Police officers descended on a South Carolina home linked to Brian Hickerson on Wednesday morning, days after actress Hayden Panettiere died of a suspected overdose.
Two officers from the Greenville City Police Department arrived at the four-bedroom property at 8:30 am to conduct a welfare check, knocking repeatedly on the front door before walking around the back when no one answered.
The $800,000 home in Greenville belongs to the family of Hickerson, 37, and is the residence of his grandmother, Betty Ellison. It is located five miles from the rental property where Panettiere, 36, died on Sunday.
Officers made a second call to the house within an hour and a half, walking into the back yard before leaving without commenting on who requested the check. A police spokesperson later told PEOPLE that officers responded to a call for a welfare check at a home belonging to Hickerson's family that was "unrelated to the Hayden Panettiere death investigation and did not require an incident report."
Brother's Response Outside Family Property
Brian Hickerson, Panettiere's longtime on-again, off-again boyfriend, has not been seen in public since her death. However, his brother Zachary Hickerson, 38, was spotted at their grandmother's home on Tuesday.
Zachary, a pastor, founder of an independent church in Nashville, and former healthcare executive, appeared with dark circles under his eyes while dressed entirely in black.
When approached by a reporter at the property, Zachary declined to comment. "No comment, bro, and with no offense to you and what you're trying to do, this is private property," he said.
"Please respect our privacy. I'm not going to answer anything that you ask me. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mind just leaving us alone," he added.
Events Surrounding Panettiere's Death
Panettiere, who was based in Los Angeles, had flown to Greenville on Saturday with Brian Hickerson, who is from the area. The couple were staying at an Airbnb rental in the Judson Mill Lofts apartment complex.
Zachary Hickerson discovered Panettiere unresponsive on a living room armchair at around 1:30 pm on Sunday while Brian was asleep in a bedroom, according to TMZ.
Both brothers called 911 after failing to wake the actress. Emergency medical services teams worked on Panettiere for nearly an hour before she was formally declared dead in front of the brothers.
According to an incident summary, Zachary was very emotional as first responders tried to save Panettiere, a mother of one. Brian remained stoic and did not become visibly emotional until after she was pronounced dead from a suspected cardiac arrest.
Dispatcher audio from the emergency call indicated that Panettiere suffered a suspected overdose, and sources told TMZ that Narcan was found on a mattress at the property. Brian reportedly showed police a bag of medication that the actress had been taking at the time of her death.
A coroner's report stated that "Panettiere was found unresponsive inside the residence, where she had been temporarily staying" and noted no signs of trauma to her body. A full cause of death remains pending.
Domestic Violence Charges and Expungement Denial
Panettiere first began dating Brian Hickerson in 2018, initiating a tumultuous relationship marked by several arrests for domestic violence.
In May 2019, Brian was arrested and charged with one count of injuring a spouse or girlfriend. During that period, Panettiere was also romantically linked to Zachary Hickerson, with whom she was photographed strolling in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood in September 2019. A witness reported that "they looked very comfortable. Like a real couple."
Brian faced further domestic abuse charges in July 2020, including four felony counts of domestic assault, one misdemeanor count of battery, two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one felony count of dissuading a witness from prosecuting a crime, covering the period from May 2019 to July 2020.
In April 2021, Brian accepted a plea deal, pleading no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend, while the remaining six counts were dismissed. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years' probation, alongside $500 in fines and mandatory domestic violence classes. He surrendered in May 2021 and spent 13 days behind bars. His probation terms required him to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at least once a week and complete anger management sessions.
In her memoir, titled This Is Me: A Reckoning, Panettiere alleged that Brian once beat her so severely that she remained inside her house for weeks to hide her injuries from the public. She described the relationship as a "very dark and complicated time in my life."
Panettiere filed for a restraining order against Brian in July 2020, though the outcome is not stated in court records. Just three days before her death, on August 13, Judge Olivia Rosales in Los Angeles County Superior Court denied a petition filed by Brian a month earlier seeking to expunge his criminal record of domestic abuse charges.
Despite their past conflicts, Panettiere and Brian had rekindled their relationship while keeping it private, laughing at reports that they had split. They were last photographed together in March at a Los Angeles airport, where Panettiere was using crutches due to pinched nerves in her lower back.
Family Statements and Former Partner Tributes
Following the tragedy, Panettiere's mother, Lesley Vogel, broke her silence on Tuesday, telling NBC News that her family had long wanted Brian out of her daughter's life.
"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," Vogel said.
Vogel added: "I think Hayden was an amazingly talented person in so many departments and I think young people who grow up in the entertainment industry, it is a struggle and it's a very challenging industry and it's not unusual for them to sadly find the wrong path."
Panettiere's former fiancé, Wladimir Klitschko, paid tribute on Instagram early Tuesday morning. The former couple share an 11-year-old daughter, Kaya. In 2018, while battling substance addiction, Panettiere made the decision to sign over custody of Kaya to Klitschko, who lived abroad.
"The announcement of Hayden's tragic death saddens me deeply. She left this world far too soon. Hayden was, although no longer my partner, an important part of my life and the mother of our daughter, Kaya," Klitschko wrote.
"To our daughter Kaya, I will always speak of her mother with respect and make sure she remembers the person she was," Klitschko added.
Panettiere previously spoke about the custody decision in one of her final interviews, saying: "It wasn't a decision I made lightly, nor was it a decision I even wanted to make."
Brian Hickerson has not made any public statements regarding Panettiere's death and did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
