Hayden Panettiere Coroner Reveals 'No Signs of Trauma' as 'Heroes' Actress' Cause of Death Remains Unknown
A preliminary autopsy has been completed on Hayden Panettiere.
Aug. 17 2026, Published 1:48 p.m. ET
Hayden Panettiere's official cause of death will remain a mystery for now, as the Greenville County Coroner’s Office revealed they had completed the preliminary autopsy on the late actress, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
While the autopsy ruled out any trauma that could have led to the Heroes star's death at 36, additional testing is going to be needed to determine how the former child star died.
'Cause And Manner Of Death Remain Pending Further Investigation'
Further tests will be needed to determine Panettiere's cause of death.
"An autopsy was completed today. At autopsy no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death," Greenville County Coroner Mike Ellis wrote in a statement on Monday, August 17, one day after the actress was found unresponsive inside an apartment in the Upstate South Carolina city.
"The cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies. This investigation remains active and ongoing. No further details are available for release at this time," Ellis added.
The 911 call and dispatch audio had EMS workers discussing a possible "overdose" and "cardiac arrest," but despite conducting CPR, Panettiere was unresponsive and pronounced dead.
Hayden Panettiere Was in a 'Horrible Cycle' of Depression and Substance Abuse After Daughter's Birth
Hayden Panettiere's substance abuse increased following the birth of her daughter in 2012.
In her last major on-camera interview before her death, Panettiere sat down with life coach Jay Shetty to discuss her past struggles with alcoholism and opiate abuse.
The spiral worsened after the 2012 birth of her daughter, Kaya, whom she shares with ex-fiancé Vladimir Klitschko, when she suffered from postpartum depression.
"They didn't know what was going on. And so it became this horrible cycle for years of battling depression and anxiety and alcoholism and substance abuse and me just trying to find my way back, my way out of this darkness," the Remember the Titans star explained.
At the time, Panettiere didn't discuss her current sobriety status.
Hayden Panettiere Was Warned to Stop Drinking or She'd Be 'Dead in Five Years'
Hayden Panettiere was already seeing the physical damage of alcohol abuse by the time she turned 30,.
Panettiere discussed that she checked herself into rehab for the first time in 2015, but did so again in 2021 when she began experiencing the noticeable effects of alcohol and opioid abuse.
"My body was like, 'enough.' I hit 30. My face was swollen. I had jaundice. My eyes were yellow. I had to go to a liver specialist. I was holding on to weight that wasn’t normally there. My hair was thin and coming out in clumps," she told in 2023.
In her 2026 memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, the Ice Princess star revealed she received a starting diagnosis in 2020, when "A doctor told me that if I didn't stop drinking, I'd be dead within five years."
Hayden Panettiere Died in a Greenville, South Carolina, Loft
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EMS workers were unable to revive the 'unresponsive' atress.
Panettiere had traveled from Los Angeles to South Carolina on August 15 with on-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson.
The pair began dating in 2018 and had an on-and-off relationship after he was arrested multiple times for domestic violence, even receiving a 45-day sentence in 2021. Thanks to a plea deal, Hickerson spent only 12 days behind bars due to time served.
It's unclear why Panettiere and Hickerson were in Greenville, but the wannabe actor is from the Palmetto State and is believed to have family in the area.
Paramedics were called to a loft at the Judson Mill mixed-use residential and commercial complex by an "acquaintance" who placed the 911 call.
EMS workers found an "unresponsive female" in "cardiac arrest," and CPR efforts were unable to revive Panettiere.
