Hayden Panettiere Dies at 36 After Exposing Disturbing Hollywood Experiences

Consider supporting and donating to The Kaylee Goncalves Foundation/Murder Has a Name here: https://www.murderhasaname.com/ Actress Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles in Heroes, Nashville and the Scream franchise, died on August 16, 2026, at age 36 after being found unresponsive in a Greenville, South Carolina, apartment. Authorities found no signs of foul play, but her official cause of death remains under investigation.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:14Derrick Levasseur?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Crime Weekly News. I'm Derrick Levasseur.

• 0:17Stephanie Harlowe?

  And I'm Stephanie Harlow.

• 0:19Derrick Levasseur?

  And as you can tell from the title, we're going to be talking about Hayden Panettiere, who spent almost her entire life in Hollywood, becoming one of the biggest young stars of the 2000s. But behind the scenes, Hayden was fighting addiction, depression, abusive relationships, and the consequences of growing up inside an industry that had a very real dark side. And many of us know about this now. We've talked about it on numerous occasions. And recently Hayden had begun talking about all of it. She was finally telling her own story about what had happened to her as a child star, the adults around her, the drugs she says were introduced to her while she was still a teenager, and the experiences that followed her well into adulthood. Now, at just 36 years old, Hayden Panettiere is dead.

• 1:04Derrick Levasseur?

  And while investigators are still determining exactly what happened to her in her final hours of life, her death has brought renewed attention, not only to the struggles she spent years trying to overcome, but also the darker side of Hollywood and what she had only recently felt comfortable enough to start talking about. So she had recently started coming out and talking about different things that were going to come up, including a memoir that she was going to discuss some of this. And now she's dead. So it has a lot of people asking questions, understandably so.

• 1:34Stephanie Harlowe?

  This is a very important thing to talk about because there's a lot about this, and it's very early.

• 1:39Derrick Levasseur?

  It is, it is.

• 1:40Stephanie Harlowe?

  But there's a lot about this that we should be questioning. And as we kind of go through the timeline and everything, you'll understand why, and then we'll discuss. But this is sort of an interest of mine, how these industries, Hollywood and politics, and with everything coming out with P. Diddy and Jeffrey Epstein.

• 1:57Derrick Levasseur?

  It's not just a conspiracy theory anymore. It's a real thing.

• 2:00Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, it never was a conspiracy theory, but everyone wanted to stick their heads in the sand. And now you have things coming out. And sometimes you see people who come out and talk about this, and then suddenly they're no longer with us.

• 2:12Derrick Levasseur?

  They disappear.

• 2:12Stephanie Harlowe?

  And you have to wonder, what happened here? We're going to talk about that.

• 2:15Derrick Levasseur?

  First off, I mean, I think about Hayden, I was saying to you earlier, like Heroes, one of the best shows in its early seasons, and Hayden, I think, was everybody's, every teen boy's crush. When this came out yesterday, just a realization that like, doesn't matter who they are, how quote unquote, successful they look from the outside, everyone deals with their own struggles. And I am really interested to hear about the death investigation because there is a possibility that it's not related, but I do think the timing is suspicious. And as an investigator, I'm not going into this investigation thinking, oh, yeah, she was talking about back pain, maybe this is going to be a case of self-harm. We don't know yet. But even if it is, I personally would be taking a deeper look at it,

• 2:56Derrick Levasseur?

  even if on the surface it looks to be something, because that may be exactly what someone wanted me to think going in there. If you follow what I'm putting down. So you have to have an extra level of scrutiny when you're looking at this case because of the outside circumstances that you're going to discuss.

• 3:11Stephanie Harlowe?

  Here's also how I always go into these cases when it involves somebody in this industry. Chester Bennington's another one.

• 3:17Derrick Levasseur?

  Yes, they asked Linkin Park.

• 3:19Stephanie Harlowe?

  They're looking into certain things. They're talking about certain things. They had these struggles with drugs, alcohol, et cetera. Even if it's not this whole conspiracy theory, like, oh, they're being silenced. You have to look at the lives they lived.

• 3:31Derrick Levasseur?

  Yes.

• 3:31Stephanie Harlowe?

  What they were exposed to, what they experienced, and what kind of dynamic they were living in that even introduced them to the lifestyle. Let's say it was an overdose. Let's say it was something she did to herself. There's a reason that she was in that position. And I think that Hollywood and the industry and what she was exposed to as a young girl have a lot to do with where she ended up.

• 3:55Derrick Levasseur?

  Couldn't agree more. Context matters.

• 3:57Stephanie Harlowe?

  Even if there's not some, oh, yeah, she was silenced, and there's an illuminati, you still have to start looking at this industry under a microscope and stop giving it all of these accolades and applauding it. And you have to start asking, what is this industry doing to people? Because this is not the first time, and it won't be the last.

• 4:15Derrick Levasseur?

  Stephanie, I mean, it's so blatantly obvious at this point. Amanda Bynes, Justin Bieber, Aaron Carter, like, I mean, we can think about all of these kids who have been affected. Even Miley Cyrus has talked about it a little bit, like, the way these kids are treated.

• 4:28Stephanie Harlowe?

  Lindsay Lohan, yeah.

• 4:29Derrick Levasseur?

  It's not even a secret anymore. You can see, we have the data now, right? Where we grew up around these people as children, and we see how they are in adulthood in there, to put it bluntly, going through a lot. They're really not doing well. Some people, like Justin, they've been able to overcome some stuff, although you can tell there's still things that they they struggle with. Yeah, this is a prevalent thing in Hollywood and at minimum, and I'm so glad you said it. We should be looking at how we got here to try to prevent it from happening in the future. And I do think there have been some changes, but unfortunately, I think a lot of this is still going on.

• 5:00Stephanie Harlowe?

  Brittany Murphy, Britney Spears, we could keep going.

