Actress Hayden Panettiere died after consuming a single pill that law enforcement sources believe was oxycodone laced with fentanyl, according to multiple officials with direct knowledge of the investigation.
Investigators have identified a Los Angeles drug dealer who allegedly supplied Panettiere with black-market prescription medications, including oxycodone, according to sources connected to the case who spoke to TMZ.com. The Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles is actively working to establish the connection between the actress and her supplier in an effort to trace the fatal pill.
Law enforcement sources indicate Panettiere consumed several drugs purchased from the dealer during a flight from Los Angeles to South Carolina the day before her death. Authorities believe she took an oxycodone pill the morning she died, and that this particular pill contained fentanyl.
The investigation bears similarities to the prosecution of Mac Miller's drug dealer, who was convicted of supplying the rapper with fentanyl-laced drugs that resulted in his death. However, law enforcement sources caution that their current theory depends entirely on pending toxicology results.
When first responders arrived at the South Carolina condominium where Panettiere was staying with her boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, he provided them with a bag containing her prescription medications. Investigators are examining whether any of those pills were contaminated with fentanyl.
Hickerson administered Narcan to Panettiere before paramedics arrived, but the emergency treatment proved unsuccessful. The investigation involves South Carolina law enforcement as well as DEA offices in both South Carolina and Los Angeles.