Those details reflect information communicated during the emergency response. An overdose had not been established as Hayden’s official cause of death in the reports provided.
Resuscitation Efforts End at the Greenville Apartment
Despite efforts to revive her, Hayden Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m. Police said there were no initial signs of foul play, and the circumstances surrounding her death did not appear suspicious.
The Greenville County coroner was expected to determine the official cause and manner of death. Outside the apartment, the neighbor watched the response continue.
Hayden is pictured in Los Angeles in January 2014, years before the emergency response that unfolded at the Greenville apartment. In South Carolina, authorities said there were no initial signs of foul play as the coroner prepared to determine her cause and manner of death. | Source: Getty Images
The neighbor noticed two unidentified men sitting with the police and said they appeared shaken. “They looked like they were in shock, not speaking, and had their heads down,” the neighbor said.
Police Remain at the Complex Into Sunday Evening
Police remained at Judson Mill Lofts until about 8 p.m., based on the neighbor’s account.
The arrival of the coroner’s vehicle made the seriousness of the situation clear. “The coroner vehicle showed up and, of course, I knew then that there was a death,” the resident told Page Six.
Hayden attended the Environmental Media Awards in California in 2013. A Greenville neighbor later said it was “still shocking” to learn she had died at the apartment complex. | Source: Getty Images
By the following morning, the neighbor had learned who had died at the complex. “Then woke up this morning to hear that it was Hayden, which is just still shocking,” the resident said.
Earlier reporting also captured the first public confirmations of her death and the reflections she had shared in the months before it.
Hayden attended an Emmy nominees event in West Hollywood in September 2022. In later interviews, she spoke openly about the personal struggles she faced away from the spotlight. | Source: Getty Images
Hayden’s representative recently confirmed her death to ABC News. At the time, the outlet said further details about the circumstances were not immediately available.
Meanwhile, Hayden’s father, Skip Panettiere, issued his first public statement following his daughter’s death.
Hayden Panettiere attended the Hollywood Christmas Parade with her father, Skip Panettiere. Years later, Skip would be the family member to issue the first public statement after her death. | Source: Getty Images
“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden,” he told ABC News. He described her as “an incredible light and a force of nature” who brought “immeasurable love and joy” to those who knew her and to the millions who watched her onscreen.
Skip also asked for privacy “as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”
Hayden was photographed with her father in New York City in 2016. After her death in 2026, Skip asked for privacy as the family began processing the loss. | Source: Getty Images
Hayden Panettiere Reflected on What Her Childhood Career Had Cost Her
Hayden had spent much of 2026 speaking publicly about her life with unusual openness. On May 15, she discussed her memoir, “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” during an interview with NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer.
The actress, who was born on August 21, 1989, in Palisades, New York, traced her career back to infancy, telling NPR that she began baby modeling at 8 months old and filmed her first commercial at 11 months.
The interview focused less on career milestones than on what that childhood cost her. Hayden said she often felt caught between an adult professional world and the childhood she wanted to experience.
“I desperately wanted to fit in. That’s what I wanted more than anything,” she said, recalling that she wanted friends her own age, school and sports.
Hayden was already working as a child actor when she attended the Los Angeles premiere of “A Bug’s Life,” in which she voiced Dot. She later said growing up in the industry left her trying to find a place in both the adult world of acting and among children her own age. | Source: Getty Images
She also spoke about the emotional demands of acting. As a child, Hayden became known for being able to cry on cue, but she said the mental places she had to reach became darker as she grew older.
By adulthood, she said, moving in and out of emotionally intense characters became more difficult. Her experience on “Nashville” was especially complicated.
By 2016, Hayden’s career had taken her from child performer to established actress, pictured here at the Critics’ Choice Awards in Santa Monica. She later reflected that emotionally demanding performances became harder as she grew older. | Source: Getty Images
Hayden told the outlet that storylines involving strained family relationships, postpartum depression, alcoholism and drug addiction increasingly mirrored struggles in her own life. “I stopped being able to tell where the character started and where, you know, I ended,” she said.
Her Final Months Included Candid Reflections on Motherhood and Healing
On May 26, Hayden appeared at the Harmony Gold Theater in Los Angeles for a book signing and panel tied to her memoir, according to People.
During the conversation, she spoke about people who had approached her after hearing her discuss mental health, telling her that her openness had encouraged them to seek help.
For Hayden, those encounters shaped how she thought about the impact she hoped to leave behind. “I was like, This is worth it. I can hopefully leave the world a better place than I found it,” she said.
In a July cover interview with parenting outlet Momé, Hayden spoke candidly about motherhood and the difficult decisions she had made for her daughter, Kaya.
She discussed Kaya’s life-threatening birth, her experience with postpartum depression, and the decision for her 11-year-old daughter to primarily live with her father, former boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
“I’ve been able to put her first no matter how I’ve felt or what I’ve experienced,” Hayden said. She hoped “one day she’ll understand my story, and why I wasn’t able to be with her all the time.”
Hayden also reflected on where she was in her own life at the time of the interview. “I’m a work in progress — we all are,” she said. “I take each day as it comes. I’m doing the work, and I’m doing my best.”
She closed the interview with a message for other mothers facing difficult periods: “You’re stronger than you know. And you’re going to be just fine.”