• 5:02Derrick Levasseur?

  All day long.

• 5:03Stephanie Harlowe?

  So let's talk really quickly. When I got this news last night, I was devastated because I, of course, grew up watching Hayden. Remember the Titans? I mean, this is how I think of her now, this little precocious girl in Remember the Titans. And she was so good on screen right away. You know, you could tell that she had it, you know, she had that spark.

• 5:21Derrick Levasseur?

  The it factor, yeah, for sure.

• 5:23Stephanie Harlowe?

  And you saw it fade as she kind of went into adulthood, and all these horrible things that happened to her. But Hayden died on August 16th, 2026, at the age of 36. We're filming this on August 17th. The news hit yesterday. This is just five days before her 37th birthday, as she was found dead reportedly unresponsive at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina. We are going to talk about that because this wasn't just any residence. She doesn't live in South Carolina. What is she doing there? Now, officials have said they found no evidence of foul play or suspicious circumstances. How many times have I heard that? The official cause of death has not yet been determined, and the autopsy is pending. Let's talk about Hayden. She's born in August 1989 in Palisades, New York. She started off really young on the screen. And when I say really young,

• 6:08Stephanie Harlowe?

  I think she was in commercials when she was just a baby. So this is a very early introduction to being on screen. She was in One Life to Live in the 90s, Guiding Light. Like I said, she was Little Cheryl in Remember the Titans. She was in Ice Princess, which brings to mind another Ice Princess, Michelle Trachtenberg, who also recently passed away. And then, when the biggest show, I would say Heroes, when that premiered, she was only 17. And then she kind of took a break from acting. After Heroes, she popped back up in Scream 4. And then the next biggest show that she was in was Nashville. Now, you probably didn't watch Nashville. I don't know if you did or not. I loved it.

• 6:46Derrick Levasseur?

  I've heard about it, and I've seen clips of it for sure. I know she was in it, yeah.

• 6:50Stephanie Harlowe?

  Those first few seasons, man, this was great TV. She was amazing in it. She stole the show.

• 6:55Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, wasn't she like the pop star in it, or like the country star in it?

• 6:57Stephanie Harlowe?

  The pop star, yeah. She was the country star. And you could see these disturbing parallels between her life and the role she was playing, which was Juliet Barnes.

• 7:06Derrick Levasseur?

  She probably had a lot of anecdotal experience to pull from to play that character.

• 7:10Stephanie Harlowe?

  Well, she later said in interviews, some of the storylines that she was, you know, being given scripts for, she said it almost became uncomfortable because it was so similar to what was happening in her actual life, which is, you know, substance abuse, unstable relationships, postpartum depression. All of these things were in the scripts. And she was like, ah, this is kind of getting a little heavy because.

• 7:29Derrick Levasseur?

  Too close to home?

• 7:30Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah. And you wonder why she played this role so well, because she was impeccable, and that could be why. So she described becoming involved with pills, pills and things like that and drugs very early on. She said somebody connected to her in her professional career began giving her what she described as happy pills before she would walk the red carpet. And this was when she was just 15 years old. This is her first introduction, an adult person in the industry handing her a pill and saying, go for it.

• 8:00Derrick Levasseur?

  Happy pills, yeah.

• 8:01Stephanie Harlowe?

  And we've seen this before. Was it Judy Garland also was being given diet pills when she was, you know, very young in the industry? So Hayden Panettiere began to become addicted to opioids and alcohol. She said for a while while she was actively working, she was able to kind of maintain herself and keep it under control because she refused to appear intoxicated when she was working. She wanted to be professional. And so her ability to keep working constantly kind of kept that in check for a while. But once she wasn't working as steadily, and she was having personal life issues and things like that, that structure went away. She said she became caught in a cycle of self-destruction. And she said every time she thought she had hit rock bottom, something worse would happen.

• 8:43Stephanie Harlowe?

  And then as she got older, she said the drugs and the alcohol became something she felt she could not live without.

• 8:49Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah. And that's how it happens. In the initial stages, it's something where you're just using to take the edge off. And then all of a sudden, you find yourself in a place, and it happens overnight, where now you're unable to function without it. It's the only way to get to the point where you feel comfortable because not only do you have a dependency, but also it's a crutch. Psychologically, you think that this is the only way you can get through it.

• 9:10Stephanie Harlowe?

  You forget how to get through things without it.

• 9:12Derrick Levasseur?

  Hey, this is the easy pill. Like she said, the happy pill. You just take it, and everything gets better. I don't have to do any work. I don't have to process anything. I can just take it, and I'm good to go. We hear about this all the time, not just in Hollywood, but just in everyday life, where people who are feeling down, going through some struggles, they take a pill here and there. And then all of a sudden, it becomes a constant, and then they find themselves in a tough spot where now they can't stop taking it. That's addiction in a nutshell.

• 9:35Stephanie Harlowe?

  We went through the opioid epidemic where these things were incredibly easy to get, easy to be prescribed. We saw families and lives being ruined, and we saw that they have been, you know, regulations put in place make those things less easy. But all of those people who had already become dependent and addicted, they were still dependent and addicted.

• 9:52Derrick Levasseur?

  Personal story, when I was involved in my shooting in 2000, would be 2007, I was prescribed Xanax after that. And it was just to, you know, kind of get me, you know, going through a tough time. I started taking them. I'd never taken them before in my life, and I was only supposed to take them as needed. And they helped. They helped a lot. And then I found myself going from once as needed to once or twice a day. And luckily for me, it was very early in it that I realized, oh, man, this is too easy, and this is feeling too good. And now I'm finding myself wanting to take a third one before I go to sleep because also it helps me go to sleep. And then I take one when I wake up. And I saw that circle starting to develop, and I also realized that I couldn't go back to work while still taking that medication. There are ways to take it, but there's different medications you can take,

• 10:37Derrick Levasseur?

  not Xanax being one of them. So I knew I had to come off it anyways. And luckily, I was able to kind of go cold turkey, but that's not the case for everyone. A lot of the times, it's too deep in before you realize there's a problem.

