South Carolina police have closed their investigation into Hayden Panettiere’s death and ruled it accidental, ending the local case more than two months after the actress was found unresponsive in Greenville. The decision adds a formal police conclusion to a death already linked by the coroner to an overdose involving fentanyl and several other drugs.

Police close the local case

The Greenville Police Department said it had concluded its investigation after reviewing the medical examiner’s determination and its own findings. Panettiere, best known for her roles in Heroes and Nashville, died in August at the age of 36.

Authorities said she was found unresponsive in a South Carolina residence on August 16. Police and emergency responders were called to an apartment in Greenville, where she had been staying temporarily, after a report that a woman was in cardiac arrest. She was later pronounced dead at the scene.

What the coroner found

Last month, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office said Panettiere died from the toxic effects of fentanyl, 4-ANPP, alprazolam, methocarbamol and quetiapine. The office said the autopsy found no signs of trauma that contributed to her death.

The coroner had earlier said the death was an accidental drug overdose. Police had continued their own inquiry after those findings were released, but on Wednesday said the case was now closed.

BBC reporting said the Drug Enforcement Administration had reportedly joined the local probe, while ABC News said federal agents had also been assisting police. It remains unclear whether that separate investigation has ended.

Questions that remain

ABC News, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the DEA investigation was believed to be ongoing and could involve people who may have supplied drugs at street level. The BBC said it was unclear whether the federal inquiry had concluded, and a Greenville police spokesperson could not say what the DEA was examining.

Panettiere had spoken publicly about her struggles with substance abuse. She was a child actor and later starred in television series including Heroes and Nashville.

Police reports reviewed by media outlets said her former boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother Zack were at the apartment when emergency services arrived. One report described them as witnesses, and another said responders attempted life-saving measures before she was pronounced dead.

The closure of the local police case leaves the coroner’s accidental-overdose ruling in place, while the status of any federal review remains unresolved.