A former child star allegedly exchanged a slew of messages with a drug dealer prior to her suspected fatal overdose, according to a report published Tuesday.
Hayden Panettiere, 36, was an actress who resided in West Hollywood and starred in the television series Heroes and Nashville.
Peddlers allegedly dropped off bags at her Hollywood residence for five years, according to claims reported Tuesday.
Two women in their early 20s and a man in his mid-30s frequently visited the residence from 2021, neighbors claimed.
Panettiere would answer the door and grab the bags, according to neighbors. It is not known what was inside the packages.
“They never stayed, they’d just leave,” one source told TMZ.
The man reportedly dropped off a bag containing the name “Brian” just a week before her death. It remains unclear whether the delivery was intended for her on-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson, according to reports.
The star and her supplier allegedly traded messages right up until the week she died, according to the outlet.
Panettiere and her “long term dealer” were said to be very specific in their communications about buying black market drugs, sources told TMZ.
“There are a slew of messages about drugs,” one source said, revealing the communications sit at the forefront of a federal probe.
The performer appeared to meet the dealer in Los Angeles before catching a flight to South Carolina the day before her August 16 death, sources said.
Panettiere was found dead in an Airbnb after taking just one pill believed to be oxycodone laced with fentanyl, according to reports. Coroners have not released an official cause of death.
Narcan, an emergency medication used to reverse an opioid overdose, was reportedly found inside the property.
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Hickerson was recently arrested in South Carolina, according to reports.
The on-off boyfriend has already met with federal officials as part of the investigation. What he disclosed during that conversation with law enforcement remains unknown.
Authorities are reportedly “zeroing in on a potential drug dealer” as part of their inquiry into the star’s death. Neighbors claimed three different visitors frequently came to the West Hollywood home from 2021.
Tributes were paid to Panettiere during the Emmy Awards on Monday.
Fentanyl-laced pills have been flooding the streets of the country in recent years, according to officials.
The Drug Enforcement Administration seized more than 47 million fentanyl-laced pills and nearly 10,000 pounds of powder in 2025, according to federal records. The deadly contraband continues to spread across the country.
“Synthetic opioids like fentanyl contribute to nearly 70% of overdose deaths,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
“Even in small doses, it can be deadly,” the health agency stated. “Over the last few years, nonfatal and fatal overdoses involving fentanyl have continued to rise.”
President Trump classified fentanyl as a “weapon of mass destruction” in a December 2025 executive order, according to federal records.
The order described the largely China-sourced synthetic opioid as “closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic.”
“No bomb does what this is doing,” he said.
Panettiere is not the only high-profile figure whose death has been linked to the synthetic drug, according to reports.
Robert De Niro’s grandson, Leandro De Niro Rodriguez, died of an overdose in July 2023 after consuming fentanyl-laced opioid pills.
The Drug Enforcement Administration investigation into the actress’s suspected overdose death remains ongoing, authorities said.
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