• 10:48Stephanie Harlowe?

  Especially with opioids.

• 10:49Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, man, it's scary. I consider myself a strong-minded person, but I was right there. I was literally right there. And I was like, man, okay, I see it. This is where it goes bad. And luckily, I was able to go the other way. But I saw firsthand how dangerous it can be because it's easy just when you're sitting there alone to just pop a pill, take a cup of water, and you're good.

• 11:07Stephanie Harlowe?

  Well, Hayden wouldn't always be alone, right? So that's what we're going to talk about. We're going to take a quick break, but Hayden gets in a relationship. She has a daughter. And this is another tragic thing that we need to talk about. Hayden's daughter, Kaia, is 11 years old now. So this is very sad. Let's take a quick break. We'll be right back.

• 11:29Stephanie Harlowe?

  Hayden Panter becomes engaged to a Ukrainian heavyweight boxing champion. They have a daughter together.

• 11:36Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, Vladimir Klitschko, unbelievable boxer, by the way. One of the best of all time.

• 11:40Stephanie Harlowe?

  Their daughter, Kaya, was born in December of 2014. And then on top of having substance abuse and alcohol issues now, Hayden develops severe postpartum depression. And she talked about it. She's openly talked about it, especially in the recent years. And she said, listen, I never had thoughts about hurting my daughter, but what I felt was a profound and deep emotional disconnection. I reached a point where I didn't even want to spend time with my child, even though intellectually I knew that I loved her. And this was very hard, the guilt that came along with that. All of it's hard. We've talked about this before. Now, she did seek treatment for postpartum depression in 2015, but behind the scenes, her substance abuse was worsening. And then she later explained that the alcoholism and the addiction

• 12:25Stephanie Harlowe?

  and the postpartum depression all became intertwined. And so she and Vladimir separated in 2018, while she was still struggling very badly with alcohol and opioids. And then something happened, which is devastating to any parent. Kaya was in Ukraine with her father. And then Vladimir told Hayden he wanted full custody. She signed the paperwork and granted him full custody. But she said publicly in 2022 that it wasn't fully her decision. And not only was it one of the most painful experiences in her life, she didn't fully understand what it meant. Like, she knew at that point in her life, I'm not able to give my daughter the consistency that she needs.

• 13:02Derrick Levasseur?

  With respect to her.

• 13:03Stephanie Harlowe?

  But she didn't fully understand the arrangement meant. You're not going to see your daughter. Like, on the day to day, you're not going to be there to raise your daughter. And she was able to continue a relationship with her daughter through visits and FaceTime calls. And she's always constantly spoken positively about her daughter's father, Vladimir, saying he's a great father. You know, there's never been any, like, bad feelings between them.

• 13:22Derrick Levasseur?

  I almost forgot that they were engaged at one point. In the boxing community, he's very well respected. I'll say the upstanding guy. When the whole thing happened with the Ukraine to start with Russia, he signed up to go over there and fight. This is a multimillionaire. And he was like, you know what? I'm gonna go fight for my country. I mean, he's a very stand-up dude.

• 13:39Stephanie Harlowe?

  It's just sad. Once again, two people who probably cared a lot about each other, had a child together, and it wasn't like, oh, we hate each other, we're mad at each other, this isn't working. It was like Hayden is going through something that I cannot be around. And I care about her, and I'm not gonna say a bad word about her, but this is what's best now.

• 13:54Derrick Levasseur?

  That's what's supposed to happen. But I do wish there was better understanding at the time of what this meant. Because like you just said, Hayden was signing this because she knew it was for the betterment of Kaya. But there should have been some more disclosure so that she knew exactly what she was signing.

• 14:07Stephanie Harlowe?

  And she's probably signing it in the throes of, you know, a very dark place.

• 14:10Derrick Levasseur?

  In the middle of this whole thing. Yeah, exactly.

• 14:12Stephanie Harlowe?

  And then after she gets out of this relationship with Vladimir, she starts a relationship with somebody else, Brian Hickerson, who ended up becoming very abusive in their relationship. Apparently, they both struggled with substance abuse together, which is never a good thing. And it got so bad that she started using more because there were so many things going on in her life. And she called it, you know, doing these things, alcohol substances, putting her in the [BLEEP] zone. She said, in that zone, quote, "I forgot everything. Brian's abuse, Kaya's absence, and a career I chosen to hide from. Leaving acting hadn't been a conscious decision. It simply happened," end quote. So we know that Brian Hickerson was arrested following allegations of domestic violence involving Hayden. Criminal charges did come from that incident and other incidents occurring between 2019 and 2020. So he's admitted it.

• 14:57Stephanie Harlowe?

  He's admitted to being abusive in the relationship. This isn't random allegations. So Hayden starts going to treatment. And actually, while she's in treatment, she gets better. She said it was very hard at first. Physical withdrawals were terrible. But after about three months, she started feeling joy again. Not joy from taking a pill or being drunk, but pure joy, which she realizes better than any joy you can get from that. And it's during this time that she's in treatment. She's also encouraged to file charges against Brian and pursue criminal charges against him. Now, as far as we know, and I've looked through this, there's no confirmed relapse or confirmation of Hayden going back to drugs and alcohol after she leaves rehab in 2021. She went to rehab for eight months. She had intensive trauma therapy after. She does not seem to appear to have gone back to drugs,

• 15:42Stephanie Harlowe?

  which is, once again, something that we're gonna come back to when we talk about her death. And we also have the fact that in February of 2023, another thing happened that was very hard for her. Hayden's younger brother, Jansen, died at 28 years old. Now, his death also was not ruled an overdose. The family said he had an enlarged heart, combined with complications involving his aortic valve. But there is credible reporting that Jansen as well struggled with drugs, specifically prescription opioids, before his death. And in her memoir that came out in May of this year, Hayden does talk about her brother struggling with drugs at the stage before his death. So we have kind of a similar thing here where with Hayden, she dies. And it's easy to be like, well, you know, she had a long battle with drugs.

