EXCLUSIVE: Hayden Panettiere Death Probe Focuses on Her Final Hours at Home

Heroes star Hayden Panettiere's lifelong battle with her demons came to a horrifying end on Aug. 16 when the troubled actress died at just 36 following an apparent overdose – and now RadarOnline.com can reveal questions are swirling around her mysterious final hours as investigators comb through potential evidence and look to her on-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, for answers.

Sources claimed the former child star – whose net worth was at one point estimated to be $15million – blew through "a fortune" as she spiraled into drug and alcohol addiction. Hickerson, who's had his own history of financial woes, once brazenly bragged about "hijacking" Panettiere's credit card while she slept.

The Nashville star's death came just five days before her 37th birthday – and only three months after she sat down with CBS Mornings host Gayle King to promote her brutally candid memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning.

"It was hard when she was here that day," King chillingly recalled after Panettiere's death. "She was still, clearly still struggling."

Panettiere had endured staggering personal turmoil. Her battle with postpartum depression after the 2014 birth of daughter Kaya, now 11, was followed by a descent into alcohol and pill addiction that required multiple trips to rehab.

Then, in 2023, Panettiere was shattered by the sudden death of her beloved younger brother, Jansen, from an enlarged heart at just 28.

Yet she continued trying to rebuild her life and career – until her final, fateful trip.

On Aug. 15, Panettiere reportedly flew from Los Angeles to South Carolina with Hickerson.

The following afternoon, at approximately 1:51 p.m., cops and paramedics raced to Greenville's Judson Mill Lofts after a frantic 911 call reported an unresponsive woman in cardiac arrest.

Dispatch audio indicated responders were dealing with a possible overdose. Narcan – the lifesaving medication used to reverse opioid overdoses – was found at the scene.

But nothing could save Panettiere. She was pronounced dead shortly after 2:30 p.m.

RadarOnline.com reports Hickerson was asleep in another room when Panettiere went into cardiac arrest, while his brother Zach discovered her sitting in a chair in the living room.

According to the police report, Zach was visibly distraught as rescuers fought to save Panettiere, while Hickerson did not become visibly emotional until paramedics declared her dead.

He also showed police a bag containing medications Panettiere had apparently been taking, although the names of the drugs were redacted from the publicly released report.

At press time, Hickerson had retained a lawyer, and according to RadarOnline.com, his cooperation became more limited as investigators examined his phone and computer.

"They want the phone because it doesn't forget," a source told RadarOnline.com. "It can help establish who he was talking to, where he was, and what was happening before Hayden was found."

Authorities said there were no visible injuries or signs of trauma on Hayden's body, and officials have reported no evidence of foul play.

Meanwhile, the tragedy has put renewed attention on Panettiere and Hickerson's turbulent history.

He was arrested multiple times during their relationship, and in 2021 pleaded no contest to two felony counts involving injury to a spouse or girlfriend, serving jail time and probation.

Just days before Panettiere's death, a Los Angeles judge reportedly rejected Hickerson's attempt to have those felony convictions reduced to misdemeanors.

Now, the world waits for answers. "Why did so many people look away?" asked a RadarOnline.com source.

"Saying you knew Hayden was struggling after she died isn't heroic.

"The heroic thing would have been picking up the phone, showing up at her door, and refusing to let her face it alone."