Brian Hickerson, Hayden Panettiere’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, has reportedly spoken with federal authorities as investigators examine the actress’ suspected overdose death.

Hickerson, who was allegedly inside the Greenville, South Carolina, condo where Panettiere was pronounced dead, has met with the Drug Enforcement Administration, a source told TMZ.

According to the outlet, local and federal investigators suspect the actress may have been sold drugs that contributed to her death, and the inquiry is now centered on finding the person believed to have supplied them.

One source claimed to TMZ that authorities are “zeroing in” on a possible drug dealer as the investigation moves forward.

Investigators are still awaiting toxicology results, which are expected to help determine Panettiere’s official cause of death.

The Heroes actress was found dead at 36 of a suspected overdose at a residence in Greenville on August 16. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Hickerson’s representatives for comment. 

At this time, no one has been arrested in connection with Panettiere’s death. 

Greenville Police and the coroner’s office are running parallel investigations into the star’s death.

The DEA’s involvement aligns with paramedics reporting a suspected overdose over dispatch calls. First responders located Narcan, a nasal spray used to reverse the effects of opioid overdose, inside the apartment where Panettiere was found dead.

Panettiere died at the end of a long struggle with alcohol and opiates, spending eight months in rehab in 2020 after contracting jaundice and being informed by her doctor that ‘if I didn’t stop drinking, I’d be dead within five years,’ as she wrote in her memoir. 

Hickerson was on the scene along with his brother Zachary when she was pronounced dead, according to a police report. 

Her autopsy found ‘no signs of trauma’ that ‘would have contributed to the death.’

Over the course of their turbulent relationship, Hickerson faced multiple domestic violence charges, and in 2021 he served 13 days in custody for injuring her.

After she was declared dead, Hickerson is said to have handed the authorities a ‘bag of medication’ she had been taking, per the police report.

Although his brother was ‘very emotional’ during attempts to revive Panettiere, Hickerson is claimed to have remained impassive until she was declared dead.

In 2018, in order to devote herself to her recovery from her personal demons, Panettiere voluntarily gave up custody of her now 11-year-old daughter Kaya. 

Kaya was handed over to the care of her father, Ukrainian boxing star Wladimir Klitschko, with whom Panettiere retained an amicable co-parenting bond. 

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The Daily Mail has exclusively revealed that Panettiere was also the subject of romance rumors with Hickerson’s brother Zach, a pastor, during a brief period in 2019.

Zach and Panettiere were glimpsed walking hand in hand in New York that September, at which point a witness described them as resembling a ‘real couple.’

It comes after Panettiere’s mother, Lesley Vogel, told the Daily Mail that she believed the account of her daughter’s death given by Hickerson was ‘full of holes’.

In an extensive hour-long exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Vogel said she pressured law enforcement in South Carolina to investigate Panettiere’s death and raised serious questions about Hickerson and his account of her daughter’s final hours.

Vogel said Hickerson had a toxic ‘codependent bond’ with Panettiere that was ‘much more powerful than people realized.’

Hickerson was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with domestic violence for the first time in May 2019 and released on bail. He pleaded not guilty to one count of felony domestic violence later that month, and the case was dismissed at the end of September.

The following year, on Valentine’s Day, Hickerson was arrested for domestic battery in Wyoming after a physical altercation with a woman, later identified as Panettiere.

Hickerson pleaded not guilty to the charge in April of that year. In July 2020, Panettiere obtained a restraining order against him, sharing in a public statement that she hoped others would be inspired by her to walk away from abusive partners.

Three months later, Hickerson was arrested on seven felony charges and one misdemeanor charge stemming from allegedly abusive incidents that occurred between May 2019 to January 2020, including one count of dissuading a witness from prosecuting a crime.

It was during a February 2021 preliminary hearing in Wyoming, covered by the Daily Mail, where the snapshots of the intimidating text messages and videos allegedly sent by Hickerson to Panettiere were read aloud in district court.

He ultimately pleaded no contest to two felony counts of injuring a spouse or girlfriend in 2021, while the other six counts were dropped. He was sentenced to 45 days in jail and four years’ probation, plus $500 in fines and mandatory domestic violence classes.

Amid their tumultuous relationship, Panettiere made the bold decision to get sober from alcohol and drugs. Although the actress had a long history of abusing substances, revealing that she began taking ‘happy pills’ as early as 15 years old, her addiction worsened while she was battling postpartum depression.

In 2020, she entered a treatment center for what ultimately became an eight-month rehab stint. Panettiere later described her sobriety journey as an ‘everyday battle,’ though the status of her sobriety on the day of her death remains unclear.

Questions surrounding the status of Panettiere’s relationship with Hickerson had been looming in recent months up until her passing. Those questions, however, were answered when the redacted incident report from her death referred to Panettiere as Hickerson’s ‘girlfriend.’

Just last March, they were photographed traveling side-by-side at Los Angeles Airport. Two months later, Hickerson made several bombshell statements to TMZ about his past abuse, and his hopes to one day marry Panettiere.

‘Man, I mean, I think it speaks for itself… I got arrested for abusing her,’ Hickerson said in May.

‘And I wouldn’t blame her friends for being pissed off at me… I had a lot to drink and I got physical with her. I got arrested. I spent the night in jail and that’s just what happens when you lay hands on women.’

According to court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, Hickerson filed a petition with the Los Angeles County Superior Court to change his felony charges to misdemeanor charges. Under his four-years’ probation terms, Hickerson was ordered to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings ‘at the minimum rate of 1 per week,’ according to court records, and complete 26 anger management sessions.

Hickerson completed his probation on August 1, and asked the court to expunge the charges from his record. However, on August 13, a Los Angeles judge denied Hickerson’s petition.