• 16:27Stephanie Harlowe?

  So that makes sense because she's 36, right? So you're gonna look at her, she's 36. What are the options that could be happening here, right? She doesn't have a long-term illness. She's young, she's healthy. It would had to have been. She did this to herself and/or drugs.

• 16:40Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, it could be accidental, could be self-harm, but it also could be, maybe she relapsed. Maybe she had an accident while she was at home alone. We don't know.

• 16:49Stephanie Harlowe?

  Well, she wasn't home, so that we're gonna talk about that. But first, I want to talk about what came out when Hayden published her memoir on May 19, 2026? Because the memoir, which was called This Is Me: A Reckoning, it revealed several things that shocked people and gave a behind-the-scenes look into what Hayden's Hollywood life was like and how damaging it was. So first of all, we have this allegation that Hayden said when she's 18, a woman she knew, who she trusted very much, another actress, who was Hayden's close friend. And on a podcast, I think it was Jay Shetty's podcast, she said, "This woman was somebody I had come to see as a protector who had my back. Like, I trusted her completely."

• 17:27Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah.

• 17:28Stephanie Harlowe?

  So...

• 17:28Derrick Levasseur?

  This made its rounds on social media. This got some attention.

• 17:31Stephanie Harlowe?

  So they go to the south of France, and they go on what Hayden described as a super yacht, where there's celebrities, champagnes flowing, parties, all non-stop fun. And Hayden said she spent days on this yacht, partying it up, dancing, swimming in the Mediterranean. And then the situation turned dark because towards the end of her trip, her friend that she thought she trusted approached her during dinner and said, "Hey, I want you to come downstairs and meet someone." So Hayden goes downstairs with her. They walk down this narrow hallway into a private cabin, and she discovered, Hayden discovered, what she referred to as a famous 30-something British singer-songwriter naked under the sheets. And Hayden was like, what the hell? Is this guy naked? What's going on here? And the friend, the close friend who she thought was her friend,

• 18:15Stephanie Harlowe?

  whispered to her, "I want you to get into bed with him," and then left them alone in the room. This is an older woman, by the way. Hayden's 18. Hayden said, "I started to mentally disconnect from that situation. I had been managed for years by adults in the entertainment industry, and I was conditioned to trust people and suppress my instincts." And then she talks about this woman who, once again, she trusted. And she said, quote, "I felt like I'd been kicked in the face. She'd confided in me, pampered me, and treated me like her best friend, then turned around and treated me like a call girl," end quote. Okay, so this is what I think we all understand in this industry and how we understand the true crime community. It sounds like an older woman, like a Ghislaine Maxwell type.

• 18:52Derrick Levasseur?

  Exactly.

• 18:53Stephanie Harlowe?

  Grooming a younger woman in the industry. Hey, I'm gonna bring you to this yacht, celebrities, parties, drink, drink, drugs, drugs. And then pimping her out to a man in the industry and thinking that that's gonna just be something that's acceptable and okay.

• 19:09Derrick Levasseur?

  From what it sounds like, it's pretty transparent what happened here. This was the plan all along. Like you just said, this British singer-songwriter was on this yacht. He knew what he was paying for.

• 19:19Stephanie Harlowe?

  He said, "I want her."

• 19:20Derrick Levasseur?

  Yep, "I want her, invite her. Let's get her drunk and get her high all trip." And then at the end, "That's when I get what I paid for."

• 19:28Stephanie Harlowe?

  That's when you bring her into a room with me while I'm naked in the bad, yeah.

• 19:31Derrick Levasseur?

  I only ask this question because it could be relevant moving forward, but do we know if Hayden had sex with this individual?

• 19:37Stephanie Harlowe?

  She says she didn't.

• 19:38Derrick Levasseur?

  She says she didn't. Okay, well, that's good. That's good, obviously, that she was able to get out of it. But I ask only because you think about potential charges and things like that down the road. I don't know.

• 19:47Stephanie Harlowe?

  Well, she wouldn't name them.

• 19:49Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, and if nobody's connected to the dots yet, then more than likely. And I'm sure people have tried.

• 19:53Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, people have. I'm not gonna say those names here. You can look them up online.

• 19:56Derrick Levasseur?

  Oh, so you think you know who it is?

• 19:58Stephanie Harlowe?

  Not me.

• 19:59Derrick Levasseur?

  But they think they know who it is?

• 20:00Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yes, yes.

• 20:01Derrick Levasseur?

  Okay, interesting. I'll have to look it up later.

• 20:03Stephanie Harlowe?

  And I mean, hey, listen, there's some serious internet researchers out there, and they put dots together, but personally...

• 20:08Derrick Levasseur?

  I would imagine this would be an easy one to figure out because you could go back and see her social media or social media of others during that time.

• 20:15Stephanie Harlowe?

  And then who knows who? And who was in the south of France at that time? Yeah.

• 20:18Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, who would be out there? British singer-songwriter, I mean, it's...

• 20:21Stephanie Harlowe?

  In his 30s, yeah.

• 20:23Derrick Levasseur?

  In his 30s. It's gonna narrow the pool down pretty significantly.

• 20:25Stephanie Harlowe?

  I agree, I agree. So there's that, first of all. Once again, this is something where you're like, oh, how could this happen? This happens in Hollywood all the time.

• 20:33Derrick Levasseur?

  And by the way, it's not always famous women. It could just be people who are fans of, and that's how they get...

• 20:39Stephanie Harlowe?

  Oh, of course.

• 20:39Derrick Levasseur?

