Updated

Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Sep 23

Report Says Hayden Panettiere Left Rehab Weeks Before 36-Year-Old's Fatal Fentanyl Overdose

Updated

Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Sep 23

Report Says Hayden Panettiere Left Rehab Weeks Before 36-Year-Old's Fatal Fentanyl Overdose

Q: With DEA agents investigating counterfeit pills, who supplied the fatal fentanyl cocktail that ended Hayden Panettiere's life?

It is not publicly known who supplied the drugs that killed Hayden Panettiere. What is known is that the Greenville County Coroner’s Office ruled her death an accident caused by the toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, alprazolam, methocarbamol and quetiapine, with fentanyl identified as the fatal drug. Investigators, including DEA agents, have been examining whether she ingested a counterfeit pill — possibly sold as oxycodone — that was laced with fentanyl. Several outlets, citing unnamed law-enforcement sources, reported that federal agents were tracing a suspected pill back to a “longtime” Los Angeles-area drug dealer who allegedly supplied black-market prescription drugs. But no supplier has been officially identified by authorities, and no public charging document in the materials provided names a source. Police in South Carolina said there were no signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances at the scene. Panettiere’s boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother were present, called 911, and showed officers a bag of her medications, according to reports. That does not establish they supplied the drugs. So the answer, based on verified public information, is that the supplier remains unidentified, though the investigation has reportedly focused on a possible Southern California source tied to suspected counterfeit pills.

3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Sep 23

Newly released coroner records say Panettiere had spent two to three weeks in a Malibu rehab facility and left only weeks before she was found unresponsive in South Carolina on Aug. 16.
The same report says she had previously overdosed and was revived with Narcan, adding a new detail to the timeline of her addiction struggles before her death.
Investigators also found blue pressed pills that tested positive for fentanyl near her body, along with a straw and a separate white powdery substance in a sunglasses case.
The coroner ruled the 36-year-old's death accidental, citing toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, alprazolam, methocarbamol and quetiapine.
Federal authorities are still investigating where the drugs came from, including whether she obtained counterfeit or nonprescription pills before traveling from Los Angeles to South Carolina.