Entertainment News5 min(s) read
Hayden Panettiere’s mother has raised serious questions about the account Brian Hickerson allegedly gave police about the actress’ final hours.
Lesley Vogel, 70, told the Daily Mail that she pushed police in South Carolina to investigate the circumstances surrounding her 36-year-old daughter’s death and believes Hickerson is not telling police the full truth about what happened.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has since joined the ongoing investigation.
Hickerson has not been accused of any crime, and there has been no official finding that he was responsible for Panettiere’s death.
The Bring It On actress died on August 16 at an Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina, where she had been staying with Hickerson, her on-and-off boyfriend.
According to Vogel, Hickerson told police that Panettiere was doing her makeup at around 10:30 a.m. before he went out for something.
Vogel said his account was that he later returned to the property and took a nap. Her description of what Hickerson told the cops does not include him seeing or speaking to Panettiere after his return.
She claimed Hickerson said his brother, Zach Hickerson, later knocked on the door, prompting Brian to answer it. Panettiere was subsequently found unresponsive.
Vogel believes there are unanswered questions about that timeline, particularly surrounding the Narcan that Zach said Brian administered.
"I think there will be a discrepancy in the timeline, meaning Brian had to go out and buy the Narcan while he left her there because I do not believe he happened to have two bottles of Narcan on him, like he carried them around in his back pocket," she said.
Vogel also questioned how Hickerson could have been sleeping without realizing Panettiere was in distress.
"I don't know how you can take a nap near someone who's dying and not realize something's wrong. How do you do that?" she continued. "When the EMTs came, it was for a cardiac arrest. People in cardiac arrest aren't just lying still. They make noise."
"I think Brian called his brother. My opinion. I think he knew she was deceased. Called his brother, and tried and built this story," she added.
Zach previously told TMZ that there were "a lot of assumptions, speculations, and accusations currently swirling" around the Heroes actress's death and said he wanted investigators to complete their work.
"The truth will come out as the authorities complete and release additional details from the investigation. And that is important because the people who loved and adored Hayden deserve the truth," he said.
Zach said he had attended church that Sunday morning and had exchanged messages with Brian on his way there, with the three planning to have lunch and play indoor golf afterward.
"When I left church, I called and texted both of them. When I didn’t reach Brian or Hayden, I just assumed maybe they fell back asleep, so I drove over and went to the Airbnb. When I got there, I knew the code to the building but not the door code to the Airbnb,” he said.
Zach claimed his knocking woke Brian from a nap that he said Brian and Panettiere had been taking on a pull-out couch.
"I knocked loudly, which apparently woke Brian up from a nap they were both taking on the pull-out couch bed in the living room. When we went in and tried to wake Hayden up for lunch, we realized she was unconscious," he said.
He said he then called emergency services while his brother administered Narcan.
"I immediately called 911, and Brian gave her Narcan. We then jointly performed CPR while 911 was on speaker until Fire and EMS arrived. At that point, we watched as they tried every measure possible to save her life," Zach claimed.
A heavily redacted Greenville Police Department incident report said first responders were called at around 1:50 p.m. following a report of an unresponsive woman. Panettiere was pronounced dead at 2:31 p.m.
The report also said Brian handed police a bag containing medications Panettiere had been taking, although their names were redacted.
An autopsy found no signs of physical trauma or foul play, according to the Greenville County Coroner’s Office.
Her official cause and manner of death remain undetermined pending toxicology results.
The DEA has joined local police in examining substances found at the location.
Brian previously addressed the investigation through his attorney, saying in part that "it is important to allow that investigation to proceed".
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