Cops showed up to Brian and Zach Hickerson’s grandmother’s home in Greenville, South Carolina, for a welfare check — days after Hayden Panettiere was found dead at a nearby Airbnb.
Two cars with the Greenville Police Department arrived at the property belonging to Betty Ellison on Wednesday at 8:20 a.m., Page Six can exclusively reveal.
An officer approached the residence and repeatedly knocked on the front door but received no response. Her colleague tried the side door.
We can confirm that Zach, 38, was home at the time.
The officers left the property, which both Zach and Brian, 37, were pictured at on Tuesday, after around three minutes. They returned about an hour and a half later and went around the back to “conduct a welfare check,” though they did not specify the individual or individuals involved. They left around 10 minutes later.
Ellison’s four-bedroom home, which had its blinds closed all morning, is about five miles away from the Judson Mill Lofts apartment complex where Panettiere, 36, died of a suspected “overdose” on Sunday afternoon.
When reached for comment, a rep for GPD echoed the “welfare check” explanation to Page Six, while the Hickerson brothers have not responded to our repeated inquiries.
TMZ went on to report that police are conducting a death investigation to determine whether there could be criminal conduct behind Panettiere’s sudden passing; however, GPD initially said the preliminary investigation did not indicate “any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”
Just before 2 p.m. on Sunday, cops and medical personnel responded to the Airbnb where she “had been temporarily staying” after receiving a call about a woman who was in apparent “cardiac arrest.”
Brian — whose years-long relationship with the actress was marked by multiple allegations of domestic violence, several arrests and even criminal pleas — was reportedly asleep in the bedroom when Zach entered the unit and found Panettiere “unresponsive” in a chair in the living room.
According to the incident report, Zach described Panettiere to police as his “brother’s girlfriend,” though the exact nature of their on-again, off-again relationship remains unclear. Brian, who has struggled with addiction, then showed officers a “bag of medication” the “Heroes” star had allegedly been taking.
As first responders “initiated advanced cardiac life support measures” on Panettiere, Zach became “very emotional.”
However, the team’s “resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful,” per the coroner’s office. Panettiere — a former child star who was open about her struggles with anxiety, alcoholism, opioid addiction and postpartum depression — was pronounced dead just after 2:30 p.m., at which point Brian became “emotional.”
According to the autopsy report, “no signs of trauma were discovered that would have contributed to the death.” However, the investigation remains “active and ongoing” as the coroner awaits toxicology results to determine the cause and manner of her death.
Narcan, an emergency medication used to reverse an opioid overdose, was reportedly found inside the Airbnb.
Panettiere is survived by her 11-year-old daughter, Kaya, whose father is the actress’ ex-fiancé, retired Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
Though she was estranged from her mother, Lesley Vogel, at the time of her death, the latter still raised concerns about her daughter’s historically abusive relationship with Brian.
“This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death, and that was Brian Hickerson,” the grieving mom told NBC News in part.
Credit by: Page Six
Leave a Reply