Lesley Vogel, the estranged mother of actress Hayden Panettiere, is publicly disputing the account given by Panettiere's on-again, off-again boyfriend about the day she died, raising pointed questions about his timeline, his access to Narcan, and the pace of the police investigation.
Vogel, 70, sat for an interview with the Daily Mail over the weekend and followed it with her first televised appearance on "Good Morning America" on Monday, directly challenging the version of events Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach have offered since Panettiere was found unresponsive at an Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina, on Aug. 16. Page Six reported that Vogel zeroed in on what she called discrepancies in Hickerson's story, particularly the question of how he happened to have two bottles of Narcan, the overdose-reversal drug, readily available at the rental.
Panettiere, a Golden Globe-nominated actress known for roles in "Heroes" and the "Scream" franchise, was declared dead at 2:31 p.m. that Sunday after paramedics performed CPR at the scene. An autopsy completed the following day found no signs of trauma, and police said they saw no signs of foul play, but the cause of death remains under investigation. A Greenville police report confirmed that both Brian Hickerson and his brother Zach were present at the apartment when she was found.
The friction starts with a basic question: where was Brian Hickerson in the hours before Panettiere was discovered?
Vogel told the Daily Mail that Hickerson informed police he left the Airbnb at 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 16 while Panettiere was doing her makeup. He allegedly said he ran an errand, returned, and took a nap, without any further interaction with her. Zach Hickerson then arrived, knocked loudly, and the two men found her unresponsive.
But Zach Hickerson's own account, given to TMZ, tells a different story. He said both he and Brian were napping together on the pull-out couch bed in the living room when he knocked. In that version, Brian was woken by the knock, and the brothers then tried to rouse Panettiere and found her unconscious. Zach told TMZ:
"I knocked loudly which apparently woke Brian up from a nap they were both taking on the pull out couch bed in the living room. When we went in and tried to wake Hayden up for lunch, we realized she was unconscious."
TMZ had initially reported that Zach discovered Panettiere's body while Brian slept in another room, a detail that Zach's later account contradicted. So across three tellings, the basic geography of the apartment and who was where keeps shifting.
Zach said he immediately called 911 and that Brian administered Narcan. The brothers then performed CPR together with 911 on speaker until fire and EMS crews arrived.
Vogel's sharpest challenge centers on the Narcan itself. She told the Daily Mail she does not accept Hickerson's explanation for having two bottles of the drug on hand:
"I do not believe he happened to have two bottles of Narcan on him, like he carried them around in his back pocket. I think there will be a discrepancy in the timeline, meaning Brian had to go out and buy the Narcan while he left her there."
That claim, that Hickerson may have left Panettiere in distress while he went to obtain Narcan, is Vogel's assertion, not an established fact. No law enforcement source in the available reporting has confirmed or denied it. Just The News reported that Hickerson showed police a bag of medication Panettiere had been taking at the time of her death, but the police report is heavily redacted, including details of the officer's conversation with Hickerson and the list of medications.
A Greenville police officer noted a striking detail in the police report: Zach Hickerson appeared very emotional while paramedics worked on Panettiere, but Brian did not become emotional until EMS declared her officially deceased. Breitbart reported that observation directly from the police report.
That behavioral note is not evidence of wrongdoing. People respond to crisis differently. But it is now part of the public record, and Vogel has seized on it.
Vogel has made no secret of her feelings about Brian Hickerson. In her first public statement after Panettiere's death, issued earlier this month, she said bluntly:
"This person in her life that we have been trying to get rid of for quite some time was with her at her death, and that was Brian Hickerson."
Days later, after receiving backlash, she issued a follow-up statement addressing her estrangement from her daughter:
"Although my daughter and I were estranged, it was not for lack of care or love. It was due to the involvement of a toxic individual who I believe led to her death."
Hickerson pleaded no contest in 2021 to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend in connection with incidents involving Panettiere. He served jail time and probation. Panettiere detailed the abusive relationship in her memoir, "This Is Me: A Reckoning," published earlier this year. The New York Post reported that Panettiere had been secretly seeing Hickerson again without telling her close friends, and that the family had been trying to distance her from him for some time before her death.
An anonymous insider told the Post that shame likely played a role in the secrecy: "If you've gone through some dark times with people, and spoken about it, then there can be shame if you get back together with that same person."
On "Good Morning America," Vogel described the last conversation she had with her daughter. She said Panettiere told her she was going to "be with the person [she] love[d]", a reference to Brian Hickerson.
Vogel said the words hit her hard:
"I just lost it. I could not believe she had gone that far back, that he had been successful in reeling her back in with all the things he had done to her."
The date of that call is not publicly known. Nor is it clear how long before Panettiere's death it took place. But Vogel's account paints a picture of a mother who knew her daughter was in danger and could not reach her, a situation made worse, Vogel says, by the estrangement Hickerson's presence in Panettiere's life had caused.
Brian Hickerson has not spoken publicly. His lawyer, Sloan Ellis, released a statement last week:
"Hayden's death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed. As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play."
Ellis added: "Out of respect for Hayden's loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time." When Page Six reached out for a response to Vogel's latest claims, Ellis declined to comment beyond that initial statement.
Fox News reported that the DEA has been contacted and is assisting in the investigation. Greenville police also conducted a wellness check at a home linked to the Hickerson brothers shortly after Panettiere's death.
Vogel, for her part, told the Daily Mail she has been pressuring South Carolina law enforcement to dig deeper. She claimed a police officer asked her directly: "Well, what do you think about Brian Hickerson?", a question she took as a signal that investigators share at least some of her concerns. That characterization is Vogel's alone; no law enforcement official has publicly confirmed it.
Panettiere's official cause of death has not been released. The autopsy found no signs of trauma, but toxicology results, which typically take weeks, have not been made public. The police report is heavily redacted, leaving significant gaps in the public record.
Among the unresolved questions: What errand did Hickerson say he ran that morning? Who purchased the two bottles of Narcan and when? What medications was Panettiere taking, and do they explain the cardiac arrest? And what, exactly, does the redacted portion of the police report contain about the officer's conversation with Hickerson?
Vogel is a grieving, estranged mother with an obvious adversarial view of Brian Hickerson. Her claims are not proof. But the shifting accounts from the people who were in that Airbnb, combined with a heavily redacted police report and an incomplete investigation, leave legitimate questions hanging in the air. Panettiere's family, her fans, and the public deserve clear answers from the people and agencies that actually have them.
When someone dies under disputed circumstances in the company of a man with two domestic-violence felonies on his record, "no further comment at this time" is not good enough.