  That's how they get groomed as well. And they get stuck.

• 20:41Stephanie Harlowe?

  Of course.

• 20:41Derrick Levasseur?

  I see all the social media now, and I won't say names, but I see a lot of young women doing photo shoots on these mega yachts and overseas. And I'm like, okay, what's the context here?

• 20:51Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yeah, I completely agree with you, and that's what's happening. And it happens all the time. If you look at Jeffrey Epstein's network, this is exactly what he did. He had people recruiting women, not just Ghislaine Maxwell, other women, other men, recruiting women, introducing them to powerful, rich people. And doing this, this happens, it's still happening.

• 21:09Derrick Levasseur?

  And it's even more overt than that sometimes. How many times have we heard stories from celebrities and just like really attractive models where people from overseas have reached out and said, "Hey, I'll pay you $3 million to fly out here for the weekend." Like, it's nothing. It's just like they have unlimited funds, and they're writing their mess... Messages either through a another person, you know, by proxy, or they're like, hey, we want you to come out here. We're gonna take you shopping and give you $3 million. You're gonna spend the weekend with this person.

• 21:35Stephanie Harlowe?

  And listen, I think that's fine. If you, as the person, are an adult consenting and you know what's gonna happen. But for Hayden to be brought in this yacht, like, it's gonna be fun and you're with your girlfriend who you trust.

• 21:45Derrick Levasseur?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, that's that's criminal.

• 21:47Stephanie Harlowe?

  That's criminal. It's a betrayal. It's trafficking. Okay, especially because we went to a different country to do it. All right? It's disgusting. Now, we also have Hayden claiming she's 19, she's at a party, and then a well-respected, Oscar-winning actor slash director exposed himself to her. She said she's at this party, and he said, "Look down, I have gum on my pants." And she looked down and saw his zipper was unzipped and his testicles were hanging out.

• 22:08Derrick Levasseur?

  This is the same party?

• 22:09Stephanie Harlowe?

  A different party. This is when she's 19.

• 22:11Derrick Levasseur?

  I was about to say, then it would be really easy to narrow down when this occurred and who was there.

• 22:15Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yep. And then at a party in 2008, during the height of Heroes, right? She said a powerful NBC executive kissed her on the lips at a party. And at first, she was like, "Oh, it's harmless." She's saying it's harmless because this stuff happens to her all the time. Okay? She's a prop. It's not harmless. Her boyfriend at the time, who was Milo Ventimiglia, who we love, we love Milo.

• 22:35Derrick Levasseur?

  Yep, he was in Heroes as well. Awesome.

• 22:37Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yep, and they were in a relationship, and he was like, "What are you talking about? It's not harmless. This is reprehensible. It's completely inappropriate." And they fought over it because she was like, "Hey, like, I'm making my career happen. Like, I can't make waves." And he was like, really mad about it, and it ended up ending their relationship. So we have all of this stuff now, talking about what what happened to Hayden. This is just a few months ago, in May, this memoir comes out. Hayden's talking about how bad it is as a child star, the pressure, the dangerous situations. Hollywood basically introducing her to drugs and inappropriate situations at a very young age, all these experiences with these powerful men in Hollywood. And by all accounts, from what we can tell, Hayden has been clean and sober for years, and suddenly, she's dead at 36.

• 23:22Stephanie Harlowe?

  And that's where we kind of need to discuss how this happened, who she was with, allegedly. And we're gonna take a quick break. We'll be right back.

• 23:36Derrick Levasseur?

  All right, we're back. And yeah, I know we're gonna talk about the specifics of her death, or at least what we know so far, but I'm really happy that you mentioned that even if this turns out to be what it appears to be, like, there's nothing nefarious going on as far as the actual death. I think it's very important to keep driving home the fact of what you're saying right here. Whereas, how did we get here? And even if this isn't a specific example of someone taking her out because of what she could disclose, there are still a lot of contributing factors and a lot of people who contributed to this whole thing and where we are today. This was a young girl who was taken advantage of throughout most of her teenage years. Even though you can try to make things right, there's still scar tissue from that. And so regardless of its direct or indirect, where we are today,

• 24:21Derrick Levasseur?

  if this doesn't turn out to be some type of underlying medical condition that she was unaware of, those circumstances, those stories that you've talked about a little bit today, are absolutely part of the reason that Hayden is no longer with us.

• 24:33Stephanie Harlowe?

  A a big reason. And I would like to say, it doesn't have to be this, like, nefarious or, like, underhanded, like,

• 24:40Derrick Levasseur?

  Although it could be.

• 24:41Stephanie Harlowe?

  Although it could be, but here, it doesn't have to be as simple as, like, let's send an assassin in to kill her.

• 24:46Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah.

• 24:46Stephanie Harlowe?

  It could be as simple as these people see her memoir published. They're like, "Ah, she's been silent for decades, and all of a sudden, she's feeling comfortable in this new social landscape where people are being called out to start calling us out." And not by name, but how long till she does call us out by name? And so maybe then they contact someone in her circle, and they're like, "Hey, Hayden has been so vocal about her struggles with addiction and alcoholism because she wants to help other people who have gone through the same thing." So maybe, why don't you cozy up to her again, get her back on that stuff, and let the rust take care of itself?

• 25:19Derrick Levasseur?

  Especially if she's talking or implicating people, you know, have a lot of money, a lot of influence. These are the only stories we know about, you know? What about the other ones where that that person could be sitting there going, "It's only a matter of time before she mentions me."

• 25:31Stephanie Harlowe?

