Greenville County Coroner’s Office officials announced Tuesday that Hayden Panettiere died from the toxic effects of fentanyl and other drugs. The 36-year-old actress was pronounced dead on August 16 after paramedics responded to an apartment in Greenville, South Carolina.

The coroner’s statement listed the cause of death as the toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, alprazolam, methocarbamol, and quetiapine. Authorities ruled the manner of death accidental and noted no signs of trauma contributed to it.

Emergency responders found Panettiere in cardiac arrest at the apartment. Her boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother called 911 after discovering her unresponsive. Hickerson provided officers with a bag of her medications at the scene.

Panettiere had spoken publicly about her struggles with substance abuse in her 2026 memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning. Federal authorities, including the DEA, have been investigating the circumstances, including the possibility she ingested a counterfeit pill.

The actress rose to fame as a child star in films like Remember the Titans and later starred in the NBC series Heroes and the CMT drama Nashville. She was temporarily staying in the Greenville apartment at the time of her death.

Her death highlights the ongoing dangers of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has contributed to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in recent years. No foul play is suspected in the case.