Three days later, Panettiere was found dead in an apartment block located in Greenville, South Carolina. She was described as ‘unresponsive’ and in ‘cardiac arrest’ after a suspected overdose, according to a recording of the 911 call obtained by the Daily Mail.

A video that allegedly shows Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs assaulting his girlfriend is expected to remain out of public view for now, despite the NFL star entering a no-contest plea Thursday to misdemeanor battery.

A Brown County, Wisconsin, judge ordered all evidence in the case against Jacobs to be sealed, including video footage, police reports and photographs, after the three-time Pro Bowl running back reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, according to a court filing obtained by The California Post.

“The Court finds that public disclosure of the Discovery Material would threaten or substantially impair Defendant’s and [the victim’s] privacy, dignity, personal security, emotional wellbeing, or ability to participate safely in the criminal-justice process,” the order stated.

“This protection is not to impede any legitimate law-enforcement function, criminal prosecution, judicial proceeding, or disclosure otherwise required by law, but to prevent unnecessary public dissemination of information that identifies [the victim], reveals intimate or sensitive details of [the victim] or the Defendant, or creates a material risk of harm.”

Jacobs was charged Aug. 27 with one misdemeanor count of battery and one misdemeanor count of criminal damage to property after authorities said they obtained video allegedly showing him putting his hands on his girlfriend during a tense confrontation at his Wisconsin home in May.

Prosecutors wrote in a criminal complaint that surveillance video law enforcement obtained from Jacobs’ residence showed an “altercation” that Jacobs’ girlfriend “described as taking place in the garage.”

Prosecutors also stated the footage showed Jacobs taking the woman’s “phone while she was on the floor of the garage, and approximately 40 seconds later,” returning to the garage and appearing to “damage” the woman’s phone.

It was expected that the video would become available via a public records request after Jacobs disposed of the criminal case on Thursday.

“The Court further finds that the requested protection is warranted because the public interest in safeguarding [the victim’s] and Defendant’s privacy, dignity, and safety outweighs any public interest in releasing victim-identifying information, Defendant identifying information and sensitive victim and/or Defendant related material,” the order sealing the evidence stated.

The filing did note that the order is granted only “temporarily, pending a further Motion to be filed by [the victim] and/or Defendant.”

Jacobs, wearing a grey suit and a light-colored shirt and tie, told a Brown County courtroom he was taking “full responsibility” for his actions after issuing no-contest pleas to the misdemeanors.

He was sentenced to a fine of $1,000 plus costs for the battery count, and his sentence for the criminal damage to property count was suspended.

“With this agreement, Josh has accepted responsibility for his conduct and resolved this matter,” Jacobs’ attorneys said in a statement following the court proceedings. “Today’s resolution is set against a career long history of Josh’s community work while in the NFL, which has centered on the circumstances of his early life.”

Jacobs will still not be allowed to practice or play with the Packers despite the closure of the case, as the NFL said Thursday he will remain on the commissioner’s exempt list while its probe into the matter continues.

Two people were killed and two others were left critically wounded Thursday morning in a shooting at a home in Gaston County, North Carolina, after authorities were called to reports of gunfire, police said.

According to the Gaston County Police Department, officers arrived at the residence shortly before 8:45 a.m. and discovered four people inside suffering from gunshot wounds.

Authorities said two victims were pronounced dead at the scene. The two surviving victims were rushed to a nearby hospital with injuries described as life-threatening.

Investigators have identified a person of interest in the Gaston County shooting, though police have not released further details.

Investigators believe the suspect and victims knew each other and that the shooting was an isolated incident.

Authorities said they are continuing to investigate the circumstances.

There is no known ongoing threat to the Gaston County community, police said.

Gaston County is roughly 30 minutes west of Charlotte and just north of the South Carolina border.

Anyone with additional information is asked to call the Gaston County Police Department at 704-866-3320 or CrimeStoppers at 704-861-8000.

CHICAGO (WLS) — A new Chicago exhibition is using contemporary photography and modern imagery to imagine the life Emmett Till might have lived had he not been murdered in a racist killing in 1955.

The exhibition, titled “If Emmett Till Lived,” is on view at the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago.

Featuring work from 140 artists, the show asks visitors to reflect on the future, achievements and everyday moments that were stolen when Till’s life was cut short.

“This collective represents us all. We live for Emmett Till, and so many of us still want to change, to honor what his unjust killing required us to see about the work we still have to endure and to achieve,” said curator Sarah Elizabeth Lewis.

Artist Dawoud Bey said the exhibit highlights why historical memory matters and why the people tied to that history must not be forgotten.

“We lose something if we don’t remember history, and we lose something if we don’t fully engage with and celebrate those like Emmett Till who were a part of that history,” Bey said.

Till, a Chicago teen, was visiting Money, Mississippi, with his cousin, Wheeler Parker, in 1955 when he was taken in his sleep after what was perceived as an inappropriate interaction with a White woman.

Till was tortured, and his body was found days later in the Tallahatchie River.

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Parker, who is also a co-curator of the exhibit, said he remains committed to sharing his cousin’s story.

“I’m realizing how important it is to tell it, because somebody believe you. Somebody, you could help somebody believe you,” Parker said.

The exhibit encourages visitors to consider the life Till might have led if he had the opportunity to reach adulthood.

Parker said efforts such as the exhibit bring Till’s story to the present.

“Things like this helps. Believe me, it helps reach a lot of people. Very good. Very good. They can’t be sidetracked. Can’t be stopped,” he said.

Parker said he does not tire of speaking about Emmett Till, though he continues to grieve and wishes his cousin were still alive.