By JEFFREY COLLINS and GENE JOHNSON Associated Press
Police in South Carolina have closed their investigation into the overdose death of actor Hayden Panettiere following a coroner’s finding that it was accidental.
The decision was based on the medical examiner’s determination as well as the findings of the investigation, Greenville police said Wednesday in a statement.
Panettiere, who starred in the TV series “Heroes” and “Nashville,” was pronounced dead in an apartment in Greenville on Aug. 16 at age 36 after paramedics found her unresponsive.
A coroner’s report obtained by The Associated Press last month said her death was from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl, and she had been in rehab just weeks before. Her on-and-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother Zach Hickerson were at the home.
It remains unclear whether federal authorities may still be examining the case separately. In a petition to a California court last month, Panettiere’s ex-fiance, former boxer Wladimir Klitschko, said some of her property had been taken by federal law enforcement agents investigating her death and by an unnamed nonrelative looking to sell it.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment Wednesday, and Greenville police Sgt. Diana Munoz said she could not comment on whether any other agencies were investigating.
The California court granted Klitschko legal status this month to protect Panettiere’s property for their 11-year-old daughter, who is her sole heir.
In “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” a memoir that was published in May, Panettiere acknowledged being addicted to alcohol and having postpartum depression after her daughter’s birth in 2014. The girl went to live with Klitschko full-time when she was 2.
Panettiere’s father told investigators that at the time of her death, she had plans to visit her daughter in Ukraine days later.