The 911 audio recording from the moments after Hayden Panettiere was found unresponsive in her South Carolina apartment reveals the frantic attempt to save her life.
Obtained by CBS News on Wednesday, the recording includes audio of Brian Hickerson’s brother Zach calling authorities in a panic after finding the “Heroes” star unresponsive on August 16.
“Oh god, oh my god,” Zach can be heard saying, prompting the dispatcher to ask if Panettiere was breathing. “No, I don’t think so,” he replied.
The dispatcher instructed Zach to find a defibrillator, but he said he wasn’t sure if one was available. “OK, we need to start CPR,” the dispatcher told Zach. “I’m going to tell you how to do CPR, OK? We’re gonna start with ventilation first.”
What followed was a back-and-forth exchange between Zach and the dispatcher as he attempted to give CPR to Panettiere until first responders arrived and took over.
The star was pronounced dead at 2:32 p.m. after emergency personnel arrived on scene.
The Greenville County, South Carolina, coroner’s office ruled her death as the toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, alprazolam, methocarbamol, and quetiapine, per People. The actress’s death was ruled to be an accident.
Multiple law enforcement sources told TMZ that Panettiere had a longtime drug dealer in Los Angeles who allegedly supplied her with black-market prescription drugs, including oxycodone. Investigators believe Panettiere took several drugs obtained from the dealer during her flight from Los Angeles to South Carolina the day before her death. They suggested at the time that one pill she took the following morning was an oxycodone pill laced with fentanyl, as The Daily Wire previously reported.
Panettiere was discovered unconscious by her boyfriend Brian and his brother. Zach said he was returning from a church service to meet up with Panettiere and Brian for lunch. When he knocked on the door, his brother woke up, and they found Panettiere unconscious. Brian immediately administered Narcan, a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, while Zach called 911, he said.
Brian, the actress’s on-again-off-again boyfriend, reportedly met with DEA investigators as part of the ongoing probe. Police documents previously indicated that Panettiere had a “bag of medication” containing nine different substances, though the specific medications were redacted.
The DEA has been involved in the case since the early days of the investigation in the hopes of bringing down her dealer in the same way that the dealers who provided deadly doses to “Friends” actor Matthew Perry and rapper Mac Miller were brought to justice.
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