  And that's what they are thinking. They're going to think that because how many people? I mean, look at the Epstein files. Once again, how many people are falling like dominos? Because they never thought their names would appear in public. And so when all the Jeffrey Epstein, he goes to prison, and they're like, "I never even knew that man. I never talked to him." And then the files start leaking out, and it turns out, "Oh, actually, you've talked to him 7,000 times in in three years. What are you talking about? You never..." And then they're like, "Oh, yeah, but it wasn't what you think." And then more files come out, and then they got a back paddle again. So I'm pissed. And here's the thing, we know that Hayden flew from LA to South Carolina on Saturday, August 15th. That's the day before she died. And who was she with? Who was she photographed with in the airport? Her ex-abusive boyfriend, Brian Hickerson.

• 26:13Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, who you mentioned earlier had his own substance abuse issues.

• 26:16Stephanie Harlowe?

  Had his own substance abuse issues. We can see that the two appeared to be staying at the Judson Mill Lofts in Greenville at 701 Easley Bridge Road. Now, this specific unit where she died was reportedly being used as an Airbnb rental rather than like a permanent residence. But I will say, Brian's family seems to be affiliated with this building in some way, and they are from South Carolina.

• 26:38Derrick Levasseur?

  Okay.

• 26:39Stephanie Harlowe?

  So on August 16th, sometime before 1:50 PM, Hayden Panettiere became unresponsive. We don't know for how long. We don't know when. At around 1:50 PM, an acquaintance or friend who has not been identified called 911 and reported, an unresponsive female. Who is this acquaintance or friend? Is it Brian? Is it someone else? We don't know.

• 27:02Derrick Levasseur?

  Assumptions can be made.

• 27:04Stephanie Harlowe?

  Assumptions can be made. That's who she traveled there with. First responders attempted to resuscitate Hayden using advanced cardiac life support. So this goes beyond CPR. They used medicines, breathing tubes, heart rhythm tracking. They did a lot. And then she was pronounced dead at 2:32 PM. Now, according to dispatch audio from that day obtained by People Magazine, officials were heard on dispatch discussing an overdose and a cardiac arrest around the time of Hayden's death. So could be that they were talking about somebody else. Could be that they were talking about her.

• 27:34Derrick Levasseur?

  Could be, we'll talk about this. We don't want to make any assumptions here, but critical thinking comes in here where we think about Hayden. You just talked about her history. You have a call come in around that same time. If you made me take an educated guess, it's probably related. But again, we'll have to wait. But that would be my assumption based on those details.

• 27:52Stephanie Harlowe?

  Mm-hmm. Exactly. So now there's a resident at Judson Mill, that building. And the resident told the press that police remained around the complex for several hours, and two men were sitting outside the apartment with the police. The men appeared to be in shock. They had their heads down. So there's two men involved in this. Was one Brian Hickerson.

• 28:10Derrick Levasseur?

  One could be Brian, one could be a friend that showed up after the fact.

• 28:13Stephanie Harlowe?

  An acquaintance, maybe, who called the police?

• 28:15Derrick Levasseur?

  Right. Or it could be Brian who's the acquaintance, and then this friend showed up after the fact or was staying there as well.

• 28:20Stephanie Harlowe?

  Or Brian called somebody and was like, "Hey, can you call the police?"

• 28:24Derrick Levasseur?

  To come help. Yeah, yeah, get over here.

• 28:26Stephanie Harlowe?

  This is, once again, using context clues, because she flew there with him.

• 28:29Derrick Levasseur?

  Probably with him, probably staying there with him, yeah.

• 28:31Stephanie Harlowe?

  Once again, who made the 911 call? We don't know. Their identity hasn't been released. Who found Hayden? We don't know. Presumably, the person who made the 911 call, you would presume, you would assume that, but we don't have confirmation of that. Was Brian Hickerson there in the unit or the building when Hayden was found or unconscious? We don't know. But given the report, they traveled together the previous day, it's likely to assume he was, right? Now, when was Hayden last known to be conscious? We currently don't have information about this, but I'm sure we will. Was she texting somebody? Was she talking to somebody? Who was she with? Was she completely alone in that building? What's going on? She could have been unresponsive for minutes, for hours. We don't know.

• 29:12Stephanie Harlowe?

  Now, we also know that Brian has publicly admitted to spiraling into a dark place with drugs and alcohol during his tumultuous relationship with Hayden. Has he been fully recovered? Is he still involved in drugs and alcohol? Why would Hayden become completely rehabilitated, not dabbling in drugs and alcohol anymore, feel comfortable enough with her sobriety to go publicly and talk about that in the hopes of helping other people? What would cause her to relapse now? Losing her daughter? This happened several years ago. Her brother dying? This happened several years ago. She just came out with her memoir a few months ago. She's been getting a lot of positive praise and attention from her coming out and being honest.

• 29:54Stephanie Harlowe?

  There's been a lot of people being like, "Hey, let's figure out who these people are that she's talking about in her memoir, who abused her so terribly during her childhood time in Hollywood and her young adult time in Hollywood." And all of a sudden, Hayden's, what, using drugs again and overdosing while she happens to be with an ex-boyfriend?

• 30:11Derrick Levasseur?

  Potentially, allegedly with an ex-boyfriend.

• 30:13Stephanie Harlowe?

  Both of them have said it was an abusive relationship. There was charges filed. He's admitted to it. He said he's sorry. He feels bad, blah, blah, blah. Why now? Why him? Why there? What's going on? And those are the questions that I have, because this doesn't seem very straightforward. What triggered you, when it seems like you're on an upswing, to revert back to drug use when you have? Very vocally made it known that this was the darkest time of your life, how terrible a hold it had on you, how it caused you to pretty much lose your daughter, the thing that mattered the most to you in this world. What's going on? What's going on?

• 30:47Derrick Levasseur?

  There's pros and cons to law enforcement coming out and saying right away, there doesn't appear to be foul play. On one hand, they're trying to quell any speculation surrounding something more nefarious than what it actually is. So they're trying to give you information without giving you too much. But on the other hand, I have an issue with it because it just appears that there wasn't a thorough investigation conducted. When you're able to say so early on, no foul play, no signs of any type of malicious activity. You already figured that out in 24 hours, 48 hours? Even if you did, even if there's something there that definitively rules out the potential, which I don't know how there would be, but if there was, you still shouldn't say it right away. Cause it just, the optics of it makes it seem like you just walked in and said, yep, this is what it is, and that was the end of it.

• 31:30Stephanie Harlowe?

  All good here, folks.

• 31:31Derrick Levasseur?

  It just doesn't look good. Now, as far as Brian or anybody else that's there, because we don't know who was with her, if anyone at all at the time. Hypothetically though, if there were someone with her and this said person provided her with drugs, there are laws against that if someone dies from it. So I don't know how you sit here and say that there wasn't any foul play or any type of criminal activity, because if it's learned hypothetically, Hayden was at this Airbnb. And for whatever reason, whether it was because of the person that was there with her, or because they were just, you know, she relapsed. And this person obtained or procured drugs from South Carolina for recreational purposes for the two of them. That person can be charged.

• 32:12Stephanie Harlowe?

  And you're saying that you don't even have the autopsy done, which means you don't have toxicology, which means you, you wouldn't know what substances were in her system. So how can you say for sure?

• 32:20Derrick Levasseur?

  If there was someone with her, you would want to get their drug test done as well. You'd want to get a search warrant and have them tested for the same drugs. Because if it's learned that they were both on the same drugs at the time of the event, that would imply that they were both using the same drugs shortly before her death. And then what you would want to do, reverse engineer it. Cell phone records, cameras, find out if you can figure out where this person obtained the drugs from.

• 32:45Stephanie Harlowe?

  And there's no way they've done all of that yet.

• 32:47Derrick Levasseur?

  No way, there's no way. And that's why I have a problem with it because if there is that potential, that needs to be explored. That takes time. And then if it happens, you know, you charge that person. Not only should they be held accountable, but it's a deterrent for other people in the future. So that's where my head's at on it. It could be something more nefarious. It could be something much deeper because of what the information she had. But I don't know how you say this early, it's clearly this, like there may have been something here. Let's, again, we're going down different rabbit holes here. Maybe there's a note, maybe there's something that says, this is what I did. That's fine. Things aren't always what they appear to be.

• 33:22Stephanie Harlowe?

  Exactly.

• 33:23Derrick Levasseur?

  You've still got to investigate that. So even if that's clearly there, it's your job to be skeptical about what you're seeing. And ask the question, is this what I was supposed to find as the investigator? So that's where I stand on it. Overall, it's a tragic situation.

• 33:38Stephanie Harlowe?

  And, and I want to know if somebody did provide her the drugs. Let's say hypothetically, this is just alleged. Brian and Hayden are doing drugs together.

• 33:46Derrick Levasseur?

  Hypothetically.

• 33:47Stephanie Harlowe?

  On this weekend, right? Hypothetically, has he had contact with somebody in the past weeks or months? That maybe Hayden had previous contact with, and maybe that person was like, hey, you know, all you have to do, you have to kill her. All you have to do is get her hooked back on drugs. At the worst, then she just becomes somebody who's no longer reliable. And nobody's going to believe what she's saying anyways, because she's just a drug addict again. At the best case scenario for us.

• 34:13Derrick Levasseur?

  She disappears.

• 34:13Stephanie Harlowe?

  And maybe she overdoses, you know? And then we don't have to worry about this at all anymore and we can breathe easy again.

• 34:18Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, that digital footprint would be huge for multiple reasons. Not only for the scenario you just laid out, but also for the potential that there's drug dealers in someone's phone, that you can go back and say, yeah, they called this person days before her death. Come to find out, this person has a long history of drug distribution. There's also a fentanyl element to this, where there's crimes for that specifically in South Carolina. So there's a lot more here that needs to be unpacked. So it's Monday when we're recording this, but by the time this comes out, I can only imagine that there's going to be more information. So guys, if this is a little outdated, that is the reason why.

• 34:52Stephanie Harlowe?

  And, and wasn't it just Matthew Perry where like his doctor was charged and his assistant was charged?

• 34:56Derrick Levasseur?

  Yeah, much more came out.

• 34:58Stephanie Harlowe?

  So you have to follow, I, I don't care what it leads to. The dots have to be connected at this point, because this doesn't make sense. And if somebody was actively encouraging her to use again, knowing her history, which we all knew, because she's been public about it, that needs to be known and addressed. And we have to kind of follow the octopus down to see where the head of it is.

• 35:21Derrick Levasseur?

  Couldn't agree more. If it's, if it's a case of accidental overdose, what'd she take? What was in her system? How did she get it?

• 35:27Stephanie Harlowe?

  Who was she with?

• 35:27Derrick Levasseur?

  Who was she with? Did she have access to these things? Did a third party get it for her? And then reverse engineer, just like Matthew Perry, that's a great example. We can't bring her back, but we can make sure that the people who are responsible for this are held accountable. So we're going to be keeping up to date with this one. If things unfold, we may have another crime weekly news on it. But we do want to end on a positive note, because there is, you know, with tragedy, sometimes there's a silver lining. And I had the privilege recently of sitting down with Kristi Gonzalez, Kaylee Gonzalez's mother, who, and anybody who doesn't know, Kaylee is one of the victims from the Idaho four. We talked about Brian Koberger a couple of weeks ago. That video went out there and Kristi happened to see it. She didn't know who we were. She had no clue who we were, but saw the video, really liked it.

• 36:11Derrick Levasseur?

  And she recently started a foundation in Kaylee's name called Murder Has A Name. And this is to raise money for cases specifically in need of funding for DNA. Obviously you guys know that's right up Stephanie and I's alley, especially with Criminal Coffee. So I sat down with her and her team, and we're going to work on future things together, hopefully. But in the meantime, just to give you an update, Criminal Coffee has donated $1,000 to the Murder Has A Name Foundation. That's on behalf of you guys, right? You're the ones that buy the coffee. And we are working on getting some new cases funded as well. But in the meantime, that foundation is, is new and need of money for things that you and I care about, and for everyone out there that you care about. Sometimes we get people who reach out to us and they're like, hey, I don't like coffee,

• 36:55Derrick Levasseur?

  but I want to donate to your cause, to your purpose, your mission statement. And we always have different foundations that you can check out. And we've donated to numerous foundations. We're going to have the Murder Has A Name Foundation, links in the description box below, both on Apple, Spotify and YouTube, so you can go donate directly. But also if you go to, over to criminalcoffeeco.com, you'll see a running banner or the Fight Crime tab, where you can see all the donations that we've made on your behalf to different foundations. So if you're looking for someone to donate to that we vetted and that we support, that's a good option for you. So thank you again to all of you for allowing us to be able to do this. And thank you to Kristi. And I said this to her on the phone, as a parent, to go through what she went through and to be able to take this tragedy,

• 37:38Derrick Levasseur?

  not only ensure that Kaylee's name isn't forgotten, but to help others who may be in need of help like, like her. Because she said it, I'm one of the lucky ones in where I remember there was a part where I didn't know the who. She still doesn't know the why, but she knows the who at least. And a lot of families don't even have that. And so she feels fortunate in that aspect, but she wants to help others. And I'm like, this is just incredible and we're, we're totally into help.

• 38:02Stephanie Harlowe?

  And we do have our birthday shout outs for Patreon for the month of August.

• 38:05Derrick Levasseur?

  Yes, we do. I like this positive note ending. This is good.

• 38:08Stephanie Harlowe?

  Yes, we needed that because I'm pissed. I am pissed. So we do have our birthday Patreon shout outs for the month of August. We only have three. So we have Amy Litt, August 3rd, and we have Dawn Ford, August 9th. And then we have Lisa Squario, August 23rd. So we have two Leos and a Virgo. Amy and Dawn are Leos. So we talked a little bit about Leos last month, because July is, is the Leo territory. But August Leos are confident, warm, passionate, charismatic, fiercely loyal. They have big personalities. They enjoy expressing themselves, creativity, humor. I've seen it with a lot of Leos, they're funny people. Leadership, they simply like to be the person that brings energy into a room.

• 38:53Stephanie Harlowe?

  And at their best, Leos are generous, protective, courageous, affectionate, incredibly supportive of the people they love. They want their people to succeed. They'll often go to bat for them without hesitation. But on the flip side, because we all have a flip side, that strong sense of pride can sometimes make them stubborn. Leos are stubborn, a little bit overly dramatic, sensitive to criticism, who isn't? They may have trouble admitting when they're wrong. If they feel ignored, unappreciated or disrespected, they can become a little defensive and withdraw their warmth. They can be a little avoidant. Essentially Leo energy can be very big heart, big presence, big feelings, but occasionally exhausting when their egos get bruised. Okay, now Virgos, Lisa, August 23rd is a Virgo. My son Aiden is a Virgo too, so I'm very familiar with this.

• 39:37Stephanie Harlowe?

  Often described as thoughtful, intelligent, practical, observant, very dependable. They tend to notice the little things other people miss. They're very considerate, they pay attention to you. They can show this, that they're paying attention to you by being helpful, reliable, trying to make life easier for the people they care about, which is great. So at their best, Virgos are very hardworking, like I said, loyal, considerate, grounded, organized, really, really good problem solvers, usually the person you can count on to get something done. And on the downside, because remember, we all have that, their analytical nature can turn into overthinking, which I have seen, perfectionism, criticism on themselves, on others, or being overly hard on themselves and others. So they may struggle to relax, they can become anxious when things feel chaotic, they get overstimulated.

• 40:22Stephanie Harlowe?

  And sometimes they can come across as picky or emotionally reserved, because they tend to process feelings through logic first. Essentially, Virgo energy is very quietly capable, deeply observant, always trying to improve things, which can make them incredibly supportive and trustworthy, but also prone to stressing over things that other people are like, what are you stressing over this for? Let it go, but they can't. So happy birthday to our.

• 40:44Derrick Levasseur?

  Happy birthday.

• 40:45Stephanie Harlowe?

  Our Leos, our Virgos, our August birthdays, yes.

• 40:48Derrick Levasseur?

  Yes, and if you want to be added to the birthday list, you can join our Patreon membership. It's right in the description box below. I say it all the time, we got bonus episodes, monthly lives. We have discussion boards where we talk about the current cases and current events. And we have a really strong community over there. You also get all the episodes ad free. And then on top of that, you get a birthday shout out. It's a small knit community, we love it and we'd love for you to join. But that's going to do it for us, guys. We covered a lot there. Like I said, we'll keep you updated on Hayden's story if there's developments that need to be covered. And we'll be tracking it for sure. We're going to have a new episode starting later this week. Not going to spoil it for you guys. Stephanie had told me this is a, a new case that's really got her.

• 41:30Stephanie Harlowe?

  I'm in it, yep.

• 41:31Derrick Levasseur?

  Her wheels turning.

• 41:32Stephanie Harlowe?

  My wheels are turning and I'm connecting stuff that I don't think, and I, listen, there's a trial coming up. So I hope that we find the prosecutors and the police are also looking and investigating the same things that I've been investigating. But I will tell you.

• 41:46Derrick Levasseur?

  She's on it.

• 41:47Stephanie Harlowe?

  I did it first.

• 41:48Derrick Levasseur?

  So that's starting Friday on audio, Sunday on YouTube. We're looking, I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to hearing the story. Until then, please, everyone, stay safe out there and we'll see you soon.

• 41:57Stephanie Harlowe?

  Bye.

• 41:58Derrick Levasseur?

  Bye.